Kenzi Valentyn Vision Research Grants 2020, applications open

The McPherson Eye Research Institute is pleased to announce its fourth annual research grant competition for trainees whose principal investigator mentors are McPherson ERI members at UW-Madison or at another Wisconsin institution (including UW-Milwaukee, UW-Oshkosh, Medical College of Wisconsin, Marquette University, and Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation).  Graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and medical or veterinary students are invited to apply for funding.

Kenzi Valentyn was a courageous and upbeat young woman whose long battle against Kearns-Sayre syndrome, a degenerative disease with symptoms including vision loss, ended with her passing at age 30 in March 2017.  Her many friends and family members, including her parents Tim and Nancy,

Kenzi Valentyn with her family
Kenzi Valentyn with her family

brothers Brett and Connor, and sister-in-law Mackenzie, have ridden in Cycle for Sight as “Kenzi’s Team” since 2014.  With gratitude for Kenzi’s life and her family’s dedication to vision research, the Institute has renamed our vision research trainee grants in her honor.

Two Kenzi Valentyn Vision Research Grants of $4000 each will be awarded in 2020. Attached are application guidelines, a specific application form, and a required compliance form.

Completed applications must be received by Monday, April 6, 2020. Please submit applications to Chris Laceychris.lacey@wisc.edu