Dr. Kaufman Winner of Robert Ritch Award

Dr. Paul L. Kaufman Winner of the Glaucoma Foundation's 2009 Robert Ritch Award

Dr. Kaufman

(October 8, 2009, New York) - Dr. Paul L. Kaufman has been named the 2009 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 was presented to Dr. Kaufman at The Glaucoma Foundation's 16th Annual International Think Tank, held in New York on October 2nd and 3rd.

Dr. Kaufman is the Peter A. Duehr Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, in Madison, Wisconsin. He is a physician-scientist, specializing in glaucoma and studying the mechanisms of aqueous humor formation and drainage, the regulation of intraocular pressure, and the age-related loss of near vision, using multi-disciplinary approaches. Says Scott R. Christensen, TGF President and CEO: "Dr. Kaufman's work has contributed significantly to our understanding of the pathophysiology of pressure regulation in the eye, and may well lead to more effective and safer drugs and to gene therapeutic approaches for the treatment of glaucoma."

The award is named in honor of Dr. Robert Ritch, founder of TGF and its Medical Director. Dr. Ritch holds the Shelley and Steven Einhorn Distinguished Chair in Ophthalmology and is Surgeon Director and Chief of Glaucoma Services at the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary, and Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at The New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York.

The TGF Think Tank, which this year focused on Exfoliation Syndrome:

The First Potentially Curable Glaucoma is unique in its interdisciplinary format. It has attracted successful researchers in other fields to glaucoma and continues to generate new thinking that has greatly advanced the field of glaucoma research.

The Glaucoma Foundation

The mission of The Glaucoma Foundation (TGF) is to fund groundbreaking research and to educate the public about the disease and the importance of early detection to prevent blindness. Founded in1984 by Dr. Robert Ritch, TGF is one of the premier not-for-profit organizations dedicated to eradicating blindness from glaucoma through vital research and education. In addition to the TGF Award for Innovation and Excellence in Glaucoma, the organization sponsors two other annual accolades: The Kitty Carlisle Hart Award of Merit for Lifetime Achievement and the Corporate Visionary Award.

Dr. Paul Kaufman

Dr. Kaufman is a past President and Executive Vice President of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, past President of the International Society for Eye Research, and has served on the US National Advisory Eye Council and numerous foundation and corporate scientific advisory boards. He has had continuous research funding from the US National Eye Institute for 30 years, has authored over 300 original scientific articles and 50 book chapters, co-edited several textbooks including the most recent editions of Adler's Physiology of the Eye, and holds several patents related to drugs under development for treating glaucoma. He has given many invited and named lectures world-wide, and received numerous honors and awards. He became Editor-in-Chief of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science in 2008.