Dr. Eve J. Higginbotham is Professor of Ophthalmology at Emory University School of Medicine and a clinician-scientist whose career spans academic medicine leadership, glaucoma research, and health equity. An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she served as the inaugural Vice Dean for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania (2013–2024). She currently sees patients at Grady Hospital, serving Atlanta’s most vulnerable communities.

Her career spans leadership at the University of Maryland, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Howard University, where she became the first woman to chair a department of ophthalmology at a U.S. academic medical center. She has also served as a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers, the MIT Corporation, the Defense Health Board, and Ascension Health—the second largest private health system in the United States—and currently serves on the Board of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. She is a member of the National Advisory Committee of the Macy Faculty Fellows program.

A Vice Chair of the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study, Dr. Higginbotham is the author of more than 195 peer-reviewed publications and co-editor of four textbooks, with numerous special reports completed under the auspices of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the Department of Defense. She is a leading researcher in glaucoma and health equity.

She holds S.B. and S.M. degrees in chemical engineering from MIT, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and a master’s in law (ML) from Penn Carey Law School at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Higginbotham completed her residency in ophthalmology at LSU and a glaucoma fellowship at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston.

Dr. Higginbotham continues to publish in ophthalmology, health policy, and health equity—with particular focus on advancing care for underserved communities—and actively mentors faculty, trainees, and students across the country.