Posted on January 20, 2004 at 2:41 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Ramon F. Dacheux, II, Ph.D., professor in the department of ophthalmology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been granted a $65,000 Senior Scientific Investigator Award by Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB). RPB Senior Scientific Awards support nationally recognized scientists conducting eye research at medical institutions in the United States. Dacheux is one of 122 scientists at 50 institutions to be honored since the award was established in 1987.

Dacheux’s primary research interest is in the role of the ganglion cell in the onset of glaucoma, the most common cause of blindness worldwide. Dacheux is examining how different ganglion cell types respond to changes in intraocular pressure. This information could lead to a test for early diagnosis of glaucoma, before cell death and vision loss occur.

RPB is the world’s leading voluntary organization supporting eye research. To date, the organization has awarded grants totaling more than $2 million to UAB. Since it was founded in 1960, RPB has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions throughout the United States for research into all blinding eye diseases.