Northern Virginia resident awarded Prevent Blindness Ohio Vision Research Fellowship
Prevent Blindness is proud to announce that a Vision Research Fellowship grant has been awarded to Northern Virginia resident Hejin Jeong.
Jeong, from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, is studying preventative therapies against the complications of diabetic retinopathy, which is a leading cause of blindness in adults in the United States. In particular, she aims to characterize the relationship between diabetic retinopathy and various lipid-lowering agents to understand whether such lipid-lowering agents can potentially help delay the progression of this sight-robbing disease.
The incidence of vision impairment and vision loss increases as the population ages and given the growth of the aging population, the number of people with impaired vision, including blindness, could skyrocket. To curb this growth, preventive steps must be taken including increased vision research, access to care and education.
“The growth of vision loss and the overall impact of vision problems on individuals, their families and our society inspired Prevent Blindness Ohio to establish the Young Investigator Student Fellowship Award for Female Scholars in Vision Research,” said Amy Pulles, President & CEO of Prevent Blindness Ohio. “Our goal is to encourage female scientists at the beginning of their careers to pursue vision research that can contribute toward the early detection and treatment discoveries that will be needed to curb the growth of vision loss.”
A Scientific Forum featuring presentations from the Fellowship recipients will be held virtually Nov. 15 from noon to 1 p.m. For more information, contact lauras@pbohio.org.
Register here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Scientificforum2023.
Founded in 1908, Prevent Blindness is the nation’s leading volunteer eye health and safety organization dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. The Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness serves all 88 Ohio counties, providing direct services to 1,000,000 Ohioans annually and educating millions of consumers about what they can do to protect and preserve their precious gift of sight. For more information, visit pbohio.org.