Eyecatching News Archive
Distinguished Lecture in Vision Series
- Robert B. Barlow Twelfth Distingushed Lecture in Vision (10/12)
- Robert B. Barlow Eleventh Distingushed Lecture in Vision (10/11)
- Robert B. Barlow Tenth Distingushed Lecture in Vision (10/10)
- Ninth Distinquished Lecture in Vision (03/08)
- Eighth Distinquished Lecture in Vision (10/07)
- Seventh Distinquished Lecture in Vision (3/06)
- Sixth Distinquished Lecture in Vision (4/05)
- Fifth Distinquished Lecture in Vision (3/04)
- Fourth Distingushed Lecture in Vision (4/02)
- Third Distinguished Lecture in Vision (3/01)
- Second Distingushed Lecture in Vision (3/00)
- First Distinguished Lecture in Vision (3/99)
2009
2007
1998
Distinguished Service Award
John A. Hoepner, MD was awarded the Distinquished Service Award from Onondaga County Medical Society. At their annual dinner meeting on November 2, 2009, the Onondaga County Medical Society declared that John A. Hoepner, MD has rendered distinguished service to the Onondaga County Medical Society, area physicians and hospitals, patients and the general public. In his roles as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at Upstate Medical University, Director of the University's Center for Vision Care, Chief of the Department of Ophthalmology at Crouse Hospital, Consultant for the Medical Advisory Committee of the New York State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped, Consultant for Welch-Allyn, Inc., Member of the Boards of Directors of the Lighthouse/Aurora, Veterans Administration Medical Center Chief of Staff Search Committee, Member of the Task Force on Eye Care Delivery Systems and the Ethics Committee of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Member of the Executive Committee of Upstate Medical University's College of Medicine, Author, Lecture Presenter, and Officer of the Onondaga County Medical Society, he has brought great honor to himself and the profession of medicine. The Onondaga County Medical Society, in recognition of the outstanding leadership talents and highest professional and personal standards of Dr. John A. Hoepner, as physician, teacher, and researcher, confers its Distinguished Service Award as a mark of the esteem in which he is held by the members of this Society. Signed: Gregory A. Threatte, MD President OCMS.
Photo courtesy of Marc J. Safran, MD
Fall Faculty Convocation
Dr. Robert Barlow and Dr. Michael Zuber from the Department of Ophthalmology received awards during the Fall Faculty Convocation on September 19, 2007. Dr. Barlow received the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Schoarlship and Creative Activities. Dr. Zuber received the President's Award for Excellence and Leadership in Basic Research by a Young Investigator. Both awards were presented to the recipients by President David Smith. The Department extends its congratulations to both award winners.
Left: Dr. David Smith with Dr. Robert Barlow Right: Dr. David Smith with Dr. Michael Zuber
Robert B. Barlow Twelfth Distinguished Lecture in Vision

Claude Desplan, PhD
New York University
Director, Center for Developmental Genetics
Processing of Color Information in Drosophila
- Lecture held: October 19, 2012
Robert B. Barlow Eleventh Distinguished Lecture in Vision

Samuel Miao-Sin Wu, PhD
Cullen Eye Institute
Baylor College of Medicine
Rod and Cone Signaling Pathways in Normal, Mutant and Diseased Retinas
- Lecture held: October 17, 2011
Robert B. Barlow Tenth Distinguished Lecture in Vision

Gregory S. Hageman, PhD
The University of Utah School of Medicine
John A. Moran Eye Center
Director, John A. Moran Center for Translational Research
John A. Moran Presidential Professor of Ophthalmology
A New Era in Our Understanding of Age-related Macular Degeneration
- Lecture held: October 7, 2010
Ninth Distinguished Lecture in Vision

Robert S. Molday, PhD
The University of British Columbia
Canada Research Chair in Vision and Macular Degeneration
Fellow, Royal Society of Canada
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Director, Centre for Macular Research
Pathogenic Mechanisms and Gene Therapy for Inherited Retinal Degenerative Diseases
- Lecture held: March 8, 2008
Eighth Distinguished Lecture in Vision

Constance L. Cepko, PhD
Harvard Medical School
Department of Genetics and
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Determination of Retinal Cell Fates
Seventh Distinguished Lecture in Vision

Thaddeus P. Dryja, MD
Director, Cogan Eye Pathology Laboratory
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
-
Hereditary Photoreceptor Diseases
Lecture held: Friday, March 10, 2006
Sixth Distinguished Lecture in Vision

David H. Hubel, MD, PhD
1981 Winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology
Research Professor of Neurobiology
Harvard University
Vision and Brain: Possible Physiological Basis for Some Common Illusions
Fifth Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Night Blindness and the State of Rod Photo Receptors in Retinitis Pigmentosa
Paul A. Sieving, MD, PhD
- Director of the National Eye Institute
- Bethesda, Maryland
- Lecture held: Tuesday, March 2, 2004
Fourth Distinguished Lecture in Vision
From Mouse to Man: Characterization and Regulation of Genes Causing Retinal Degeneration
Debora B. Farber, PhD, DPhhc
- Professor of Ophthalmology
- Associate Director of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, and Co-Chief of the Vision Science Division
- Lecture held: Tuesday, April 16, 2002
Third Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Molecular Biology of Visual Pigments
Jeremy H. Nathans, MD, PhD
- Professor of Molecular Biology & Genetics
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
- Lecture held: Monday, March 26, 2001
Second Distinguished Lecture in Vision
Searching for Visual System Mutations in Zebrafish
John E. Dowling, PhD
- Harvard College Professor and
- Maria Moors Cabot Professor of Natural Science
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
- Harvard University
- Lecture held: Friday, March 3, 2000
First Distinguished Lecture in Vision
1981 Nobel Laureate, Torsten N. Wiesel, MD, FRS visited Syracuse on March 4, 1999. Dr. Wiesel is President Emeritus and Director of the Shelby White and Leon Levy Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior at Rockefeller University. He is also an Advisory Board Member for the University Center for Vision Research.
Robert B. Barlow, PhD, of University Center for Vision Research hosted Dr. Wiesel's lecture entitled, "Brain Mechanisms of Vision." Dr. Barlow described Dr. Wiesel as a "hero" and "a most outstanding role model for young scientists."
After his lecture, which was standing room only in the Alumni Auditorium of Weiskotten Hall, Dr. Wiesel was guest of honor at an exclusive lunch. Exceptional neuroscience graduate students, and program candidates lucky enough to be touring the S.U.N.Y. Upstate Medical University's campus that day, were invited to attend. The group enjoyed this unique opportunity to talk openly with a renowned researcher. One student said of Dr. Wiesel, "Not only is he a great scientist, he's such a nice person."
Dr. Wiesel rounded out his visit with an informal meeting with the vision scientists of University Center for Vision Research.
"Living Fossils"
Dr. Robert Barlow's Vision Research Featured on Discovery Channel Program
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The Discovery Channel program, "Living Fossils", broadcast October 14, 1998, featured the research of Dr. Robert Barlow, of the University Center for Vision Research. Dr. Barlow's research centers on horseshoe crabs and how they "see."
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