Glaucoma Foundation launches annual innovation award

The Glaucoma Foundation in the US has created an award scheme for innovation and excellence in glaucoma, recognizing the contribution of individuals who have “played a unique and significant role in promoting the medicine and science of glaucoma”.

The first recipient of the annual award is Robert Ritch, MD, who founded The Glaucoma Foundation in 1984 and currently serves as the Foundation’s medical director and chairman of the scientific advisory board.

Dr Ritch - who has co-authored six books and over 1200 medical and scientific papers, book chapters, articles and abstracts on the subject of glaucoma, as well as holding the Shelley and Steven Einhorn Distinguished Chair in Ophthalmology and the post of Surgeon Director and Chief of Glaucoma Services at the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary, and Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at The New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York ­- will receive the award at The Glaucoma Foundation’s annual benefit gala, the Black and White Ball.

In addition to the Award for Innovation and Excellence in Glaucoma, The Glaucoma Foundation also sponsors two other annual accolades: The Kitty Carlisle Hart Award of Merit for Lifetime Achievement and the Corporate Visionary Award.