Carmen Colitz, DVM, PhD, Diplomate, ACVO, MBA, is a Board-certified Veterinary Ophthalmologist at MedVet Jupiter.
Dr. Colitz attended the University of Tennessee, where she earned a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine degree and a Doctorate of Comparative and Experimental Medicine.
Dr. Colitz worked for two years at the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine and then spent five years at The Ohio State University’s veterinary teaching hospital as a clinician and researcher. Dr. Colitz discovered telomerase (a cancer protein) in the normal and cataractous lens, and researched the molecular biology of cataractogenesis and posterior capsular opacification (PCO). She was also involved in research to evaluate lutein and grapeseed extract as well as other antioxidants in their anti-cataractogenic and anti-PCO effects.
Dr. Colitz has written or co-written almost 80 peer reviewed publications and 19 book chapters and is Past-President of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists.
Over the course of her career, Dr. Carmen Colitz has worked with numerous animal species and has performed thousands of ophthalmic surgeries on companion pets, marine mammals, and other exotic species, including eels.
When not practicing medicine, Dr. Colitz loves traveling, and some of her bucket list trips still include South Island, New Zealand, Tasmania, Slovenia, and Alaska to see Steller sea lions and Orcas in the wild. She is also bilingual; she speaks Spanish and a little French after studying at La Sorbonne in Paris many years ago. And she is obsessed with pinnipeds, aka seals, sea lions, and walrus!
