Zelia M. Correa

Dr. ZELIA CORREA received her BA in English and Portuguese literatures from the Faculdade Riopretense de Filosofia Ciências e Letras, São José do Rio Preto, Brazil; and her medical degree in 1989 from the Faculdade Medicina de Rio Preto, São José do Rio Preto, Brazil. She went on to complete her ophthalmology residency at Faculdade de Medicina de Marília, Brazil, and subsequent training in vitreo-retinal surgery , ocular oncology (Wills Eye Institute, Philadelphia), ophthalmic pathology (Wills Eye Institute, Philadelphia), and a PhD in Vision Sciences from UNIFESP (Federal university of São Paulo, SP, Brazil). She completed her post-doctoral studies at moved McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

A professor of ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Dr. Correa holds a joint appointment in and oncology at The Sydney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. At Wilmer, she is the director of Echography and Ocular Oncology.

Dr. Correa specializes in ocular oncology and vitreoretinal surgery, focusing on clinical and translational research in uveal melanoma and retinoblastoma.

Prior to coming to Wilmer, she spent over a decade at the University of Cincinnati where she was the Mary Knight Asbury Endowed Chair of Ocular Oncology and Ocular Pathology and was part of the retinoblastoma service at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

She is very involved with professional organizations such as the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology (PAAO) and the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). She was the first international graduate of the AAO’s Leadership Development Program and went on to found and currently direct the PAAO’s Curso de Liderazgo  for the past 16 years. She also serves on the editorial board of JAMA Ophthalmology, TVST, Arquivos Brasileiros de Oftalmologia (Brazilian Archives of Ophthalmology), EyeNet magazine, and Retina Times.

Throughout her career, Dr. Correa has been recognized for her clinical expertise, academic achievement, and leadership. Most recently, she received the Senior Achievement Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Benjamin Boyd Humanitarian Award and the Ambassador for Education from the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology.