The inclusion of small amounts of cerium within the matrix of bioactive glasses, a class of materials used for bone tissue reparation and regeneration, adds a very important antioxidant property. In this work we investigate the local structure around cerium ions in cerium oxide doped bioactive phosphosilicate and silicate glasses, by X-ray absorption fine structure at the Ce K-edge, combined with classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The local structure of the active Ce sites results significantly different from the one in bulk cerium oxide phases. A contracted Ce-O first shell distance with respect to bulk oxides is detected, in full agreement with the results of MD simulations. The cerium environment in the glass matrix at different stages of the reaction with H2O2 does not show significant modifications, in spite of the very high catalytic activity. The accurate description of the active Ce sites within bioactive glasses reported in this work is an important step toward an atomic scale understanding of the material functionalities.