Glaucoma Research Foundation honored Vanderbilt’s David Calkins, PhD, with 2022 President’s Award at annual gala

Vanderbilt’s David Calkins, PhD, was honored with the 2022 President’s Award, presented by the Glaucoma Research Foundation, at the Glaucoma 360 Annual Gala last month.

Calkins, who is the Assistant Vice President for Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vice Chairman and Director for Research at Vanderbilt Eye Institute, and Director of the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, was recognized for his leadership and commitment to advancing glaucoma research.

David J. Calkins, PhD

“As the Chair of the Glaucoma Research Foundation’s Catalyst for a Cure Initiative and the Chair of our Research Committee, Dr. Calkins has provided invaluable guidance and inspiration,” Glaucoma Research Foundation (GRF) President and CEO, Thomas M. Brunner said. “We are honored to recognize David for his many contributions to vision research and his longstanding work with GRF first as a research scientist and now as an advisor.”

Calkins is the Denis M. O’Day Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at Vanderbilt, and has previously been awarded for his research contributions, including: an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Neuroscience Fellowship, the Lewis Rudin Glaucoma Prize of The New York Academy of Medicine, and the Wasserman, Senior Scientific, and Stein Innovation Awards from Research to Prevent Blindness. He was named a Gold Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in 2016 for his contributions to the vision research community. Additionally, he recently became an inaugural awardee of the Stanley Cohen Innovation Fund.

Not only has Calkins been recognized for his achievements in research advancement, he has also authored over 100 research articles, reviews, and book chapters that have appeared in key publications such as: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature, Science Translational Medicine, Progress in Retinal and Eye Research, Molecular Neurodegeneration, and Cell Death and Disease.

He has held editorial positions for neurology, ophthalmology, and neuroscience journals, and through his research has attained over 65 grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health, industry partners, and private foundations. He currently serves as Chair of the Glaucoma Research Foundation’s Catalyst for a Cure Vision Restoration Initiative and Research Committee and is a scientific advisor for several biotech companies across the world.

“GRF is truly indebted to David Calkins, PhD for his insightful and innovative research advances that are leading to better treatments and hopefully a cure for glaucoma, and may even help to solve other potentially devastating neurodegenerative diseases that affect so many people worldwide,” said Andrew Iwach, MD, Chair of the Glaucoma Research Foundation and Executive Director of the Glaucoma Center of San Francisco.