Eyes on the prize: UF professor wins share of $1.2 million research award

A UF professor and his two-person team of researchers won a $1.2 million award for restoring vision.

William Hauswirth, a UF professor of ophthalmology, won a share of the 2018 António Champalimaud Vision Award on Tuesday for his research on Leber congenital amaurosis, a disease that causes blindness due to the absence of a gene in the patient’s retinas. Hauswirth developed a treatment that surgically implants a virus into the eyes to deliver the missing gene.

“It was an evolution,” he said. “It went full circle from a fun idea, and 30 years later here we are.”

The award was split with two other teams of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University College London. Hauswirth’s share valued at about $165,000.

John Flannery, a professor of optometry and vision science at the University of California Berkeley, knew Hauswirth from his time as a professor at UF. He said Hauswirth was one of the first people to start the concept of using a virus, and Hauswirth’s innovative thinking helped him excel.

“He made a combination of several methods that had never been used in that combination before,” he said. “It takes a tremendous amount of creativity.”

Flannery said Hauswirth’s insightful thinking will help him get to the next step in helping people.

“Hauswirth has been on a long and difficult path,” he said.