Dr. Nicholas Delamere receives ARVO’s highest service honor

Nicholas A. Delamere, PhD, a professor of physiology with an additional appointment in ophthalmology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, received the 2023 Joanne G. Angle Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.

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He was presented the award in April at the group’s annual meeting in New Orleans. He was nominated for the award by ARVO staff and the Board of Trustees for his decades of leadership within ARVO and his contributions to the vision research community.

“Being recognized for this award is incredibly touching because Joanne Angle was a very dear friend of mine,” said Dr. Delamere, who also is a member of the BIO5 Institute. “Joanne, who passed away in 2012, served as executive director of ARVO for 22 years. I got to know Joanne first in 1992 from my time on the ARVO Program Committee and later as a member of the ARVO Board of Trustees, then as president from 2008 to 2009. We became close friends. Joanne taught me a lot about leadership and responsibility, communication and accountability.”

Dr. Delamere has been an ARVO member since 1977 when he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Colorado.

He first became interested in the field of ophthalmology in 1973 as an undergraduate student in the United Kingdom when he did a research project on the retina.

“My professor, Dr. George Duncan, encouraged me and agreed to be my mentor. He helped me apply for a Royal Society fellowship to study the lens of the eye and the specializations that make it transparent. I became fascinated by eye research and continued the same line of research as a postdoctoral researcher.”

One piece of advice Dr. Delamere has for students and early career researchers is to attend meetings related to their field of interest and research.

“That week in Florida at my first ARVO meeting, I met other postdocs and trainees who have been close friends ever since. I met experienced senior scientists who provided advice and support for decades to come. And I found myself immersed in the most exciting science I could ever imagine. The annual meeting becomes a temporary community of like-minded scientists. It’s important to connect with like-minded people who work in your specialized research area.”