Hannes Devos, PhD.
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CHICAGO—Eye and vision research non-profit organization Fight for Sight (FFS) and Prevent Blindness announced last week that Hannes Devos, PhD will be the recipient of the new “Fight for Sight-Prevent Blindness Public Health Award,” a one-time $20,000 grant for a year of full-time research on improving the public’s eye health and safety. The award is being granted to Devos for his project, "Performance-Based Visual Field Testing to Detect Driving Impairments in Individuals with Glaucoma." Devos is an assistant professor at Georgia Regents University.

In the 2014 Prevent Blindness report, “The Future of Vision: Forecasting the Prevalence and Costs of Vision Problems,” results showed that more than 2.8 million Americans ages 40 and older have glaucoma. Along with disorders of the optic nerve, the eye disease costs the U.S. $6.1 billion annually.

According to Prevent Blindness, while the severity of visual field loss from glaucoma can lead to loss in driving privileges, at present there is no objective, office-based test that can accurately estimate the impact of visual field loss on driving ability. Devos’ study will develop a new, performance-based visual field test that is specifically designed to detect visual impairments for driving conditions.

More information on the Fight for Sight-Prevent Blindness Public Health Award is available by email at info@fightforsight.org, by phone at (212) 679-6060, by website at www.fightforsight.org or on Facebook at facebook.com/fightforsight. For more information about glaucoma, call Prevent Blindness at (800) 331-2020 or visit www.preventblindness.org/glaucoma-learning-center.