Champalimaud Award announced at ARVO meeting

The António Champalimaud Vision Award was announced to the scientific community at the ARVO meeting in Florida on May 30th.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 30th May – The “António Champalimaud Vision Award” was announced today at the ARVO ( The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology) meeting keynote. The €1.0 million science prize will be granted for the first time next year.

The announcement was made during the keynote session by Larry Takemoto, The ARVO’s president; Ms. Leonor Beleza, the president of the Champalimaud Foundation, said that this award will encourage both scientists and organisations to conduct research aimed towards the alleviation of blindness, and help the development of scientific projects in the field of vision.

The jury of the award consists of a distinguished panel of outstanding scientists involved in vision research, and of exceptional public figures involved in meeting the needs of the developing world. They are:

Mark Bear
Jacques Delors
António Guterres
Gullapalli N. Rao
Mary Robinson
Joshua Sanes
Amartya Sen
Carla Shatz
Paul Sieving
Alfred Sommer
Susumu Tonegawa
José Cunha-Vaz

The Champalimaud Foundation annual award of € 1.0 million is for research in vision and associated areas for outstanding contributions that have provided major breakthroughs in the understanding of vision or in the alleviation of visual impairment and blindness.

The Champalimaud Foundation was created in 2004 by António Champalimaud, a successful Portuguese entrepeneur who left behind a legacy of € 500 million in his will for research in medical sciences. Maria Leonor Beleza was apponited as the president.

ARVO – The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology – gathered more than 9,500 eye and vision researchers for their 2006 annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The ARVO keynote session featured Paul Sieving and Gullapali N. Rao; both speakers are members of the António Champalimaud Vision Award Jury.

This year the predominant focus at ARVO is on the way scientists can join together with their peers in other countries to make strides in advancing vision research. The annual meeting includes over 6000 paper and poster presentations. Established in 1928, ARVO is a membership organization of more than 11,300 eye and vision researchers from over 70 countries.

Fore more information, please contact: Vítor Cunha info@fundacaochampalimaud.pt +351 96 661 9794

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