Sieving Receives Italian Honorary Award

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On hand at the Society Oftalmologica Italiana induction are (from l) SOI President Matteo Piovella; Prof. Benedetto Falsini, Universita Cattolica del S. Cuore; NEI director Dr. Paul Sieving; and SOI General Secretary-Treasurer Teresio Avitabile.

The Societa Oftalmologica Italiana (SOI) recently recognized National Eye Institute director Dr. Paul Sieving with the SOI Honorary Award in Ophthalmology. 

Since 2008, the SOI has used the award to acknowledge individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the field of ophthalmology. 

Based in Rome, the SOI was founded in 1869 and is the oldest society of ophthalmologists in Europe. It currently includes nearly 5,000 members.  

Sieving has directed NEI since 2001. He is known for clinical and basic studies of degenerative retinal disorders. His studies of pharmacological approaches to slowing degeneration in retinal transgenic animal models led to the first human clinical trial of ciliary neurotrophic factor for retinitis pigmentosa. In 2015, he initiated the first gene therapy trial for x-linked retinoschisis. 

Sieving is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and of the German National Academy of Sciences.