Prevent Blindness America Issues Call for Applications for 2013 Investigator Awards
Grants Provide Funding for Sight-Saving Research
CHICAGO (Nov. 19, 2012)– Prevent Blindness America, the nation’s oldest volunteer eye health and safety organization, is announcing the call for applications for its 2013 Investigator Awards. The Prevent Blindness America Investigator Awards are research grants provided annually to public health projects that seek to put an end to unnecessary vision loss and blindness. Since its inception in 2003, the program has awarded more than $1 million to eye and vision research projects.
The deadline for the tenth annual Prevent Blindness America Investigator Awards is March 27, 2013. Grants are for a one-year period, up to $30,000 and reviewed by a panel of scientists in coordination with the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). The Awards will commence in the summer of 2013.
Applications will be accepted in the following priority areas in adult vision, children’s vision, or eye injury:
- Burden/economic aspects of eye disease/vision loss on society
- Best practices to integrate vision screening/follow-up care to system care access
- Vision program effectiveness/evaluation
“During the last decade, Prevent Blindness America has demonstrated its commitment to the prevention of unnecessary vision loss through the financial support of sight-saving projects that address a wide variety of programs, from eye disease to eye safety,” said Hugh R. Parry, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness America. “By working together with leading institutions in the field of vision-related study, we hope to eliminate preventable blindness in adults and children.”
The 2012 Investigator Award was provided to Alex V. Levin, MD, MHSc from the Wills Eye Institute in Philadelphia, Penn., for his project entitled “Cost and Effectiveness of an Eye Care Adherence Program for Philadelphia School Children with Significant Visual Impairment.”
Findings from a study that received the 2009 Investigator Award were published in the 2012 December issue of Pediatrics. The purpose of the study by Peter K. Kriz, M.D., of Hasbro Children’s Hospital, entitled “Effectiveness of Protective Eyewear in Reducing Severe Eye Injuries in High SchoolField Hockey Players,” was to determine whether mandated protective eyewear effectively reduces the incidence of severe eye injuries within a select population of female hockey players. According to his research, those who participated in states that have mandated protective eyewear had a reduced total head and face injury of 32 percent and a reduced eye/orbital injury rate of 80 percent.
Added Parry, “Because of the PBA Investigator Award program, we are able to obtain critical, scientifically-based data that will help us to promote the benefits of eye health and safety programs in the classroom, on the sports field and beyond. We encourage those who are seeking to improve vision health for all to join us on our mission and apply for the 2013 PBA Investigator Award today!”
For more information on the 2013 Investigator Awards please visit advocacy.preventblindness.org/investigator-awards; for information on sports eye safety visit advocacy.preventblindness.org/sports-eye-safety; or for general vision health information call (800) 331-2020 or visit advocacy.preventblindness.org/investigator-award-application-process.
Download a copy of the Investigator Award press release.
