The McPherson Eye Research Institute is pleased to announce the 2024 Kenzi Valentyn Vision Research Grant recipients. These one-year grants of $7500 each are funded by the Institute’s annual Cycle for Sight event, which raises money to support research in McPherson ERI member labs and programs. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, led by the Valentyn family, we were able to continue to fund five Kenzi Valentyn awards this year!
Please join us in congratulating this year’s winners: Celia Bisbach, Andrew Schultz, Piper Rawding, Madison Dillerud, and Wei Lin!
More information on the winners and their projects can be found here.
On behalf of the McPherson ERI Research and Leadership Committees, congratulations to our awardees!
McPherson ERI Research Committee:
Rob Nickells, MERI Research Committee Chair, PhD, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Anne Griep, PhD, Cell & Regenerative Biology, SMPH
Jenya Grinblat, PhD, Integrative Biology, SMPH; Neuroscience, SMPH
Mrinalini Hoon, PhD, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Freya Mowat, BVMs, PhD, Surgical Sciences, SVM; Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Tim Gomez, PhD, Department of Neuroscience, SMPH
Jeremy Rogers, PhD, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Andreas Velten, PhD, Biostatistics & Medical Informatics, SMPH; Electrical & Computer Engineering, COE
Ismail Zaitoun, PhD, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, SMPH
McPherson ERI Leadership Committee:
David Gamm, MD, PhD, MERI Leadership Committee Chair, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH; Waisman Center, VCRGE
Barb Blodi, MD, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Kevin Eliceiri, PhD, Medical Physics, SMPH; Biomedical Engineering, COE; Center for Quantitative Cell Imaging (CQCI, VCR), and the Morgridge Institute for Research
Akihiro Ikeda, PhD, Medical Genetics, SMPH
Gillian McLellan, BVMs, PhD, Surgical Sciences, SVM; Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Bikash Pattnaik, PhD, Pediatrics, SMPH; Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, SMPH
Ari Rosenberg, PhD, Neuroscience, SMPH
Karen Schloss, PhD, Psychology, L&S
Vikas Singh, PhD, Biostatistics & Medical Informatics, SMPH; Computer Science, L&S
Kenzi Valentyn Vision Research Awards, the McPherson Eye Research Institute’s annual research grant opportunity for trainees, were established in 2017. They are named after Kenzi Valentyn, in honor of her courage and positive attitude throughout her long battle with Kearns–Sayre syndrome, a degenerative disease with symptoms including vision loss, which ended with her passing at age 30 in March 2017. Her many friends and family members, including her parents Tim and Nancy, brothers Brett and Connor, and sister-in-law Mackenzie, have ridden in Cycle for Sight as “Kenzi’s Team” since 2014. The McPherson ERI is sincerely grateful for the Valentyn family’s dedication to vision research.
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