Dr. Alexandra Benavente-Perez
SUNY Optometry associate clinical professor Dr. Alexandra Benavente-Perez has received the 2019 Career Development Award from the American Academy of Optometry. The Academy will provide a maximum of $50,000 in direct costs per year for up to two years, potentially renewable once for a total of up to four years of funding. The College will provide matching funds, dollar for dollar, up to $50,000 per year for each year of funding.
Dr. Benavente-Perez was selected from a pool of applicants by an Academy committee based on her potential for growth and future major extramural funding. The funding will help support her research focused on developing a novel experimental model of progressive myopia to study the early retinal changes associated with high myopia.
The Career Development Award is designed for optometric educators and/or scientists involved in vision research as long as the case can be made for the potential to acquire future extramural funding. Preference is for innovative, original, independent, principal investigator driven projects.