Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) has named Ellen Konadu Antwi-Adjei, OD, MPH, a Ph.D. candidate in the lab of Lyne Racette, Ph.D., at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, as a recipient of its 2026 Emerging Advocate Award.
The Emerging Advocate Award recognizes early-career ARVO members who have incorporated advocacy into their professional work and demonstrated meaningful engagement at the local, national or international level.
Antwi-Adjei is a Ph.D. candidate at UAB and an optometrist and lecturer at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. Her work bridges clinical care, public health and translational research. She is actively involved in the CDC-funded Alabama Screening and Intervention for Glaucoma and eye Health through Telemedicine (AL-SIGHT) study, where she evaluates portable visual field devices to improve glaucoma detection and monitoring. Through this research, she has presented findings to policymakers, highlighting telemedicine as a scalable, cost-effective strategy to expand early detection and equitable access to care.
Her commitment to advocacy began in Ghana, where she witnessed preventable vision loss caused by systemic barriers to care. She organized national awareness campaigns, including Optometry Week and World Glaucoma Week, led outreach programs in underserved communities and engaged regional policymakers to promote access to eye health services. In the United States, she has continued this work through community education, federal advocacy events such as Prevent Blindness’s Eyes on Capitol Hill and international engagement, including a 2025 presentation at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
Antwi-Adjei said receiving the award is both meaningful and motivating. “To me, this affirms that advocacy is not peripheral to vision science, it is essential to its impact,” she said. “It reinforces that the voices of early-career scientists — especially women and scholars from underrepresented backgrounds — are critical in shaping the future of vision research and eye health advocacy. I am deeply committed to using this opportunity to elevate ARVO’s mission and ensure that research leads to lasting, inclusive impact.”
The ARVO Emerging Advocate Award is open to members-in-training with at least two years of cumulative membership who have engaged in advocacy at any level of government. Antwi-Adjei’s selection underscores the growing role of scientist-advocates in shaping the future of vision research and public health policy.
Learn more about the ARVO 2026 Advocacy Awards.