Dr. Jean Bennett is the F.M. Kirby Professor of Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. She is also the Director, Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics (CAROT), University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Bennett is a world leader and pioneering physician-scientist in the field of retinal (eye) gene therapy. She developed the first FDA-approved gene therapy for a genetic disease. Leber’s congenital amaurosis (LCA) is a rare genetic disease-causing blindness in children. Individuals who carry mutations in the gene, RPE65, have poor vision at birth and develop LCA, and eventually lose their sight. This treatment, known as LUXTURNA®, restored vision in children and adults with RPE65-related LCA and received historic FDA approval in 2017.

She has numerous patents for the genetic methods and technologies developed in her laboratory. Jean Bennet’s work has received many accolades including: the Sanford Lorraine Cross Award, the Antonio Champalimaud Vision Award, the Marian Spencer Fay Award and The Greenberg Prize End Blindness 2020 Award.
Dr. Bennett graduated with honors with her Bachelor of Science in biology from Yale University in 1976. She obtained a Ph.D. in Zoology, Cell and Development Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. Bennett received her Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) in from Harvard Medical School in 1986.