ValenciaFernandes
PhD
Location
San Francisco, CA, United States
Current Organization
University of California, San Francisco
Biography
Dr. Valencia Fernandes is a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of California, San Francisco. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from NIPER-Hyderabad, where she studied how epigenetic changes in diabetes affect the brain. Her postdoctoral work focuses on how complement activation in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) contributes to dry age-related macular degeneration. With expertise spanning neurodegeneration, mitochondrial biology, and immunology, she is investigating how STAT3, a key protein activated by complement signalling disrupts retinal structure and function. Her goal is to uncover therapies that protect vision by preserving the health of the RPE.
I am grateful to BrightFocus Foundation and its donors for supporting this work and for empowering early-career scientists like me to contribute to solving urgent problems in vision science.