Gullapalli N. Rao

Member of the Jury

Dr. Gullapalli Rao is the President of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the same organisation. In addition to this, Dr. Rao is currently the Distinguished Chair of Eye Health at the L V Prasad Eye Institute in India. Born in Chodavaram, India, he studied in the Guntur Medical College and then in the Indian Institute of Medical Sciences where he developed particular interests in corneal diseases and community eye health. Dr Rao has been distinguished with numerous awards and honours: Senior Honour Award, American Academy of Ophthalmology (1998); Member, Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis; Group of 60 top academicians in Ophthalmology in the world (1998-); Doctor of Science honoris causa of the University of New South Wales, Australia (2001); Prof.Y.Nayudamma Gold Medal from the Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences (2001); Padma Shri from the Government of India, 2002 (Republic Day Honours given by the President of India); Rustom Merwanji Alpaiwalla Memorial Award from the National Association for the Blind (2003); Vocational Excellence Award by Rotary International (2003); First ‘Global Visionary in Ophthalmology’ Award presented by Bausch & Lomb (2003); Fellow qua Surgeon ad eundem of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (2003); HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud Award for the Prevention of Blindness Award (2004); Prince Abdulaziz International Prevention of Blindness Award (2005); First “G.B. Bietti International Award for Prevention of Blindness” by the Italian Society for Prevention of Blindness (2005); First “Dr.M.C.Nahata Rashtriya Netra Suraksha Puraskar” from the National Society for Prevention of Blindness, Indore (2005) .