Dr Kapetanovic is an MRC Clinician Scientist and a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology where she leads The Interventional Genetics and Robotics for Retinal Disease Research Group. Kapetanovic group focuses on developing groundbreaking therapies for inherited and acquired retinal degeneration and robotic delivery approaches to treat blindness. Kapetanovic received her undergraduate (MA in Physiological Sciences, Balliol College) and medical degrees at the University of Oxford. She was awarded the UK's first NIHR integrated clinical academic fellowship programme in ophthalmology and has since awarded Masters in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (First Class) and a PhD in Medicine (gene therapy and optogenetics) via the MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship at the University of Manchester, UK. Her PhD in optogenetic vision restoration was awarded the prestigious Russell Medal for the best UK paper in vision research and several outstanding awards including the MRC Centenary Award and Retinitis Pigmentosa Fighting Blindness Award. As a Keeler scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, she conducted a post-doctoral fellowship into vector biology for therapeutic delivery to retina. She completed the specialist training and was admitted as a fellow (FRCOphth) into the UK Royal College of Ophthalmologists and has won over 30 awards during her early career as an academic ophthalmologist. She is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon specialised in cataract and vitreoretinal surgery, and as an MRC Clinician Scientist she is currently working on developing innovative surgical techniques including robot-assisted retinal surgery for future applications in genetic therapies. 

Kapetanovic's research focuses on vision restoration by interventional genetics and robotics. She works on developing therapies for inherited retinal degenerations, the leading cause of blindness in the working population, as well as therapies for more common forms of blindness, the age related macular degeneration (AMD), retinal vein occlusions and glaucoma. Kapetanovic has previously led pioneering gene therapy trials with Robert MacLaren for choroideremia, RPGR X-linked retinitis pigmentosa and dry AMD at clinical centres at Oxford, Manchester and the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. She was also involved in retinal prosthesis and robotic eye surgery trials. Kapetanovic now leads independent programmes in basic science research, translational research and clinical trials for retinal disease. 

The 2024 Manchester Vision Keynote Award

The 2023 German Ophthalmic Surgery Society Keynote Lecture Award on Robotic Eye Surgery.

The 2023 Thomas Willis Intermediate Career Researcher Prize Winner, Oxford University.

The 2023 Ruskell Medal for the best published paper in vision sciences (awarded to co-author Dr Cristina Martinez), The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers Research Awards, UK

The 2020 Ruskell Medal Runner Up, The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers Research Awards, UK

American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Excellence in Research Award, 2020

American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Meritorious Abstract Travel Award, 2020

Global Ophthalmology Awards Programme Fellowship, Bayer, 2018/2019

International Congress of Ophthalmological Societies Research Award, 2017

The Academy of Medical Sciences Research Prize, London, 2017

The 2016 Ruskell Medal, The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers Research Awards, London