FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information:
Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate
Laura Schwartz
800-301-2020 ext. 112
Columbus, OH (August 15, 2019) – An estimated 3.6 million Ohioans have vision problem and as the population ages, this number will only increase. To curb this growth, preventive steps must be taken including increased vision research, access to care, and education.
“The growth of vision loss and the overall impact of vision problems on individuals, their families and our society inspired the Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness to establish the Young Investigator Student Fellowship Award for Female Scholars in Vision Research,” said Sherry Williams, President & CEO of Prevent Blindness. “Our goal is to encourage female scientists at the beginning of their careers to pursue vision research that can contribute toward the early detection and treatment discoveries that will be needed to curb the growth of vision loss,” Williams continued.
Prevent Blindness is proud to announce that our Fellowship grants have been awarded to:
Naseem Amirmokhtari from Northeast Ohio Medical University is conducting her research on pediatric glaucoma. Her research involves studying sites located along the axons that are responsible for moving the electrical signals from the eye to the brain which may contribute to the eye-brain communication breakdown in pediatric glaucoma. Her goal is to better define how these changes relate to the progression of vision loss in pediatric glaucoma.
Gabrielle Frame from Northeast Ohio Medical University is researching the visual system and its possible relationship to Alzheimer’s disease. Her experiments will be the first to test the therapeutic potential of a specific medication to reduce and/or prevent Alzheimer’s disease pathology in the visual system and preserve vision.
Phuong Thai Lam from Miami University is developing a screening method which may offer a realistic approach to identify factors that promote human retina regeneration which has the potential of curing retina damage caused by injury or diseases including age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.
The fellowship recipients will present their research findings at a Prevent Blindness Scientific Forum in November 2019. The Forum will be open to the public. Contact Prevent Blindness for further information.
Prevent Blindness is accepting applications for its 2020 Young Investigator Student Fellowship Awards for Female Scholars in Vision Research. Grants will be awarded for the summer 2020 session. The deadline for receipt of applications is February 15, 2020. Applicants must be post-baccalaureate students enrolled in either a Master’s or a Doctorate program, female citizens or permanent residents of the United States and conducting their fellowship project with a recognized academic institution in the State of Ohio. For more information about the Fellowship and/or to access an application form, contact Prevent Blindness at 800-301-2020 ext. 112 or [email protected]. To download the application, go to:
About Prevent Blindness
Founded in 1908, Prevent Blindness is the nation’s leading volunteer eye health and safety organization dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. The Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness is Ohio’s leading volunteer nonprofit public health organization dedicated to preventing blindness and preserving sight. We serve all 88 Ohio counties, providing direct services to more than 1,000,000 Ohioans annually and educating millions of consumers about what they can do to protect and preserve their precious gift of sight. For more information or to make a contribution, call 800-301-2020.Or, visit us on the web at www.pbohio.org or facebook.com/pbohio. Or, visit us on the Web at preventblindness.org or facebook.com/preventblindness.