Christine A. Curcio, Ph.D., and Cynthia Owsley, Ph.D.Christine A. Curcio, Ph.D., and Cynthia Owsley, Ph.D., were jointly awarded the prestigious 2025 Proctor Medal by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.

This honor is a testament to Curcio and Owsley’s decades of pioneering work in age-related macular degeneration research, which has influenced how scientists and clinicians understand and pursue early intervention and prevention strategies for this leading cause of central vision loss.

“Receiving the Proctor Medal is the honor of a lifetime,” Owsley said. “It is incredibly meaningful to have our longstanding collaboration recognized on this international stage, especially for research that is designed to change how we detect and treat AMD in its earliest stages.”

Curcio echoed the sentiment, highlighting the unique interdisciplinary nature of their work. “This recognition affirms the value of connecting human tissue studies with patient-centered outcomes,” Curcio said. “We’ve built a bridge between basic science and clinical relevance, and it’s deeply gratifying to know that our science may help lead to earlier detection and ultimately prevention of vision loss.”

On May 5, the longtime collaborators delivered the distinguished Proctor Award Lecture, titled “The Science of Rod-Mediated Dark Adaptation for Age-Related Macular Degeneration.”

Curcio and Owsley’s lecture brought together more than four decades of research on retinal biology, visual function, psychophysics and aging.

The Proctor Medal was presented during ARVO’s annual meeting, held May 4-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Established in 1949 to honor the legacy of Dr. Francis I. Proctor, the Proctor Medal is one of the highest distinctions in the vision research field. It recognizes exceptional research in the basic or clinical sciences as applied to ophthalmology, and recipients are invited to present the Proctor Award Lecture at ARVO’s annual meeting.