Roberts, Cynthia
Cynthia Roberts
Biography
Dr. Roberts holds dual appointments as Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and Professor of Biomedical Engineering. She currently holds the Martha G. and Milton Staub Chair for Research in Ophthalmology and serves as Director of Resident Research. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with distinction from the University of Iowa with four years’ experience working as a Registered Nurse at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She subsequently changed her career path to engineering and received a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering, both from The Ohio State University. For more than 30 years, she has focused her research in ocular engineering and mentored graduate students who now hold positions in academics and industry. She has given over 250 national and international invited presentations, and been named four times to the international Power List of the 100 Most Influential People in Ophthalmology. She has been recognized multiple times not only for her innovative research contributions, including the Distinguished Scholar Award, but also for Leadership and Service Toward the Upliftment of Women. In 2023, she received the inaugural College of Engineering Mentor of the Next Generation Award, as well as the Department of Biomedical Engineering Chair's Award for Outstanding and Exceptional Contribution to BME.
Expertise
Dr. Roberts’ current research interests focus on the clinical assessment of ocular biomechanics and clinical ocular diagnostic imaging technologies, including corneal topography/tomography and ocular coherence tomography of the anterior segment and retina. In ocular biomechanics, she is known for interpreting the complexity of biomechanical contribution to the development and progression of diseases, including cornea, sclera and whole eye motion under air-puff loading of the cornea which is used clinically to assess biomechanical response. She and her graduate students have shown that a stiffer sclera will limit corneal motion which led to the development of a clinically measurable parameter that was validated ex-vivo to represent scleral stiffness. The sclera is often overlooked but Dr. Roberts has shown its important contribution to biomechanical response in diabetes, ocular hypertension, and glaucoma. She has also reported in a recent publication how corneal stress distribution evolves with progression in keratoconus such that it might be predicted in advance and allow treatment to begin earlier in order to preserve vision. She has a strong record of worldwide collaboration with ophthalmologists, optometrists, vision scientists, and engineers, demonstrating her ability to both lead and participate in a collaborative approach to science. She has considerable experience working with companies that manufacture ophthalmic diagnostic devices, so she understands what it takes to move research from the lab to the market.