Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health
About the Award
The Jenny Pomeroy Award for Excellence in Vision and Public Health is presented annually to an individual, team, or organization that has made significant contributions to the advancement of public health related to vision and eye health at the community, state, national and/or international level. Among the highest honors Prevent Blindness bestows, this prestigious award consists of formal acknowledgement and a commemorative plaque to be presented at the Focus on Eye Health National Summit in Washington, DC on July 17, 2019. It further comes with an invitation to present on this work as the closing plenary speaker of the Summit. The award serves as a living memorial to Jenny Pomeroy, who served as the CEO of Prevent Blindness Georgia from 1996 until 2013 and brought a passionate understanding of public health to her work and our mission.
Submissions
Nomination Criteria:
An individual, team, or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the field of public health and vision and eye health at a community, state, national, and/or international level. If awarded, the recipient or representative (if a team or organization) must be available to present at the 2019 Focus on Eye Health National Summit in Washington, DC on July 17, 2019 to receive the award. Travel expenses will be covered from anywhere in the United States (if international, note Prevent Blindness will reimburse airfare up to $600).
Submission:
- Nomination form
- A 500-word (or less) description of why the nominee is deserving of this award. Descriptions should be concise and specific and clearly demonstrate the nominee’s commitment to vision and eye health and public health along with the number of years the nominee has been working in the area of vision and public health.
- A one-page biographical sketch (or Curriculum Vitae) of the nominee or one-page background of the team/organization
- In addition to the above information, you may also provide any additional materials you feel are relevant to the nomination (please limit this to less than 10 pages provided in PDF format).
- Please note: Submissions not adhering to the above submission guidelines (page limits, word count, etc.) will not be reviewed.
Email the items listed above with the subject “Jenny Pomeroy Award” to Nita Patel Sinha, Director of Public Health at npatelsinha@preventblindness.org. The deadline for nominations is Dec. 13, 2018, at noon, Eastern Time.
2019 Award Winner
Cynthia Owsley, PhD, MSPH, Nathan E. Miles Chair of Ophthalmology and Director of the Clinical Research Unit at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Dr. Owsley has over 30 years of experience conducting research on vision impairment, eye disease, and aging funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, non-profit foundations, and various industries. Her areas of focus include:
- vision impairment and driving
- age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma and diabetes
- quality of and access to eye care for under-served, older populations
- vision impairment and its impact on quality of life
At UAB, Dr. Owsley’s research program focuses on aging-related eye disease and vision impairment, using a variety of research techniques from epidemiology, clinical trials, psychophysics, health behavior, and health services research.
In addition to work in research and public health, Dr. Owsley has also been a longtime volunteer at Prevent Blindness, serving on various committees, including chairing its Scientific Committee for seven years, and served on the national Board of Directors from 2011-2018.
2018 Award Winner
The Johns Hopkins University School-Based Eye Care Team. Team members include Megan E. Collins, MD, MPH; David S. Friedman, MD, MPH, PhD; Michael X. Repka, MD, MBA; Robert E. Slavin, PhD; and Nancy A. Madden, PhD.
The team was selected for the award for their work investigating and addressing vision-related problems in high-poverty schools. This collaborative effort was designed to:
- increase access to pediatric eye care in high-poverty areas,
- develop and refine models for school-based vision programs,
- and advance research on the long-term impact of vision care on academic performance among students.
The team’s first project in school-based eye care was the Baltimore Reading and Eye Disease Study. Based on results from their earlier work, they are now working in partnership with Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore City Schools, Vision To Learn, and Warby Parker on “Vision for Baltimore,” a city-wide school-based vision program.
The Johns Hopkins University team has now expanded this work, collaborating with Chicago Public Schools in the new “Vision for Chicago” research program to conduct a longitudinal assessment of the impact of glasses on academic performance, as well as the impact of a school-based professional development program on teacher engagement and student use of eyeglasses. With these projects, the team aims to lay the groundwork for reform of public school practices and national education policy regarding vision care, and potentially form alliances between educators and eye care professionals.
2017 Award Winner
John Crews, DPA, Lighthouse Guild and Retired from CDC’s Vision Health Initiative
For more than 40 years, Dr. Crews has been dedicated to vision rehabilitation and disability research. He served as the Lead Scientist with the Disability and Health Team in the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities in the CDC. And, has worked for the Michigan Commission for the Blind and the Department of Veterans Affairs’s Rehabilitation Research and Development Center on Aging in Atlanta. Additionally, he served as chair of the Vision Care Section of the American Public Health Association.
Dr. Crews has just retired as Health Scientist for the Vision Health Initiative within the Division of Diabetes Translation at the CDC in Atlanta. His specialties are vision impairment and aging, caregiving and disability, and his research interests include health disparities among people with disabilities and aging with a disability. Dr. Crews has co-authored more than 115 publications and authored two books: “Vision Loss in an Aging Society” and “The Multiple Dimensions of Caregiving and Disability.”