Larry Benowitz, PhD, has joined the Louis J. Fox Center for Vision Restoration as its new co-director. The Professor of Neurosurgery and Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and Neurosurgical Innovation and Research Endowed Professor at Boston Children’s Hospital is a world expert in the field of optic nerve regeneration.
“His contributions to the identification of new targets for therapy are exceptional,” said University of Pittsburgh Chair of Ophthalmology Dr. José-Alain Sahel. “His broad and deep knowledge will bring a strong expertise to the Department. He is also a widely recognized mentor and has always been a friend of the Department and the Fox Center.”
Indeed, Dr. Benowitz said he has been privileged to participate in the Fox Center’s annual meetings for 10 consecutive years, during which he has become friends with Louis and Dorothy Fox – who established the Center– and has gotten to know many of the “wonderful faculty and staff connected with the Center and Pitt.”
“Larry’s addition to the Fox Center team will add new energy and excitement, and will enable us to readily achieve our goals of optic nerve regeneration,” Louis Fox said.
Dr. Benowitz is most looking forward to being connected to “such an important center, great department, and great university. The Fox Center has played an important role in bringing together leaders in understanding the development, pathology, and repair of visual circuits, he said, and he hopes to continue and expand this mission.
Indeed, a major goal is to help mentor junior faculty in planning projects, interpreting results, writing grant applications and papers, and thinking about their careers.
“Another [goal] is to strengthen interactions with other leading centers, including other departments and foundations with which I’ve been connected, and to develop ways to support wide-ranging collaboration among our investigators here and with investigators elsewhere. Of course, we all share the ultimate goal of doing everything possible to hasten the development of treatments for currently disabling losses of vision.”