Annual Award Recognizes Outstanding Efforts to Improve Eye Health Services for Children in the United States
The National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness (NCCVEH) has issued the call for nominations for the sixth annual “Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award.” The award recognizes significant efforts by an individual or group of individuals to improve public health approaches for children’s vision and eye health at the state or national level. The deadline for submission is June 5, 2020.
The award will be presented to the recipient at the virtual Annual Meeting of the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health (Date in August or September TBD). Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the award will be presented virtually and the recipient will give a presentation virtually.
The award consists of a commemorative plaque, recognition and opportunity to present at the Annual Meeting, roundtrip economy airfare for one, and one night of lodging. The award recipient will be featured on the website for the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health with an overview of their innovative approaches to children’s vision and eye health systems. An all-volunteer committee for the Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award will review all nominations and select the award winner.
In 2014, the Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award was established by the NCCVEH Advisory Committee to commemorate Bonnie Strickland and her groundbreaking work to establish a comprehensive system for children’s vision in the United States. Strickland served as Director of the Division of Services for Children with Special Health Needs, Maternal and Child Health Bureau prior to her retirement in 2014.
“At Prevent Blindness we believe that all children deserve an improved system to ensure that vision problems are identified early and treated in a timely manner, standards for screening and care are uniform across the country, and that appropriate surveillance and preventive interventions are in place,” said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. “Through this award, we are able to recognize the efforts of others who are helping to put our kids on the path toward a lifetime of healthy vision and are making significant changes that others can learn from and emulate.”
Nominees for the Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award may include an individual or group comprised of diverse stakeholders, including family/caregiver and community leaders, who are implementing changes to improve children’s vision in the United States. Nominees should be able to demonstrate an impact in one or more areas of a public health system supporting children’s vision:
- Key Stakeholder Engagement or Collaboration, including representation from families and diverse racial/ethnic/geographic and socio-economic levels target populations
- Training and Education
- Public Awareness
- Provision of Resources and/or Services
- Surveillance and Accountability
- Reduction of Health Disparities
- Infrastructure Development-Local, State, or National Level
- Making the connection between vision and overall health, early childhood development and learning
The 2019 Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award was presented to Anne L. Coleman, M.D., MPH, UCLA Stein Eye Institute, for her efforts to improve children’s vision through stakeholder engagement, resource development, and services to high-risk populations of children, specifically through her work at the UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic (UMEC). Additional past recipients include the Vision in Preschoolers (VIP) Study Group, Richard Bunner, retired from the Ohio Department of Health; Sean P. Donahue, MD, Ph.D., Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt University; the Illinois Eye Institute (IEI) at Princeton Vision Clinic; and the Pediatric Physicians’ Organization at Children’s (PPOC).
For more information or to submit a nomination for the 2020 Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award, or contact Donna Fishman at (800) 331-2020 or [email protected].
