License number: 22.838

Dr. Jordi Monés is an M.D., Ph.D., Ophthalmologist, Macula and Vitreorretinal Specialist and Researcher. He is the Director of the Institut de la Màcula and the Director, Principal Investigator and one of the founder governors of the Barcelona Macula Foundation: Research for Vision.

Dr. Monés earned his degree and his PhD cum laude in Medicine and Surgery at the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. He specialized in Ophthalmology at the Centro de Oftalmología Barraquer, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona from 1986-1989. He completed his Research Retina Fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) at Harvard University, Boston, USA in 1990 and 1991 and a Clinical Retina Fellowship at the Hospital San José at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Mexico in 1992.

Since 2007 he is the Director of the Institut de la Màcula in Barcelona (accredited site of the network of excellence in research, the European Vision Institute) as well as Medical Director and one of the founder Governors of the Barcelona Macula Foundation: Research for Vision, since 2011. Dr. Monés was also Board Member of Futbol Club Barcelona and the Commissioner of the Barça Innovation Hub and of the Sports Science Department (Medical, Performance, and Technology) from 2010 to 2017. In his commitment for improving public health, he envisioned and achieved the FCB stadium smoke-free policy, the only one in Spain even today. This accomplishment resulted in several prizes and public recognition, including from the European Commission.

His research fields of interest are the pathophysiology, imaging and emerging therapies for AMD and retinal degenerative diseases, with particular interest in the end-stage atrophic form, regenerative approaches with stem cells and gene therapy, microbiome, and clinical biophotonics.

Dr Monés was involved in the earlier stages of experimental photodynamic therapy at the MEEI and was afterwards actively engaged in the early Trials for exudative AMD, the TAP and VIP studies. At his return to Barcelona, after Harvard University and Tecnológico de Monterrey, he pioneered the use and development of novel AMD imaging techniques, particularly indocyanine angiography, and related laser therapies, such as feeder vessel treatment. Subsequently he has been principal investigator and extensive presenter of most of the international multicentre clinical trials and investigator-driven trials for the treatment of AMD, actively involved in their design and conduction as part of several steering committees. He has contributed in the optimization and design of proactive regimens of treatment of neovascular AMD, and publishing and actively advocating in the community for a proactive, sustained long-term therapy to fight against the loss of vision caused by the extended under-treatment in real world practice.

Since 2006, his main focus of interest shifted into the atrophic late stage of AMD (Geographic Atrophy, GA) envisioning and co-designing the first phase I trial for this disease with anti-complement therapy (Zymura, Ophthotech). He has special dedication to the identification of subphenotypes, characterization of disease progression and development of biomarkers. He is committed to the understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease, as shown by a recent publication suggesting a novel hypothesis for the vicious cycle dynamics of GA progression linked to the toxicity of the drusen deposits and the activation of the retinal pigment epithelium.

He is a member of various research groups, including the Consensus of Atrophy (CAM) Study Group, whose main focus is increasing the understanding of atrophic AMD. Dr. Monés actively contributes to the specific objectives of the CAM group, which include generating an OCT-based GA classification, developing relevant clinical trial biomarkers and endpoints, deciphering the pathogenesis of the disease with imaging and histopathological correlations of the atrophic process, and assessing the intriguing role of the non-exudative neovascular AMD in the potential prevention of atrophy. He is currently Scientific Advisor of several Pharmaceutical (Roche, Novartis, Ophthotech, Apellis, Kodiek, Genentech, Allegro) and Biotech Companies, such as the CellCure and Reneuron in the stem cell regenerative therapy field, for GA and retinitis pigmentosa respectively. Currently he is member of the TALON Steering Committee, the European Apellis Committee and the EURETINA Educational Committee.

Dr. Monés has recently participated as Principal Investigator in four major collaborative projects funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Program: the EYERISK Consortium (with a special role in a novel phenotype/genotype cluster analysis that revealed non yet reported gene-phenotype associations, and in disease modelling and risk progression in AMD), the LITE Consortium (biophotonics, constructing and validating for clinical use an adaptative optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope in collaboration with the Institut de Ciències Fotòniques -ICFO-), the PRO4VIP Consortium (innovative public ophthalmological procurement) and the ADVANCECAT Consortium (creating a GA-like swine animal model and performing successful human iPSC-RPE transplantion into this model).

He has published widely in peer-reviewed scientific journals and specialty books and has given more than 300 talks at international congresses and meetings. Dr. Monés is a member of 12 scientific societies, being one of the few retinal specialists who belongs to all the four major retina societies: The Macula Society, The Retina Society, The Club Jules Gonin and The American Society of Retina Specialists.

Medical Association Registration Number: 51749

Dr. Juan Francisco Santamaría Álvarez is an Ophthalmologist, specialist in macula, retina and vitreous. Grade in Medicine and Surgery, he specialized in Ophthalmology via MIR at the Bellvitge University Hospital, where he still practices. His extensive complementary training includes a Master's degree in pathology and surgery of the posterior segment of the eyeball taught by the Barraquer University Institute, a Fellow of the European Board of Ophthalmology and the training program for retina experts of the Spanish Society of Retina and Vitreous (SERV ), where he obtained the first place offered. He is the author and co-author of different articles published in specialized journals.

License number: 40.737

Dr. Paula Verdaguer Agustí is an MD, PhD, Ophthalmologist specialising in the cornea, refractive surgery and cataracts. A graduate in Medicine and Surgery from the Universitat de Barcelona, she subsequently specialised in Ophthalmology at the city’s Clínica Oftalmològica Barraquer. After her residency, she took a Fellowship in Refractive Surgery at the Institut Català de Retina. At the Institut de Microcirurgia Ocular, she took a Master’s Degree in cornea, refractive surgery and cataracts. She is currently working on her doctorate project at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She has participated in the courses of the European School for Advanced Studies in Ophthalmology (ESASO) in Lugano, Switzerland and she has collaborated with the University Eye Clinic of the Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC).

Dr. Verdaguer has specialised in the pathology of the cornea, ocular surface and conjunctiva. She performs refractive surgery using the excimer laser, implantation of phakic lenses, toric lenses and presbyopia correction lenses together with cataract surgery with state of the art technology.

In recent years, she has published articles in international journals, chapters in specialist volumes and has participated in national and international conferences and meetings.

She is a member of six scientific societies including the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) and the Sociedad Española de Cirugía Ocular Implanto-Refractiva (SECOIR).

License number: 51.305

Dr. Marc Rosell Raventós is an ophthalmologist specializing in Glaucoma and Cataract surgery. He graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the International University of Catalonia and is a resident of Ophthalmology at the Hospital Fundació Assistencial Mútua de Terrassa. There he gained experience in conventional cataract surgery, as well as in the extracapsular technique and anterior chamber lens implantation. He specialized there in Glaucoma surgery. He masters techniques such as deep non-penetrating sclerotomy, Ahmed valve implantation, and XEN microimplantation—a less invasive technique that reduces both surgical time and complications, and improves the patient's quality of life postoperatively.

He is a member of the Spanish Society of Glaucoma and the Catalan Society of Ophthalmology.

License number: 38.579

Dr. Nieto Enríquez is an ophthalmologist who specialises in ocular plastic surgery. A graduate in Medicine and Surgery from the Universitat de Barcelona, he then specialised in ophthalmology at the city’s Hospital Vall d’Hebron. After passing the examinations to obtain a medical licence in the United States, he was selected by the University of Michigan to undertake a subspecialisation programme in ocular plastic surgery of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS), becoming the first Spanish ophthalmologist to complete an ASOPRS programme.

Dr. Nieto specialises in cosmetic surgery of the eyelids through the use of minimally invasive techniques which avoid visible scars, together with surgery-free facial rejuvenation through state of the art medical treatments. He's also a specialist in reconstructive surgery of the eyelid, orbit and tear duct.

He's a member of the world’s most important scientific societies in ocular plastic surgery including the European Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Licence number: 13566.

Psychologist. Psychotherapist. He earned his Psychology degree at the Universitat de Barcelona and UNED. Trained in behaviour therapy, strategic brief therapy and solution focused therapy. Postgraduate degree in the Special Needs of Visually Impaired Pupils at UNED. Psychologist specialised in adjustment to low vision and blindness. Since 2005 he's worked for the Visual Disability Association of Catalonia both in individual psychological care and also self-help groups.

Diploma in Nursing from the Escola Universitària d’Infermeria Blanquerna, Universitat Ramon Llull.

Patient Care Department. Visit control and management. Attending to patients in person. Support for telephone assistance and administration.

Master’s Degree in Clinic Research applied to Health Sciences from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Diploma in Optics and Optometry from the University School of Optics and Optometry of Terrassa.