International society honors UF vision scientist

An international ophthalmology society has selected a University of Florida professor for its annual award recognizing outstanding research in vision-related sciences.

Paul A. Hargrave received the Friedenwald Memorial Award at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology May 2 in Fort Lauderdale. In conjunction with the award, Hargrave delivered the Friedenwald Lecture before an audience of several thousand vision researchers.

The 10,000-member association has presented the award annually since 1957 in honor of the late Dr. Jonas Friedenwald, who was a prominent ophthalmologist and researcher.

Hargrave, who holds the Francis M. Bullard chair in the UF College of Medicine’s department of ophthalmology, has been studying rhodopsin, a retinal protein, for 30 years. He has worked to characterize the structure and function of rhodopsin in order to better understand retinitis pigmentosa and other eye diseases.