Prevent Blindness Announces Recipient of Twelfth Annual Joanne Angle Investigator Award
– Research Grant Awarded to Dr. Gayathri Srinivasan, New England College of Optometry –
CHICAGO (June 4, 2015)– Prevent Blindness, the nation’s oldest volunteer eye health and safety organization, announced today the recipient of its 2015 Joanne Angle Investigator Award. This year’s selected recipient is Gayathri Srinivasan, OD, MS, FAAO, and Assistant Professor, at the New England College of Optometry.
The 2015 Joanne Angle Investigator Award has been presented for the study, “Approaches for Identifying Children, Birth to Three Years of Age, at Risk of Having Vision Problems – Novel Visual Development Assessment Tool; Behavioral Screening; Photoscreening – A Pilot Study.”
The Joanne Angle Investigator Awards are research grants presented annually to scientifically-based studies that seek to end unnecessary vision loss. To date, Prevent Blindness has awarded more than $1 million to eye and vision research projects. The program is part of the non-profit group’s more than 100-year-old mission to prevent unnecessary vision loss. All applications are reviewed and selection made by a volunteer expert panel of scientists.
The award was recently renamed after Joanne Angle who served with the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) for many years as well as volunteered for Prevent Blindness as part of the National Board of Directors and various committees.
The goal of the “Approaches for Identifying Children Birth to Three Years of Age at Risk of Having Vision Problems” project is to:
1. Study the validity of using a novel visual development questionnaire in early education settings to identify children from birth to three years of age at risk for having vision problems and requiring comprehensive eye exams.
2. Evaluate the efficacy of photoscreening and behavioral vision screening when performed by non-eye care personnel in children from birth to three years of age in an early education setting compared to the gold standard of comprehensive eye exams.
“Our goal for this research is to develop feasible screening tools for vision assessment in the 0-3 population which will ideally help to put all children on a path to a lifetime of healthy vision,” said Dr. Srinivasan.
Recently, the National Expert Panel of the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health (NCCVEH) at Prevent Blindness published recommendations providing an evidence-based approach to vision screening in children ages 3 through 5, as well as system-based public health strategies to ensure improved surveillance and program accountability as it relates to children’s vision in the United States. The results of Dr. Srinivasan’s study will provide additional data to the Center to help create comprehensive strategies to address vision health in the 0-3 age group.
“In 1908, Prevent Blindness began as an organization dedicated to saving sight in newborns,” said Hugh R. Parry, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. “Dr. Srinivasan’s research continues this tradition by seeking a better understanding of how to address vision health issues unique to infants and toddlers.”
For more information on the Prevent Blindness 2015 Joanne Angle Investigator Awards, or for free information on children’s vision issues, please call Prevent Blindness at (800) 331-2020.
Download a copy of the Joanne Angle Investigator Award press release.
