Husband-and-wife team, young ophthalmologist receive ARVO awards

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Physicians Ronald K. Klein, MD, MPH, and Barbara E. K. Klein, MD, MPH, were awarded the Friedenwald Award for their contributions to ophthalmic epidemiology, here at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting. Ocular oncologist J. William Harbour received the Cogan Award, which is bestowed on a physician under the age of 40 years who has made important contributions to visual science that show “substantial promise” for future research.

The Drs. Klein were honored for their lifetime achievements in observational research for genetic eye diseases, most notably presented in two landmark studies: the Wisconsin Study of Diabetic Retinopathy and the Beaver Dam Eye Study. Both studies helped raise awareness of public health issues in ocular disease.

“We are greatly honored for this award, but it would have never been possible without the help of our staff and colleagues,” Dr. Ronald Klein told meeting attendees in accepting the award. He and his wife presented a lecture on the epidemiology of ocular diseases that detailed the findings of their landmark studies.

J. William Harbour, MD, director of ocular oncology at the Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes Retina Institute, was honored for his contributions to the understanding of the molecular regulation of the cell cycle in ocular tumors. He presented a talk entitled “Eye cancer: A unique insight into molecular oncogenesis.”

Of his award, he said, “I am standing on the shoulders of [the researchers] who came before me in all the work that I do.” Among Dr. Harbour’s accomplishments, the first published paper in which he was the first author appeared in Science in 1987. At the time, he was still a medical student.