Members of the jury

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.

Alfred Sommer
Professor Alfred Sommer has had a distinguished career in medical research and public health. He is currently Professor of Epidemiology, International Health, and (at the School of Medicine) Ophthalmology at the John Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore.

Mark Bear
Dr. Mark Bear is an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Picower Professor of Neuroscience at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Susumu Tonegawa
Susumu Tonegawa is a distinguished immunologist and a Nobel laureate.

Carla Shatz
Carla Shatz is the Director of BioX (Stanford University), an Institute facilitating interdisciplinary research at the intersections of Life and Medical Sciences, Engineering, and other quantitative sciences.

Joshua Sanes
Joshua Sanes is Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and founding Director of the Center for Brain Science at Harvard University.

Paul Sieving
Dr. Paul A. Sieving is the Director of the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health in the USA.

Gullapalli N. Rao
Dr. Gullpalli Rao has had a distinguished career in medicine and medical science and is the current President of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.

Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen is a renowned Indian economist and Nobel laureate.

Jacques Delors
Jacques Delors is a prominent French politician and distinguished public figure.

José Cunha-Vaz
José Cunha-Vaz is a renowned Portuguese ophthalmologist.

António Guterres
António Guterres is a former Portuguese Prime Minister and is the UN refugee agency’s 10th High Commissioner.