CVOP Winter Webinar 2025:
Retinal function and light exposure in mood disorders: Bridging biology and clinical applications
Monday, December 8, 2025 from 12 - 2 pm ET
CVOP’s Education Committee is excited to present the CVOP Winter 2025 Webinar: Retinal function and light exposure in mood disorders: Bridging biology and clinical applications
Register for the webinar here.
Kathrin Nickel, MD
Freiburg, Germany
Retinal dysfunction as a correlate of affective disorders
Prof. Dr. Kathrin Nickel is Adjunct Professor at Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Germany. She is a board-certified psychiatrist and psychotherapist and senior consultant at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg. She leads the research group Visual Neuroscience and is a fellow of the Berta Ottenstein Advanced Clinician Scientist Program.
Marc Hébert, PhD
Québec, Canada
Uncovering the Biological Mechanisms of Light Therapy in Seasonal Affective Disorder via Retinal Assessment
Marc Hébert is a professor of ophthalmology at Université Laval and Associate Scientific Director at the CERVO Brain Research Center. A leading expert in photobiology, he has demonstrated the therapeutic effects of light therapy in seasonal affective disorder by identifying retinal function anomalies in affected individuals. His research has led to several patents, including one for a novel light modality designed to boost alertness in night-shift workers, and another that uses retinal light response as a biomarker for psychiatric conditions. Dr. Hébert served as president of the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms (2010–2012) and was editor-in-chief of ChronoPhysiology and Therapy until 2020.
Julia Maruani, MCU-PH
Paris, France
Light, sleep, retina: a predictive model of seasonal depression
Julia Maruani is a psychiatrist and sleep physician (MCU-PH) at the Chronos Center, Bichat Hospital, a national reference center for psychiatry, sleep, and chronobiology.
She conducts researches within the Inserm Neurodiderot unit, where she focusses on the identification of depression biomarkers related to light signaling pathways, as well as on predictive biomarkers of response to light therapy.
Discussant:
Steven Silverstein, PhD
Webinar Host:
On behalf of the CVOP Education Committee