ARVO announces 2026 Advocacy Awards recipients
ARVO named Sangeetha Kandoi and Ellen Konadu Antwi-Adjei as the 2026 recipients of its annual Advocacy Awards. The honors recognize advocacy in eye and vision research and efforts to expand equitable access to care.
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) has announced the 2026 recipients of its annual Advocacy Awards: the Achievements in Eye and Vision Advocacy Award to Sangeetha Kandoi, PhD, and the Emerging Advocate Award to Ellen Konadu Antwi-Adjei, OD, MPH. The awards recognize ARVO members who have advanced eye and vision research through advocacy and early-career members who have incorporated advocacy as part of their professional efforts.
Kandoi is a BrightFocus Foundation-funded senior postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on retinal degenerations, with an emphasis on translating the cellular drivers of vision loss into practical restorative strategies. She is developing patient-specific three-dimensional retinal organoid systems, advancing precision medicine through drug testing and cell replacement therapies, and also establishing non-traditional animal models that better reflect human central vision.
Kandoi has participated in multiple ARVO Advocacy Days as well as National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research/Alliance for Eye and Vision Research initiatives, such as the Emerging Vision Scientist Program. Through meetings with U.S. legislators, she has helped advance federal eye and vision advocacy priorities, emphasizing the importance of sustained funding for the National Eye Institute. Her outreach spans educational social media engagement and research presentations for diverse audiences. She has also contributed to various fundraising initiatives for organizations such as Foundation Fighting Blindness.
Kandoi has been an active mentor to high school students and early-career scientists through intern and mentorship programs at University of California San Francisco and Johns Hopkins, and also ARVO’s Setting Your Sights program. She said the award is a profound honor that extends well beyond personal achievement and described it as validation of the “citizen scientist.”
Antwi-Adjei is a PhD candidate at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is also an optometrist and lecturer at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. She is involved in the Centers for Disease Control-funded Alabama Screening and Intervention for Glaucoma and Eye Health through Telemedicine (AL-SIGHT) program, where she evaluates the potential of portable visual field devices for detecting and monitoring glaucoma.
Through this work, Antwi-Adjei has presented findings to policymakers, demonstrating that telemedicine is a scalable, cost-effective tool for early detection and improving equitable access to care. In Ghana, she organized and facilitated public awareness campaigns such as Optometry Week, Vision Aid Overseas and World Glaucoma Week. She also met with regional policymakers, participated in World Sight Day activities, and led eye camps at schools for the deaf in villages across the Ashanti region.
The Achievements in Eye and Vision Advocacy Award recognizes ARVO members who have dedicated their careers to advancing eye and vision research through advocacy at all levels. The Emerging Advocate Award recognizes ARVO early-career members who have made efforts to incorporate advocacy as part of their professional efforts.