(PRESS RELEASE) CHICAGO — The National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness (NCCVEH) issued a call for nominations for the tenth 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. The deadline for submission is July 1, 2024, at noon ET.
Dr. Bonnie Strickland served as director of the Division of Services for Children with Special Health Needs, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, before her retirement in 2014. The award was created to commemorate her efforts to establish a comprehensive system of care for children’s vision in the United States.
A volunteer committee for the Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award will review nominations and select the winner. The Award will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the NCCVEH on Sept. 12, 2024. The award consists of a commemorative plaque, recognition, and opportunity to present at the Annual Meeting. The award recipient will be featured on the NCCVEH website with an overview of their innovative approaches to children’s vision and eye health systems.
Nominees for the Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award may be an individual or group comprised of diverse stakeholders, including family/caregiver and community leaders, public health, healthcare, education, etc., who are implementing changes to improve children’s vision in the United States and reduce disparities in children’s vision and eye health. Nominations are being sought of individuals or groups who seek out new and innovative solutions to barriers to healthy vision in children and have successfully implemented solutions that are replicable and sustainable.
Nominees should be able to demonstrate an impact in one or more areas of a population health system supporting children’s vision:
- Key stakeholder engagement or collaboration, including representation from families and diverse racial/ethnic/geographic and socio-economic levels from target populations
- Training and education
- Public awareness
- Provision of resources and/or services
- Surveillance and accountability
- Reduction of health inequities
- Vision and eye health infrastructure development- local, state, or national level
- Making the connection between vision and overall health, early childhood development and learning
One individual or one group recipient will be selected for the award.
The 2023 Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award was presented to Danielle Crull, ABOM, author, business owner of A Child’s Eyes, organizer of The Pumpkin Patch Project, and founder of the Truffles the Kitty Organization (TKO). Additional previous award winners include Donny W. Suh, MD, FAAP, MBA, FACS, chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, and professor, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, University of California, Irvine; Shavette Turner, vice president of Children’s Services at
Prevent Blindness Georgia; Logan Newman, NBCT, ABO, MS Ed, program developer and NYS Certified Science teacher, Career in Technical Experience Teacher, and founder of the East High School Vision Care Program; Anne L. Coleman, MD, MPH, UCLA Stein Eye Institute; the Vision in Preschoolers (VIP) Study Group; Richard Bunner, retired from the Ohio Department of Health; Sean P. Donahue, MD, PhD, 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).
“We are proud to be celebrating the 10th consecutive year honoring those who are making children’s vision and eye health a priority,” said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. “We hope that this year’s award winners will continue to inspire others to help put our kids on the path to a lifetime of healthy vision.”
For more information, or to submit a nomination for the 2024 Bonnie Strickland Champion for Children’s Vision Award, please visit here, or contact Donna Fishman, director of the NCCVEH, at dfishman@PreventBlindness.org.