Dr. Louis R. Pasquale Winner of the Glaucoma Foundation's 2023 Robert Ritch Award

Louis R. Pasquale, MD, FARVO, has been named the 2023 recipient of The Glaucoma Foundation’s (TGF) Robert Ritch Award for Innovation and Excellence in Glaucoma. Created in 2008, the award recognizes the contributions of individuals who have played a significant and unique role in promoting the medicine and science of glaucoma. The award is named in honor of Dr. Robert Ritch, the founder of TGF. It will be presented on June 9, during the 28th Annual Glaucoma Foundation Scientific Think Tank, to be held in New York City.

Prominent clinician, educator and researcher, Dr. Pasquale is site chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, Professor of Ophthalmology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Vice Chair of Translational Ophthalmology Research for the Mount Sinai Healthcare System. 

Dr. Pasquale has dedicated considerable effort to the discovery of preclinical factors that contribute to primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), and primary prevention strategies in the open-angle glaucomas.

He is a member of the PLOS One, Journal of Glaucoma, Ophthalmology Glaucoma, Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology and American Journal of Ophthalmology editorial boards. He currently serves as Glaucoma Trustee for ARVO and is a member of the National Institute of Health’s National Advisory Eye Council. As an NIH Principal Investigator, Dr. Pasquale has had continuous support since 2006. 

The award will be presented to Dr. Pasquale by Robert N. Weinreb, MD, Chair of Ophthalmology at the University of California San Diego and the 2021 award recipient. 

“I was pleased to learn that Lou Pasquale, MD has been selected this year as the recipient of the prestigious Robert Ritch Award,” said Dr. Weinreb. “Lou is among the most innovative individuals in our specialty. He has demonstrated repeatedly a combination of creativity and the ability to think outside the box. His many contributions have been diverse and each has advanced the medicine and science of glaucoma.”

The Dr. Robert Ritch Award was first given to Dr. Robert Ritch, founder of TGF, and in subsequent years to Drs. Paul Kaufman, Ted Krupin, Jost Jonas, George Spaeth, Ivan Goldberg, Bruce Shields, Ursula Schlötzer-Schrehardt, Tin Aung, Paul Palmberg, Terete Borrás, Emmett T. Cunningham, Ahti H. A. Tarkkanen, and Robert N. Weinreb.