Newswise — Rockville, Md. – Justine Smith, FRANZCO, PhD, FARVO (Flinders University) is the new president of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). She succeeds Peng T. Khaw, MD, PhD, FARVO (Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology), whose one-year term ended this month following the ARVO Annual Meeting.
“It’s an honor to serve as president of this international group of leading and emerging leaders in eye and vision research,” said Smith. “I look forward to collaborating with our members in the coming year as we explore our efforts advancing areas as diverse as neuroscience, tissue imaging and preventative medicine under the ARVO 2014 theme, ‘Leading Eye and Vision Research.’”
John S. Penn, PhD, FARVO (Vanderbilt University School of Medicine), and David R. Williams, PhD, FARVO (University of Rochester School of Medicine) are the new vice presidents. William F. Mieler, MD (University of Illinois at Chicago), has been named president-elect and will serve the 2014 – 2015 term. Carol B. Toris, PhD, FARVO (University of Nebraska Medical Center), is the vice-president-elect for that term.
In addition, ARVO members elected two new trustees to the board. Sarah E. Coupland, MBBS, PhD (University of Liverpool), will represent the Anatomy Pathology (AP) Section and Claude F. Burgoyne, MD, FARVO (Devers Eye Institute/Legacy Research Institute), will represent the Glaucoma (GL) Section. The new trustees began their terms immediately after the 2013 Annual Meeting. ARVO trustees serve a five-year term. See the Board of Trustee roster.
Biographical Sketches
President: Justine Smith, FRANZCO, PhD, FARVO Smith is professor of Eye & Vision Health, Clinical and Molecular Medicine at Flinders University in South Australia. Previously she was professor of Ophthalmology and Schnitzer Professor of Ophthalmic Research at the Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University. Smith obtained her MBBS degree at the University of Adelaide and her PhD degree at Flinders University, both in Australia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists. Smith has served as chair of the ARVO Immunology/Microbiology (IM) Section of the Annual Meeting Program Committee, on the ARVO Members-in-Training Committee and on the ARVO Long-Range Planning Committee. She also co-organized the 2008 ARVO Summer Eye Research Conference on ocular autoimmunity and inflammation. Smith was named an ARVO Silver Fellow in 2010 and a Gold Fellow in 2013.
President-elect William F. Mieler, MD Mieler is professor and vice-chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He is also program director and vitreoretinal fellowship director at UIC. He has been a principle investigator or collaborator on 10 National Eye Institute funded trials and has participated in over 50 collaborative clinical trials. He and his scientific collaborators have presented in excess of 125 abstracts at the ARVO Annual Meeting over the past 20 years. Mieler has served on the ARVO Retina Program Planning Committee of the Annual Meeting Program Committee and the Long-Range Planning Committee.
Vice President-elect: Carol B. Toris, PhD, FARVO Toris is a professor and director of glaucoma research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She and her colleagues combine clinical studies and animal models to study effects of the glaucomatous disease process on fluid flow within the eye and how it can be treated with different glaucoma medications and drainage devices to lower the eye pressure. Toris has served as the chair and member of the ARVO Animals in Research Committee, on the Diversity Issues Committee and as a Physiology/Pharmacology (PH) member of the ARVO Annual Program Committee. She has been named an ARVO Gold Fellow in recognition of her service to the organization.
# # #
The Association for Research and Vision in Ophthalmology (ARVO) is the largest eye and vision research organization in the world. Members include more than 12,500 eye and vision researchers from over 80 countries. ARVO encourages and assists research, training, publication and knowledge-sharing in vision and ophthalmology.
RSS