Professional Background
Susana Marcos is an acclaimed researcher in the field of visual optics and ocular imaging. She is a pioneer in the development of new techniques for the evaluation of the eye, including retinal imaging instruments, aberrometers, adaptive optics, anterior segment imaging of the eye and intraocular lens designs.
Dr. Marcos earned her Bachelor and PhD degrees in Physics at the University of Salamanca, Spain. Before coming to Rochester, she was Director of the Institute of Optics, CSIC (2008-2012), Spain, and Professor of Research at CSIC, where she founded the Visual Optics and Biophonics Lab in 2000. Prior to her tenure at CSIC (the top research institution in Spain, and #7 public research institution in the world), she was a postdoctoral Fellow (funded by Fulbright and Human Frontier Fellowships) at the Schepens Eye Research Institute (Harvard Medical School).
In July 2021 she was appointed Director of CVS, with dual affiliation in Optics and in Ophthalmology at the University of Rochester. She holds a “Viculated Doctorship” at the Institute of Optics, where she supervises a multidisciplinary, international team of more than 25 members. Her research programs at the University of Rochester address emerging technologies for myopia, presbyopia and cataract corrections.
Professor Marcos has published more than 180 highly cited research articles, and is the inventor of 20 patent families (14 licensed to the industry). Her research has been key in spin-off companies Plenoptika and 2EyesVision, which she co-funded in 2015. These companies commercialize the Quicksee and the SimVis technologies respectively.
Dr. Marcos has supervised 20 doctoral theses and delivered more than 250 talks at international conferences.
She has led publicly and privately funded projects including European Research Council Advanced Grants PRESBYOPIA and SILK-EYE, H2020-ICT Innovation Action IMCUSTOMEYE, ERC Proof of Concept Grants OCT4IOL, SimVisSim and LIGHT-IOL, ITN-Marie Sklodowska -Curie Actions OPAL and MyFUN.
Recognitions to her work include the Adolph Lomb Medal (Optical Society), ICO Prize (International Commission for Optics), Doctor Honoris Causa by the Ukraine Academy of Science and Technology, OSA Fellow, EOS Fellow, ARVO Fellow, Alcon Research Institute Award, Borish Scholar Award (Indiana University), Physics, Innovation and Technology Award (Royal Spanish Society of Physics-BBVA Foundation), Honor Plate of the Spanish Association of Scientists, Julio Pelaez Award to Women Engineers (Tatiana Perez de Guzman el Bueno Foundation), Ramón y Cajal Medal (Royal Academy of Sciences), King Jaime I Award, and National Research Award in Engineering (Government of Spain), the two latter awarded by the King of Spain.
Marcos is actively involved in professional societies and has served in various positions at the Optical Society (among many others as Director-at-Large, and currently in the Publications Council), The Spanish Society of Optics, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and the MIT M + Vision Consortium.
She has been an editor for Vision Research, Biomedical Optics Express, Optica (OSA), and Scientific Culture Editorial Board (CSIC). Marcos has also been President of the Technical Scientific Committee of the National Research Agency, and she is a member of numerous advisory boards in international organizations and companies.