Each year the Diversity Initiatives Committee awards three minority fellowship travel grants. The ARVO SACNAS Eye and Vision Research Award is given to an individual with the best vision and ophthalmology-related abstract from the Society for Advancement of Hispanics/Chicanos and Native Americans in Science conference of that year. The ARVO Vision Research Minority Fellowship Award is awarded to an individual who has won a Rabb-Venable Excellence in Ophthalmology Award at that year's U.S. National Medical Association's annual convention (two awards given each year). The Rabb-Venable award is named in honor of Dr. Maurice Rabb, Jr., and Dr. H. Phillip Venable, two pioneering African American ophthalmologists and researchers. For more information about these grants, please contact award@arvo.org.
2025 ARVO Minority Fellowship Travel Grant recipients
Maribel Torres-Velázquez, PhD | ARVO/SACNAS Award recipient
Winning project: Mapping Retina-Brain Projections at the Level of Distinct Mouse Retinal Ganglion Cells
Maribel Torres Velázquez, PhD, is a NURTURE postdoctoral fellow at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she earned her undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez (UPRM). During her studies at UPRM, she developed a strong passion for image and signal processing, which inspired her to pursue a career in biomedical engineering. She subsequently completed her master's and PhD degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializing in biomedical image processing and optics. As a postdoctoral fellow, she has focused on uncovering the retina-to-brain circuitry at the level of individual retinal ganglion cell subtypes. Dr. Torres Velázquez aspires to continue her high-level research in neuroscience and ophthalmology by applying innovative biomedical imaging techniques. Additionally, as a Hispanic/Latino woman in engineering, she is committed to promoting equity and inclusion for underrepresented groups in STEM fields.
Kara R. Grimes | ARVO Vision Research Minority Fellowship Award recipient 
Winning project: Community Glaucoma Screenings Using a Novel Glaucoma Risk Calculator to Address Access to Care.
Kara Grimes is a fourth-year medical student at New York Medical College with aspirations to become an ophthalmologist dedicated to advancing health equity and improving access to eye care. Originally from Silver Spring, Md., she earned her bachelor's degree in health and exercise science from Syracuse University and a master's in physiology from Georgetown University.
Grimes' passion for ophthalmology is inspired by her experiences growing up with a visually impaired mother. This background shaped her commitment to early eye care and treatment. Her research on affordable glaucoma screening tools, funded by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, earned her a distinction in research from her medical school. Additionally, she is graduating with a distinction in culinary medicine, completing a capstone project that integrates her interest in nutrition and eye health education. In her free time, Grimes enjoys playing tennis, decorating her home and spending quality time with her family.
Past recipients
2024 ARVO SACNAS | Alexandra Serrato |Thyroid hormone transporter MCT8 controls cone photoreceptor maturation in the mouse retina
2024 ARVO VRMF |Oluwatoyosi Arogbokun | Hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke associated with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator in patients receiving adjuvant hyperbaric oxygen for the treatment of central retinal artery occlusion
2024 ARVO VRMF |Tiffani Spaulding, MPH | Ohio county-level visual impairment and blindness and measures of community disaster resilience
2023 ARVO SACNAS | Sophia Ratvasky | Advancements in visual sciences: The role of macrophages in newt lens regeneration
2023 ARVO VRMF | Maylander Menard | Diversity among ophthalmology fellowship applicants
2023 ARVO VRMF | Elise V. Mike, MD | Disparities in discharge patterns in firearm-associated ocular trauma
2022 ARVO SACNAS | Jessy Martinez | Binocular visual experience followed by sleep optimally promotes visual cortex plasticity and reverses visual deficits in a mouse model of amblyopia
2022 ARVO VRMF | Johsias A. Maru | Barriers in ophthalmology residency applications for students identifying as underrepresented in medicine: A San Francisco match analysis
2022 ARVO VRMF | Anuoluwapo Sopeyin, MD | Racial and ethnic disparities in the prevalence of post-cataract surgery endophthalmitis
2021 ARVO SACNAS | Kyle Helms | The Tsh transcription factor and the transcriptional co-regulator Ctbp interact in srosophila melanogaster eye development
2021 ARVO VRMF |Modupe Adetunji | Laser selection and racial background impact rates of iritis and intraocular pressure elevation following laser peripheral iridotomy for anatomical narrow angles
2021 ARVO VRMF | Alexis Pascoe, MD | Telemedicine utilization by ophthalmologists during the COVID-19 pandemic
2020 ARVO SACNAS | Carla Ramos, PhD | Stimulation of retinal glia cells by palmitic acid
2020 ARVO VRMF | Amani Davis | Ocular rindings in patients with isolated sagittal synostosis
2020 ARVO VRMF | Matthew Tadrus, MD |Toric Intraocular lens implantation in patients with high astigmatism secondary to keratoconus, post penetrating keraoplasty or post refractive ectasia
2019 ARVO SACNAS | Jared Tangeman | Resetting the epigenome during retinal pigment epithelium reprogramming towards retina regeneration
2019 ARVO VRMF | Dianne Barrett, MD | Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in migraine and its correlation to duration and severity of disease
2019 ARVO VRMF | Davis Uzochukwu Anugo | A novel therapeutic approach for treating corneal alkaline burn injury by targeting Fidgetin-like 2, a microtubule regulator
2018 ARVO SACNAS | Lewis Marquez | Downregulation of Cytochrome C Oxidase following IOP elevation in rat model of glaucoma is attenuated by Αb-Crystallin Core Peptide (ABCP)
2018 ARVO VRMF | Joah F. Aliancy, MD | Long-term capsular clarity with a disc-shaped intraocular lens
2018 ARVO VRMF | Caryn Cobb | Micro-Cannula technique in periorbital rejuvenation
2017 ARVO SACNAS | Jesse Velasco | Characterizing the effects of SPHK1 knockout in the mouse neural retina
2017 ARVO VRMF | Deanna Lyttle, MD | Levodopa as a possible treatment of visual loss in nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION)
2017 ARVO VRMF | Akosua Nti, MD | Analysis of the African American and Hispanic sub-groups in the IIHTT treatment trial
2016 ARVO SACNAS | Stephanie Landeros | Effects of human retinal progenitor cells on glial and immune cell reactivity in the RCS rat
2016 ARVO VRMF | Ahmara Gibbons Ross, MD, PhD | The threshold of ultraviolet light energy to eliminate acanthamoeba
2016 ARVO VRMF | Ijeoma S. Chinwuba | Systemic associations of macular retinoschisis, hemorrhagic cysts, and retinal folds in children
2015 ARVO SACNAS | Sierra Warren | Improving underwater vision with amphibious contact lenses
2015 ARVO VRMF | Nikisha Q. Richards | Ophthalmic presentation of giant cell arteritis in African Americans
2015 ARVO VRMF | Alexis K. Warren | Bevacizumab (Avastinâ) as a treatment alternative for threshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)
2014 ARVO SACNAS | Daniel Foster | Using change blindness to study the effect of visual attention on neural activity in visual area v4
2014 ARVO VRMF | Alexandros Pappas | Success of intraocular pressure control in glaucoma patients undergoing canaloplasty with and without cataract extraction in a single center setting
2014 ARVO VRMF | Dianne Barrett | Identifying candidate proteases to degrade cochlin using biochemical and bioinformatic techniques
2013 ARVO SACNAS | Emily Sales | Retinal ganglion type specific axon targeting to the superior colliculus in EphrinA2/EphrinA5 knock-out mice
2013 ARVO VRMF | Ian A. Thompson | CFH and HTRAI risk alleles in Caucasian and African American ocular sarcoidosis patients
2013 ARVO VRMF | O’Rese J. Knight | Comparison of confocal corneal endothelial image analysis methods