Congratulations to winners of prestigious ARVO Awards
December 25, 2025
Three OGI scientists have been selected to receive Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Foundation awards and grants which highlight their remarkable achievements and will be celebrated at the Annual Meeting in Denver, CO this coming May.
Marcela Garita- Hernandez, PharmD, PhD will receive the Genentech Career Development Award for Emerging Vision Scientists to support her research on advancing therapies for inherited retinal degenerations (IRDs). Her project will focus on PRPF8-related autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa, using next-generation prime editing to correct disease-causing mutations that can’t be addressed with traditional gene replacement.
Anil Chekuri, PhD, will receive the Bert M. Glaser Award for Innovative Research in Retina for his investigations of the molecular mechanisms involved in inherited retinal disorders, which have led to the development of the first splicing-targeted therapy for optic neuropathy associated with familial dysautonomia.
Nazlee Zebardast , MD, MSc, will be awarded the Carl Camras Translational Research Award in recognition of her discoveries in translational genomics and machine learning, which have direct clinical application for glaucoma screening and monitoring, and identifying opportunities for equitable deployment of AI tools in clinical practice.