Research is critical to advancing therapies, interventions, preventative measures, and, eventually, cures. The Children’s Eye Foundation of AAPOS has always placed funding promising research among its highest priorities and has funded nearly 80 scientists in its 50-year history.

The funding we provide is often “seed funding” that helps young investigators demonstrate their ideas as viable and worthy of significant continued investment. To date, for every dollar we have invested in research, there has been a more than 10-fold investment from other grant-making entities thereafter.

Our grant awards are selective and directed to the most promising proposals, as determined by the AAPOS Research Committee. In addition to selecting grantees, this seasoned committee of researchers offers guidance to the grant recipients throughout the process of their investigative work.

Making an investment in research with the CEF of AAPOS enables the best and brightest researchers in the field to rapidly respond to innovative ideas and new opportunities to further our common mission of ending preventable vision loss in children.

“The grant I received from the Children’s Eye Foundation in 1989 was the first research grant of my career.  This initial funding launched my research career and has been followed by more than 30 years of continuous grant support from the National Eye Institute. Since this first grant from the Children's Eye Foundation, I have made over 150 original contributions to medical and scientific literature, bringing state-of-the-art visual neuroscience from the laboratory and applying it to unsolved clinical problems facing the physician.”

-Jonathan Horton, MD, PhD