2024 ARVO Champalimaud Vision Award Lecture

Represented by CEO Ahmad Ma'ali and director of development David Dahdal, the laureate organisation, the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group, made a notable presence, flying in from East Jerusalem to participate in the lecture.

For the past 140 years, the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group has been the sole eyecare provider in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, preventing rampant blindness and alleviating challenging economic conditions in the region. Their services have reached hundreds of thousands of people over the last decade, irrespective of ethnicity, religion, or economic status, with 143,000 patients treated and 6,900 major surgeries performed in 2022 alone. Beyond clinical care, St John conducts vital research on region-specific eye issues and trains local eye care providers, all within one of the world's most politically challenging areas, where blindness prevalence is ten times higher than in the west. In his intervention Ahmad Ma'ali not only presented the organisation's historical achievements but also outlined current efforts and strategic plans to address the ongoing conflict and crisis in Gaza, impacting the broader region, including the West Bank and Jerusalem.

As in previous years, Leonor Beleza, president of the Champalimaud Foundation, opened the award lecture, introducing the António Champalimaud Vision Award, an annual award that alternates between recognising research groups for breakthroughs in vision understanding or preservation/restoration in even years, and innovators impacting the quality of life for the visually impaired in odd years, primarily in developing regions. Leonor Beleza also highlighted the Champalimaud Foundation's work in Lisbon, emphasising its relevance to the meeting's theme of Technology and AI.