Cynthia Owsley, Ph.D., Photo by Lexi CoonCynthia Owsley, Ph.D., director of the Clinical Research Unit in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, has received the 2022 Roger H. Johnson Macular Degeneration Award.
“I am so grateful for this recognition, and grateful to Dr. Johnson for creating an award that addresses our understanding of age-related macular degeneration so that improved treatments can be developed,” Owsley said. “I do believe that, within my lifetime, there can be a treatment that reduces AMD progression in its early phases.”
The Roger Johnson Award is named for the late Roger Johnson, M.D., an outstanding ophthalmologist who practiced in Seattle for over 50 years. Johnson and his widow, Angie Karalis Johnson, have been extraordinary supporters of ophthalmology and ophthalmic research at University of Washington for many decades. The award, given every two years, recognizes an individual who has made seminal contributions to the understanding and treatment of macular degeneration.
“We are truly delighted to have Dr. Cynthia Owsley as our 11th Roger Johnson Award winner and lecturer,” noted Russell N. Van Gelder, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Washington, which administers the award. “This award is one of the highest honors in the field of macular degeneration research. Our previous awardees are a ‘who’s who’ of great researchers in this field, a group to which Dr. Owsley clearly belongs. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to grant this year’s award to Dr. Owsley for her substantial and outstanding contributions to the field.”