2010 ARVO/Champalimaud Award Lecture

Kathy Spahn, President and CEO of HKI, has given the third annual ARVO/Champalimaud lecture in Florida.

Kathy Spahn, President and CEO of Helen Keller International (HKI), was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on May 5th to give the third ARVO / Champalimaud Award Lecture. The Champalimaud Foundation honoured HKI with the 2009 António Champalimaud Vision Award for its programmes in 22 countries that combat malnutrition, cataract, trachoma, onchocerciasis and refractive error. In particular HKI has been instrumental in creating programmes to control vitamin A deficiency in children and currently offers these programmes in 13 countries in Africa and five countries in Asia. HKI’s work helps to save the sight and lives of millions of children every year.

The Champalimaud Foundation was represented by Executive Committee member, António Borges. In praising HKI’s contributions to the developing world Prof. Borges noted that, “…[P]hilanthropy will continue to expand, as more and more people wonder how to apply their wealth responsibly and how to give back to society at least part of what society gave to them. For those institutions and those generous individuals the key challenge is how to spend their money well. This is why Helen Keller International is of such importance to us. They prove that it can be done; that money will be well used; that results will be tangible and will have a far reaching impact on millions of people. It is their success, their merit, their single minded dedication that fuel philanthropy, motivate donors and help us build a better world.”

ARVO - The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology - is the world’s biggest organisation in the field of vision, with over 12,000 members from 73 different countries. The ARVO/Champalimaud lecture marks a continuation of the strong relationship between the Champalimaud Foundation and ARVO, which began in 2006 when the Champaliamud Award was announced in the meeting’s keynote speech by the ARVO President, Larry Takamoto.

The António Champalimaud Vision Award has the support of Vision 2020 – The Right To Sight, a global initiative for the prevention of blindness launched in association with the World Health Organisation and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. The award is given alternately between contributions to overall vision research (even numbered years) and contributions to the alleviation of visual problems, primarily in developing countries (odd numbered years). The recipients of the award are productive laboratories/organisations or collaborative efforts rather than single individuals. This may involve groups from more than one institution or discipline. The entry period for the 2011 award will open on October 1st and close on December 31st 2010.

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