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Academy names award for Brien Holden
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ANAHEIM, Calif. – The American Academy of Optometry honors the memory and work of Brien Holden, PhD, DSc, FAAO, through the new Brien Holden Humanitarian Award, the group announced here at its annual meeting.
“This award will recognize an individual or organization who has made significant contributions to improve eye care within a country or region,” the AAO said in a press release. “In particular, the award will acknowledge humanitarian efforts in the non-profit/not-for-profit sector that build or support the development of sustainable eye care systems in developing communities.”
Holden, who passed away in July 2015, was a world-renowned researcher who founded the Brien Holden Vision Institute and served as a professor at the School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of New South Wales in Australia. He is well known for his role in establishing Optometry Giving Sight, which aims to reduce the prevalence of vision impairment due to uncorrected refractive error worldwide.
The academy said he inspired scientists and health care professionals around the world with his dream of “Vision for everyone, everywhere.”
“This is a wonderful acknowledgment by the academy, a body that Brien greatly respected and a meeting he enthusiastically attended for around 4 decades,” Kovin Naidoo, OD, PhD, FAAO, current CEO of the Brien Holden Vision Institute, said in the academy’s press release. “This award will give important recognition to those people who may not be known globally, but who are making a difference in eye care in their country or region.”
Among the many awards Holden received, the Primary Care Optometry News Editorial Board recognized him as a pioneer in optometry in its June 2015 issue, and the academy bestowed upon him its highest honor, the Charles F. Prentice Medal and Lecture, in 2014.
“The American Academy of Optometry is honored to be given the opportunity to administer this new award that so perfectly reflects Dr. Holden’s passion for finding regional and global solutions for vision disparities,” Brett G. Bence, OD, FAAO, outgoing AAO president, said in the release. “This award will help sustain awareness to the continuation of Brien Holden’s legacy and humanitarian contributions.”
The award, established by the Brien Holden Vision Institute and Holden family estate, will be given annually beginning in 2017. Nominations, which are due April 1, 2017, should include two letters of nomination from academy fellows and a CV of the nominee and should be sent to HelenV@aaoptom.org.