Miriam Kolko

Miriam Kolko is the chief physician and glaucoma specialist at the Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet-Glostrup. Moreover, she is a Professor in Translational Eye Research at the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology at the University of Copenhagen.

Prof. Kolko is president of the Danish Glaucoma Society and board member of Fight for Sight, Denmark.

She has several joint publications with Professor Tor Paaske Utheim and is very interested in the association between treatment of glaucoma and dry eye disease. She and is on the Editorial Board of Oftalmolog.

During medical school, Dr. Kolko completed a Fulbright Scholarship at the Neuroscience Center of Excellence, Louisiana State University, US. Here, she gained an interest in basic neuroscience. Following medical school, she conducted a PhD and a post-doctoral position in the same laboratory. In 2003, Prof. Kolko went back to Denmark after a total period of 5 years in the US. She completed a second post-doctoral position after which she underwent a residency in ophthalmology followed by a 3-year glaucoma fellowship.

From 2014 to 2017 Prof. Kolko directed glaucoma in the Region of Zealand until she recently was assigned to her current position. At the University of Copenhagen, Prof. Kolko is heading the research cluster “Personalised Medicine” https://drug.ku.dk/clusters/personalised-medicine/.

Moreover, Prof. Kolko is heading the research group, Eye Translational Research Unit (EyeTRU). The research in EyeTRU concerns cellular, translational, epidemiological, and clinical models to understand glaucomatous neurodegeneration.

Prof. Kolko has received more recognition. Most recently, she received the first given “Award of excellence, 2018” by the Danish Ophthalmological Society, and Lions Prize, 2018. She was listed on The Ophthalmologist’s Power List in 2021. Prof. Kolko is co-chairing the neuroprotection SIG in the EGS and board member of the EGS communication committee.

Overall, Prof. Kolko is one of the few clinician-scientists that bridge between a clinical career with medical and surgical treatment of glaucoma patients and basic and translational research models to understand the pathophysiology behind as well as the current management of glaucoma.