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Dr. Dean Bok Receives Foundation Fighting Blindness Career Achievement Award

Owings Mills, MD - May 8, 2009 - Dr. Dean Bok of the Jules Stein Eye Institute of UCLA received the Llura Liggett Gund Award, the top honor presented by the Foundation Fighting Blindness, on May 7, 2009. The highly coveted award honors researchers for extraordinary career achievements that have significantly advanced the research and development of preventions, treatments and cures for retinal degenerative diseases that affect more than 10 million Americans. The award has previously been presented to only four researchers throughout the Foundation’s 38-year history.

“The Llura Liggett Gund Award, which is named for a co-founder of the Foundation, is presented from time to time to a highly accomplished individual whose extraordinary research career and/or exceptional devotion to the Foundation’s mission have cumulatively advanced the progress of retinal degenerative disease research in a uniquely significant way,” says Gordon Gund, chairman and co-founder of the Foundation Fighting Blindness. “For more than four decades, Dr. Dean Bok’s superlative research contributions to understanding the causes of these diseases, his mentorship of and collaboration with others, and his dedicated commitment to the development and oversight of the Foundation’s strategic research plan highly qualify him for this singular recognition. The Foundation and all who care about our mission are forever grateful to Dr. Dean Bok.”

Dr. Bok, has and continues to be a world renowned leader in defining how vitamin A metabolism is essential to vision. His research led the way in establishing the gene defect in vitamin A metabolic cycle that ultimately directed researchers toward recent successful gene therapy clinical trials for Leber congenital amaurosis, a severe, early onset form of retinitis pigmentosa.

Dr. Bok’s career achievements include producing, characterizing and using transgenic animal models to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying inherited retinal diseases, as well as developing modes of treatment for these diseases. In collaboration with Dr. Michael Redmond of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Bok characterized the RPE-65 gene in a genetically engineered mouse, which set the groundwork for the first promising retinal gene therapy trial in humans. With Dr. Gabriel Travis and Dr. Matthew LaVail, he has studied molecules in photoreceptors and the related defects that are responsible for the retinal degenerative disease retinitis pigmentosa. He has also used CNTF-based gene therapy to successfully arrest the progression of disease in these animals. Dr. Bok’s research has directly led to many industry projects focused on providing treatments for age related macular degeneration (AMD), Stargardt disease, a childhood form of macular degeneration, and other inherited retinal degenerations.

Recipients of the Llura Ligget Gund Award are leading visionaries in the retinal research community and together have played significant roles in advancing the study of blinding diseases and the search for cures and treatments. Their combined efforts have led to breakthroughs that bring real hope to those affected by blindness. As the 2009 recipient, Dr. Bok joins this small, unique group of leading researchers who together are bringing us closer to cures and treatments.

2007 recipient Dr. Matthew LaVail has played a leadership role in understanding, identifying and developing neuroprotective agents for slowing or reversing vision loss in people with retinal degenerative diseases. His work has lead to dozens of treatments that are currently being developed by industry and academic research institutions around the world.
Dr. John Dowling, the 2001 award recipient, is a pioneer in research leading to understanding the functional organization of the retina.
In addition to being a highly acclaimed physician, 1999 award recipient Dr. Eliot Berson is responsible for the discovery that vitamin A plamitate slows the rate of vision loss with people affected by the disease retinitis pigmentosa, enabling those affected to maintain several additional years of useful vision.
Dr. Alan Laties, recipient of the 1998 award, is a world-renowned neuro-ophthalmologist and neuro-ophthalmologic investigator, providing scientific guidance as the chairman of the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board from 1972-2005.

The Foundation Fighting Blindness is the largest source of non-governmental funding for retinal degenerative disease research in the world. The urgent mission of Foundation Fighting Blindness is to drive the research that will provide preventions, treatments and cures for people affected by retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, Usher syndrome and the entire spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases. Most recently, the Foundation funded a clinical trial at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia which restored sight to three participants, proving we are just around the corner from a cure.

To speak with Dr. Bok, contact Chris Vassil at 202-340-8099 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .