Lois E.H. Smith, MD, PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Université de Montréal on August 20 in recognition of her contributions to vision research. An exceptional clinician scientist, Dr. Smith has dedicated her career to understanding the mechanisms behind blinding diseases, including retinopathy of prematurity; retinitis pigmentosa; age-related macular degeneration; and diabetic retinopathy, and finding new ways to treat them.
Her early work defined oxygen-induced retinopathy, where she showed VEGF is necessary for ischemia-induced proliferative retinopathy. Dr. Smith also defined the role of growth hormone and IGF-1 in retinopathy, and has shown that omega-3 fatty acids are critical to retinopathy and that modulating the omega-3 /omega-6 ratio in retina can inhibit pathological angiogenesis. Her more recent research has focused on metabolic function in photoreceptors, driving neovascularization. Much of this work has been translated to clinical trials.
Dr. Smith is a past recipient of the Friedenwald Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the Alcon Research Institute Award, the Heed-Gutman Award from the Society of Heed Fellows, and the Bressler Prize in Vision Science from Lighthouse Guild.