Kellogg Doctor receives Research to Prevent Blindness Award

Ann Arbor, MI - Victor M. Elner, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center has been granted a $55,000 Lew R. Wasserman Merit Award by Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB). Established in 1995, the Lew R. Wasserman Merit Award provides unrestricted support to mid-career physicians and scientists who hold faculty positions in departments of ophthalmology and who are actively engaged in eye research at medical institutions in the United States. Dr. Elner is one of 59 scientists at 30 institutions who have been honored with the award over the years.

"Dr. Elner's work has illuminated our understanding of the inflammatory process in the eye, and will open the door to new and novel treatments. He is an outstanding example of the clinician-scientist and richly deserving of this award, says Dr. Paul Lichter, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Chair.

RPB is the world's leading voluntary organization supporting eye research. Since it was founded in 1960, RPB has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions throughout the United States for research into all blinding eye diseases.

The U-M Kellogg Eye Center, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences is a premier eye care facility that provides vision care, medical/surgical eye care, professional and public education, and performs state-of-the-art ophthalmic research. The Eye Center has single locations in Ann Arbor, Brighton, Livonia, and West Bloomfield, and two locations in Ypsilanti.

Contact: Betsy Nisbet, 734.647.5586, bsnisbet@umich.edu.