(PRESS RELEASE) CHICAGO – Prevent Blindness, the nation’s oldest volunteer eye health and safety organization, is issuing the call for nominations for the “2023 Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health,” and the fourth annual “Rising Visionary Award.” Both awards will be formally presented at the 12th Annual Prevent Blindness Focus on Eye Health Summit, on July 12-13, 2023.
A volunteer committee will review all nominations and select the award recipients. The submission deadline for both awards is Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, at noon ET. The recipients or representatives (if a group or organization) must be available to present (virtually) at the 2023 Focus on Eye Health Summit.
The Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health recognizes an individual, group, or organization that has made a significant contribution to the field of public health and vision and eye health at the community, state, national, and/or international level. The highest honor that Prevent Blindness bestows, the award is a tribute to Jenny Pomeroy, who was the CEO of Prevent Blindness Georgia from 1996 until 2013, and an accomplished leader in advancing public health and policy for vision and eye health issues.
The recipient of the 2022 Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health was VOSH/International, a volunteer-based organization. Past award recipients include R.V. Paul Chan, MD, MSc, MBA, FACS, Professor and Head, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The John H. Panton, MD Professor of Ophthalmology, Director, Pediatric Retina and ROP Service at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC); the Children’s Vision Rehabilitation Program (CVRP) at West Virginia University (2020); Cynthia Owsley, PhD, MSPH, Nathan E. Miles Chair of Ophthalmology and Director of the Clinical Research Unit at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (2019); the Johns Hopkins University School-Based Eye Care Team (2018); John E. Crews, DPA, retired from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017); Bruce Moore, OD, retired from the New England College of Optometry (2016); and Richard T. Bunner, retired from the Ohio Department of Public Health (2015).
The fourth annual Prevent Blindness Rising Visionary Award is presented annually to a student or resident in a health-related field who submits the best overall application and essay addressing the 2023 Focus on Eye Health Summit theme, “Why the Eye?”
The 2022 Rising Visionary Award co-recipients were Marissa K. Shoji, MD, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and Hursuong Vongsachang, MD, MPH, Massachusetts Eye and Ear. Other past recipients include Shervonne Poleon, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB); and Araba Otoo, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and graduate from The Ohio State University College of Optometry.
“Collectively, these two awards provide us an opportunity to celebrate contributors who have a long-standing record of public health work related to vision and the eyes, as well as emerging leaders in the area,” said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. “We strongly encourage all those who have created positive change in this area to submit nominations today for our Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health, or Rising Visionary Award, to be recognized for their sight-saving efforts.”
For more information on the Prevent Blindness Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health, please visit here. Information on the Prevent Blindness Rising Visionary Award may be found here. Or contact Nita Sinha, director of Public Health, at npatelsinha@preventblindness.org.