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Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati, vice chair for research in the UVA School of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology and founder of the Center for Advanced Vision Science, has been selected as the winner of the 2018 RPB David F. Weeks Award for outstanding research in the field of age-related macular degeneration.

Ambati is being honored for his research on the molecular bases of macular degeneration.

“As an ophthalmology resident, I was struck by our inability to alter the inexorable course of blindness faced by the many [age-related macular degeneration] patients I saw every day,” he said. “Therefore, I resolved to dedicate my energies to tackling this problem, which affected millions of people around the globe.”

“Dr. Ambati’s research has illuminated previously unknown links between molecular triggers of inflammation and macular degeneration,” said Dr. Russell N. Van Gelder, president of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology. “Dr. Ambati has contributed substantially to the understanding of AMD at the level of single molecules and has brought the attention of the broader scientific community to this unique disease and its causes in a series of highly impactful publications in leading scientific journals. His work has led directly to promising treatments for slowing dry macular degeneration.”

Ambati will receive his award and deliver a presentation on Jan. 25 at the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology’s annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.