Four Vision Scientists Share 2018 Helen Keller Prize

Honored for Pioneering Advances in Genetics

May 1, 2018 — An international team of scientists will today receive the prestigious 2018 Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research. The prize, presented by BrightFocus Foundation, honors scientific excellence and is chosen by an awards committee of the Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education. 

This year’s winners are being recognized for their research on a rare childhood eye cancer, with their scientific discoveries leading to a groundbreaking identification of the first human cancer suppressor gene.

The 2018 Helen Keller Laureates are:

• Webster Cavenee, PhD, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of California, San Diego
• Thaddeus Dryja, MD, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
• Brenda Gallie, MD, FRCSC, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto
• A. Linn Murphree, MD, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California

“Helen Keller remains a timeless, iconic name in the battle against blindness.  The Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research therefore bestows a unique, peerless honor on the outstanding vision researchers who receive it,” said Robert Morris, MD, President of the Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education.

"This year’s prize recognizes how collaboration across scientific disciplines can to lead game-changing breakthroughs.  The 2018 Laureates are exemplary researchers who are driving the ability of science to save sight,” said Stacy Pagos Haller, BrightFocus Foundation President and CEO.

The awards were presented today at a ceremony held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.