Research to Prevent Blindness’ mission and leadership makes the eyecare of today—and tomorrow—possible.
For decades, RPB grants have provided funding to create new discoveries in vision science. Learn about our current grants, as well as our exceptional grantees.
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Dry eye is a chronic medical condition that develops when the eye's tear film does not lubricate and protect the eye's outer surface.
The RPB Career Development Award helps RPB-supported ophthalmology chairs support promising junior ophthalmology faculty who have demonstrated their potential for independent research. As RPB’s flagship award, the RPB CDA launches careers and catalyzes sight-saving research. The award does not have a specific scientific focus and is open to any topic within vision research.
The RPB/Tom Wertheimer Career Development Award in Data Science focuses on vision research using artificial intelligence and data science to gain new knowledge about sight-threatening conditions.
Candidates (MDs, PhDs, or MD/PhDs) must have primary appointments in ophthalmology with academic positions up to and including Assistant Professor. The candidate’s first full-time ophthalmology faculty appointment must have been within three (3) years of the application deadline.
The candidate must hold their position at an RPB-supported department of ophthalmology (a department with an Unrestricted Grant or Challenge Grant).
PhDs are no longer required to have a secondary appointment in a basic science or other relevant department prior to submission; however, a secondary appointment is recommended.
MDs and MD/PhDs must devote at least 50% of their time to research activities, with 60% desirable.
The candidate cannot currently have or have held an R01 or been funded through a DP mechanism as a Principal Investigator.
Applicants must be nominated by their Ophthalmology Department Chair. Please note: applications received without a prior nomination form will not be accepted. Candidates can access the nomination and application forms below.
Each RPB grant has different eligibility criteria, which is detailed on the relevant grant webpage. If you have questions about the eligibility details, please reach out to us; we’re happy to help.
While a few of our RPB grants (RPB Medical Student Eye Research Fellowship, RPB Career Development Award, and the RPB Physician-Scientist Award) are restricted to departments that have an RPB Unrestricted or Challenge grant, the majority of our grants are open to researchers at any academic medical center in the U.S.
The reason that the three grants mentioned above are restricted to RPB-supported departments is that our Departmental Grantees undergo an extremely rigorous peer-review process. The environment and leadership at these departments have met our stringent criteria and are appropriate venues for the research being conducted by these early- and mid-career researchers, giving us assurance that they will receive outstanding support.
If you are not sure if your department has a Departmental Grant, visit our current grantees here.
No, all of our grants are awarded to researchers or departments of ophthalmology at U.S.-based academic medical centers. The RPB International Researcher Collaborators Award supports collaboration between U.S. and outside-the-U.S. researchers; however, the award is made to the U.S. academic medical center, which can then disperse the funds as needed to support the project collaboration.
For Financial Reports and Progress Reports, please contact Director of Grants Management MariaClaudia Lora-Montana (mlora@rpbusa.org). For Year-End Reports (photos, research summaries and bibliographies), please contact Jo Casella (jcasella@rpbusa.org).
We love to help promote our grantees’ work! Please reach out to Director of External Affairs Diana Friedman (dfriedman@rpbusa.org or 646-892-9565) to share your good news.
Contact us for more details!
MariaClaudia Lora-Montano
Director of Grants Management