Apte honored with macular degeneration award
Physician-scientist recognized for research on eye disease
Apte
Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD, the Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor and vice chair of innovation and translation in the John F. Hardesty, MD, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received the 2024 Roger H. Johnson Award. The honor recognizes a clinician and/or scientist who has made significant contributions to the understanding or treatment of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD).
ARMD is an eye disease that causes central vision loss and affects millions of people age 60 and older. Apte, whose research focuses on molecular players involved in the disease, has shown that immune dysregulation causes a buildup of lipids underneath the retina, which is a characteristic feature of the disease that eventually leads to the death of retinal neurons.
Roger H. Johnson, MD, who died in 2007, was an ophthalmologist who practiced in Seattle for over 50 years and endowed the award with his wife, Angie Karalis Johnson, in 2001. The award is given every two years by the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Washington School of Medicine, where Apte will deliver a lecture June 15 as part of the honor.
