Address

243 Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02114

Dr. Nazlee Zebardast

Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
Director of Glaucoma Imaging

Massachusetts Eye and Ear
Harvard Medical School

Profiles

Harvard Catalyst Profile

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Profile

LinkedIn

Twitter

Biography

Nazlee Zebardast, MD, MSc, is the Director of Glaucoma Imaging and Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School. Dr Zebardast completed her medical degree at Yale School of Medicine, followed by Ophthalmology residency training and glaucoma fellowship at Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2018.

Dr. Zebardast is a clinician scientist and specializes in the treatment of adult glaucoma and combined glaucoma and cataracts. She was selected for the NIH/NEI-funded K12 Harvard-Vision Clinical Scientist Training Program as well as the Gliklich Innovation Scholarship program in 2019. She is currently funded by an NIH K23 career development award, an NIH R21 award, Research to Prevent Blindness Career development award and the American Glaucoma Society Clinician Scientist Award.

Dr. Zebardast has received numerous awards and honors for her academic and research accomplishments and has published in many top ophthalmology journals. She has made significant contributions to global epidemiologic research having helped established the Indian Family Angle Closure Evaluation with colleagues at Aravind Eye Institute in Southern India. Her work has shed light on sociodemographic disparities in care of glaucoma patients. Her research on comparative effectiveness and outcomes in glaucoma surgery had helped delineate which patients may benefit most from these procedures.

Dr. Zebardast’s current research focuses on developing precision medicine-based tools for disease detection, aiding clinicians in assessing for disease progression and eventually optimizing patient-related outcomes. She is currently working to define image-based and longitudinal endophenotypes for glaucoma using machine learning methods and to understand the genetic underpinning of vision loss in this blinding disease. This work aims to combine clinical phenotypes and genetic background to improve assessment of disease risk for any individual.  

Dr Zebardast served on the American Academy of Ophthalmology Task Force of Enhancing Workforce Diversity, is a member of the American Glaucoma Society Research Committee, and currently serves as an editor for Ophthalmology and Ophthalmology Glaucoma and sits on the Associate Advisory Board for the World Glaucoma Association.

Education

  1. 2021 - Present

    MPH in Quantitative methods

    Harvard School of Public Health
  2. 2017 - 2018

    Glaucoma fellow/assistant in Ophthalmology

    Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University
  3. 2014 - 2017

    Ophthalmology resident

    Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University
  4. 2014

    Medicine Internship

    Yale New Haven Hospital
  5. 2013

    MD

    Yale School of Medicine
  6. 2012

    Research fellow

    Glaucoma department, Wilmer Eye Institute
  7. 2009

    Research fellow

    Child study center, Yale Medical School
  8. 2007 – 2008

    MS

    University of Toronto, Canada
  9. 2003 – 2007

    BAS

    University of Toronto, Canada

Professional Appointments

  1. 2021 - Present
    Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School
    Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
  2. 2018 - 2020
    Instructor in Ophthalmology
    Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School
  3. 2014
    Transitional Year Internship
    Yale New Haven Hospital

Awards

  • 2023
    Achievement Award
    American Academy of Ophthalmology
  • 2023
    Secretariat Award
    American Academy of Ophthalmology
  • 2023
    Inspiration Award
    American Medical Association
  • 2022
    Anne Klibanski Scholar Award
    Mass General Brigham
  • 2019
    Peter K. Ranney Innovation Award
    World Medical Innovations Forum
  • 2017
    Paul S. Lietman Global Travel Fellowship
    Johns Hopkins University
  • 2016
    American Glaucoma Society Bernard Schwartz Memorial Award
    American Glaucoma Society
  • 2015 and 2016
    Wilmer Mitchell Prize for Best Research
    Wilmer residency program
  • 2008
    Graduate scholarship
    National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada