Chiara La Morgia

Dr Chiara La Morgia, born in December 3rd 1977, received MD degree in 2002 and completed residency in Neurology in 2008 at the University of Bologna. She finished her PhD in Sleep Medicine in 2012 at the University of Bologna. Since 2012 she had a research contract at the University of Bologna and she is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Bologna. She has also full-employed position as neurologist at the IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna and she is also affiliated to the Program of Neurogenetics. Since 2008 she has a collaborative research with the Doheny Eye Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles for the study of circadian photoreception in neurodegenerative disorders. From March 2014 to October 2014 she had a clinical fellowship in neurophthalmology at the Doheny Eye Institute. She is the chief, since 2015, of the Neuro-ophthalmology Clinic at Bellaria Hospital, Unit of Neurology, IRCCS ISNB. She is involved since 2004 in different research projects on mitochondrial optic neuropathies including international projects and she is responsible for the clinical management of patients with hereditary optic neuropathies at IRCCS ISNB. The current major focus of her research activity is on hereditary optic neuropathies and particularly LHON and the evaluation of the melanopsin retinal ganglion cell system in relation to circadian photoreception in different neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, and hereditary optic neuropathies. She is involved in various clinical trials on Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy including gene therapy trials.  She is author of 163 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 7 book chapters.