Ambati Receives Scientific Investigator Award

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 7, 2009) − Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati, professor and vice chairman of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Kentucky, has been granted a $75,000 Senior Scientific Investigator Award by Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB). Research to Prevent Blindness Senior Scientific Awards support nationally recognized senior scientists conducting eye research at medical institutions in the United States. Ambati is one of 169 scientists at 56 institutions honored since the award was established in 1987.

Ambati's lab has made numerous foundational contributions in macular degeneration research with numerous papers published in Nature, Nature Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Ambati is the Dr. E. Vernon Smith & Eloise C. Smith Endowed Chair in Macular Degeneration, and he was the first ophthalmologist to win the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research. He was also elected to The American Society for Clinical Investigation, and serves on the editorial boards of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and Ophthalmology.

Research to Prevent Blindness is the world's leading voluntary organization supporting eye research. Since it was founded in 1960, RPB has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions for research into the causes, treatment and prevention of blinding eye diseases. For information on RPB, RPB-funded research, eye disorders and the RPB Grants Program, go towww.rpbusa.org.