The Alcon Research Institute
In 1981, Alcon set out to help support research in eye health and to expand the frontiers of vision sciences globally – thus the birth of the Alcon Research Institute (ARI). Since then, the ARI has had a significant impact on the study of ocular diseases and has become a bridge to building partnerships with leading researchers around the world.
The Concept
Alcon funds a virtual institute that seeks outstanding contributors to ophthalmic research throughout the world and honors them both in a symposium that elite members of the eye research community attend, as well as monetarily through an unrestricted research grant. The awardees also become members (alumni) of the ARI. No Alcon employee plays any role in the choice of the awardees; that is the responsibility of the Scientific Selection Committee (SSC). This committee is a group of outstanding independent ocular researchers chosen to represent the global research community. An Executive Committee (EC) chosen by the Chairman of the SSC administers the activities of the ARI, including funding, obtaining nominations for awards and planning of the biennial symposia. One non-voting Alcon executive serves on these committees as the secretary and facilitates the many administrative activities required throughout the year.
Selection of Awardees
The ARI does not accept applications for its awards. Instead, the members of the ARI are invited to submit nominations annually. Approximately 60 nominations are submitted, and these are carefully considered in a two-step process where the original list is reduced by an initial vote to a short list of about two dozen. A final vote is taken, which results in a handful of awardees. The latter process involves the representation of each nominee by a member of the SSC in a meeting dedicated to this selection process to ensure that each candidate receives the most complete consideration possible of his or her research accomplishments.
Awardee Honors
Through the years, the unrestricted monetary award has grown from $15,000 to $100,000 (1991) to each awardee, and there are now about 234 ARI members/alumni. Demonstrating its dedication to the impact of these awards, Alcon announced in July of 2008 that it has increased the awards to $200,000, beginning in 2009. Another important component is the Awards Symposium held at Alcon headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. Here the awardees of the previous two years are honored and give a presentation of their most recent research. All the ARI members are invited to attend, which makes for a stimulating two-day gathering of free-flowing discussions amongst a diverse range of scientists and clinicians. This can and does lead to new areas of investigation and novel approaches to the resolution of the many ophthalmic diseases afflicting our population.
Alcon Contribution
Since its inception in 1981, the ARI has granted almost $21 million to more than 230 researchers in support of their research into eye disease and ophthalmology. According to a recently completed survey of the ARI membership, there is general consensus that the ARI has been successful in having a strong impact on the state of eye research in the world. The value of the unrestricted nature of these awards cannot be overestimated. It gives the awardee great freedom of choice with regard to the area of ocular research to pursue, including the option of starting a new direction and bringing in new technology. The survey also revealed that 93 percent of the ARI awards were leveraged to obtain additional funding from various agencies and almost half percent of that funding was for new directions in ocular diseases. As a result, almost 80 percent of ARI recipients have indicated that their award had a major impact on their research.
During the past 28 years the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) has bestowed over 125 major awards; 47 percent of those were also ARI recipients, an indication of the prestige of the scientists chosen by the ARI Scientific Selection Committee (SSC). It is also quite significant that about 50 percent of those chosen as ARI winners were in advance of an ARVO award – that is, they were recognized as significant contributors to vision research by the ARI before ARVO recognized them as such.