Vision Excellence Awards: Lou Pizzarello

Prof Louis Pizzarello was Secretary General, IAPB and had played a key role in delivering the IAPB General Assembly in Buenos Aires (2008). He has over 45 years experience in blindness prevention, beginning with Vitamin A deficiency and then as Medical Director of Helen Keller International, overseeing cataract surgical programmes. As a key part of the IAPB board, Prof Pizzarello worked with the WHO in ensuring the success of VISION 2020 implementation around the world. He also served as the founding chair of VISION 2020/USA, bringing together all the key eye care organisations in USA. He is currently the Vice President of the board of the Lavelle Fund for the Blind. He is a Professor of Ophthalmology at the Edward S Harkness Eye Institute at Columbia University.