Helen Keller Foundation

The Helen Keller Foundation is a non-profit organization which supports research and education on vision, speech, and hearing loss. It was founded in 1988 is named in honor of Tuscumbia-born writer and social activist Helen Keller. Her great-grandniece, Keller Johnson-Thompson served as the organization's vice president of education.

The Foundation shares offices space with Retinal Specialists of Alabama at 2208 University Boulevard.

In 1994 the Foundation began giving an annual Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research during the annual conference of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. The BrightFocus Foundation of Clarksburg, Maryland now co-sponsors that award.

Helen Keller Laureates

• 1994: Arnall Patz, Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute
• 1995: Bernard Becker, Washington University School of Medicine
• 1996: David Hubel & Torsten Wiesel, Harvard Medical School
• 1997: Robert Machemer, Duke University School of Medicine
• 1998: Norman Ashton, University of London
• 1999: Lorenz Zimmerman, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
• 2000: John Dowling, Harvard Medical School
• 2001: J. Donald M. Gass, University of Miami School of Medicine
• 2002: Anders Bill, Uppsala University
• 2003: David Maurice, University of London
• 2004: Alan Bird, University College London
• 2005: Alfred Sommer, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• 2006: Judah Folkman, Harvard Medical School
• 2007: Johannes Rohen & Elke Kutje-Drecoll, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
• 2008: Joram Piatigorsky, National Institutes of Health
• 2009: Hugh Taylor, University of Melbourne
• 2010: Claes Dohlman, Harvard Medical School
• 2011: Endre Balazs, Columbia University
• 2013: László Bitó,, Columbia University
• 2014: Emily Chew & Frederick Ferris III, National Institutes of Health
• 2015: Gordon Legge, University of Minnesota & Robert Massof, Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute
• 2016: Dean Bok, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
• 2017: Gerrit Melles, Netherlands Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery
• 2018: Webster Cavenee, Thaddeus Dryja, Brenda L. Gallie & A. Linn Murphree
• 2019: Jeremy Nathans & King-Wai Yau
• 2020: Sheila West, Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute
• 2022: Mae Gordon & Michael Kass, Washington University School of Medicine

External links

• Helen Keller Foundation website