Francine Behar-Cohen, M.D.

Dr. Francine Behar-Cohen has served as professor and staff ophthalmologist at the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris since 2006. A retinologist, she is currently setting up a clinical research unit. Dr. Behar-Cohen received her M.D. and a Ph.D. in cellular biology from the Paris-Descartes University and did her internship in Paris hospitals and her residency in vitreoretinal surgery at the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris. In 2001, Dr. Behar-Cohen headed an Avenir team at France’s national institute of health and medical research (INSERM,) and in 2003 she founded INSERM Unit 598, dedicated to the physiopathology of eye diseases and therapeutic innovations. In 2008, this unit became the Cordelier Research Center, located in Paris. Dr. Behar-Cohen has been researching ocular drug delivery systems and pharmacology for more than ten years. She is also investigating intraocular infl ammation and the role of inflammation in retinal pathologies previously considered noninfl ammatory—including ADM and diabetic retinopathy. She is the author of more than 110 publications and about a dozen books or book chapters.