Prevent Blindness and Aerie Pharmaceuticals Partner to Offer New Glaucoma Research Grant

Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) and Aerie Pharmaceuticals are partnering to provide early- to mid-career vision scientists with opportunities to pursue glaucoma research of unusual significance and promise. 

RPB announced the launch the RPB/David L. Epstein Career Advancement Award in Glaucoma Research, sponsored by Aerie Pharmaceuticals. Two awards—one available now and one in 2023—will provide $150,000 each to outstanding scientists focusing on glaucoma research who have already received their first independent federal National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant (the R01 grant) and are collecting new and novel data to apply for a second R01. The award offers $150,000 to researchers focusing on glaucoma research who have already received their first independent federal National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grant and are collecting new and novel data to apply for a second R01. RPB’s esteemed Scientific Advisory Panel identified the time period between R01s as a critical “gap” in the funding pipeline, leading RPB to create the Career Advancement Award. Filling this gap allows talented researchers to build upon previous research and make important advances in vision science.

This award is named in memory of David L. Epstein, MD (1943-2014), a gifted glaucoma researcher who served on RPB’s grant review committees and who went on to co-found Aerie Pharmaceuticals, along with Eric Toone, PhD, and Casey C. Kopczynski, PhD, who now serves as Aerie’s Chief Innovation Officer.

“We are so pleased to partner with Aerie Pharmaceuticals on this important award to further glaucoma research,” said Brian F. Hofland, PhD, President of Research to Prevent Blindness. “Organizationally, we are located at opposite ends of the research pipeline—from RPB at the basic research end to Aerie at the forefront of clinical research and application—but we’ve come together to support vision researchers in a critical period in their scientific careers because we both acknowledge that excellent science leads to effective treatments.”

In 2022, the RPB/David Epstein Career Advancement Award in Glaucoma Research sponsored by Aerie Pharmaceuticals will offer one award to an Assistant Professor (MDs, PhDs, or MD/PhDs) with a primary appointment in a department of ophthalmology or any relevant department from any institution of higher education in the U.S. Candidates must have their first NIH R01 with at least 1 year remaining.

“Aerie Pharmaceuticals is delighted to sponsor the RPB/David Epstein Career Advancement Award in Glaucoma Research this year,” said Gary Sternberg, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Aerie. “With this award we honor the legacy of our co-founder Dr. David Epstein and demonstrate our continued commitment to support research to identify novel therapeutics to treat glaucoma.”

For more information on this award, visit the RPB website.