Elena Bitrian Joins Bascom Palmer

ELENA BITRIAN, M.D., M.S., a board-certified adult and pediatric glaucoma specialist, joins the faculty of Bascom Palmer as an associate professor of ophthalmology, where she is an integral member of the Samuel & Ethel Balkan International Pediatric Glaucoma Center.

A scientific researcher with a focus on epidemiology of adult and pediatric glaucoma, as well as glaucoma surgical techniques, Bitrian also serves as the research director for the Childhood Glaucoma Research Network.

Bitrian received her medical degree and two master degrees (Hospital Management and Statistics in Health Sciences) from the University of Barcelona, Spain, and completed an ophthalmology residency at the Hospital Clinic i Provincial de Barcelona, followed by three years of glaucoma fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She then completed a second ophthalmology residency at the University of Minnesota where she intensively trained in pediatric glaucoma with Dr. Alana Grajewski. In 2015, Bitrian joined the faculty at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where she provided medical and surgical care for adult and pediatric patients with glaucoma.

She has received numerous awards including the Fundacion Caja Madrid Award, bestowed by the royal family of Spain for her research in medicine, the Gold Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award, Teacher of the Year and Outstanding Course Director awards at Mayo Clinic, a Mentoring for the Advancement of Physician Scientists award, and an Education Scholar Career Development award, among others. She has delivered numerous national and international invited speeches at conferences, published peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, and is one of the editors of the books Surgical Management of Childhood Glaucoma: Clinical Considerations and Techniques, and Childhood Glaucoma: a Compendium.

Dr. Bitrian is available for consultation on adult and pediatric glaucoma.