ARVO announces award winner, new board member

Rockville, MD-The Association for Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) has announced the next recipient of its Friedenwald Award and a new member of its supporting organization's governing board.

Ilene K. Gipson, PhD, will receive the Friedenwald Award, which recognizes outstanding research in the basic or clinical sciences as applied to ophthalmology, at the ARVO annual meeting in May 2007.

Dr. Gipson's areas of expertise are wound healing, epithelial anchorage, and mucin biology in the area of ocular surface function and cornea research. She is the Ocular Surface Scholar at Schepens Eye Research Institute, Boston, and a professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. Additionally, she is the founder and chairwoman of the Women's Eye Health Task Force, a multi-institutional effort working to preserve the vision of women and their families worldwide.

Dr. Abrams holds the Davis Barsky Chair in Ophthalmology and is professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit. Also, he directs the Kresge Eye Institute and the Ligon Research Center of Vision.

His research interests include proliferative vitreo-retinopathy and diabetic retinopathy.

Dr. Abrams was ARVO president in 2005, is a councilor for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and is a past president of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology.