Research8 has shown that ophthalmology has the lowest proportion of minority representation in comparison to other disciplines in residency programs in the U.S. To help level the playing field, J&J Innovative Medicine has funded the Research to Prevent Blindness Medical Student Eye Research Fellowship, which allows gifted students to take a year off from medical school and devote time to the pursuit of a research project. The program encourages individuals who identify as female and/or an under-represented minority to apply to bring much needed equity and diversity to the field of vision research. In 2023, Cherrell Price became the first Fellow to participate in this program and will attend Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology for a one-year program to study retinitis pigmentosa treatments.
It matters to me
Cherrell Price, Morehouse School of Medicine, Research to Prevent Blindness Medical Student Eye Research Fellow
“Since beginning medical school, providing a service to those who are underserved or disadvantaged has always been at the core of my mission. On my journey into the field of ophthalmology, I was moved by the many challenges, and ultimately, the vision loss that patients with inherited retinal diseases (IRD) face. Although it’s a complex field with many roadblocks, I am a firm believer that the largest challenges provide the biggest reward, and I knew I wanted to contribute to the advancement of IRD knowledge and hopefully one day a genetic treatment.”
8According to a University of California, Davis study from 2019 – 2020, underrepresented minorities made up about 19% of medical school attendees but only 6.3% of ophthalmology residency programs.
