NIH Director Dr. Zerhouni Meets with Vision Researchers

On May 1, prior to his keynote address at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting, Dr. Zerhouni met with vision researchers and NEI Director Dr. Paul Sieving in a session that addressed vision research's global role in scientific discovery and presented examples of exciting new research. Then-ARVO President Dr. Gary Abrams was joined by ARVO Executive Vice President Dr. Paul Kaufman, former ARVO President Dr. Sally Atherton and NAEVR President Dr. Stephen Ryan, who each provided a summary of their Institution's activities that demonstrate the breadth of NIH/NEI sponsored research, as well as intra- and inter-Institution collaboration. Specific examples of research were provided by Dr. John Dowling (visual neuroscience), Dr. David Williams (imaging), Dr. Dusanka Deretic (cell biology), Dr, Martin Friedlander (angiogenesis), Dr. Gregory Hageman (AMD), and Dr. Edward Pugh (nanotechnology). Incoming ARVO President Dr. Larry Takemoto concluded the meeting by reiterating the eye and vision research community's support for Dr. Zerhouni's and Dr. Sieving's leadership.

On May 2, Dr. Zerhouni was joined by fellow keynote speaker Dr. Peter Agre in meeting with ten Post doctoral fellows. After the two-hour meeting, participant Dr. Joe Carroll commented that, "The fact that a Nobel laureate and the NIH Director placed training as one of the markers of success impressed many of us, and reiterated to us how serious Dr. Zerhouni is in wanting to improve the training that young scientists receive."