The Founders Award
Carl C. Awh, MD, FASRS, president of Tennessee Retina in Nashville, Tennessee, is the recipient of the 2026 ASRS Founders Award. Dr. Awh, the 2020-2021 ASRS president and 2021-2022 president of the Foundation of the ASRS, is receiving the award for his major contributions to the advancement of vitreoretinal surgery, treatment, research, and patient care.
The Founders Award was first presented in 1997 to honor the efforts of the Society’s founders, Drs. Jerald A. Bovino, Roy A. Levit, and Allen Z. Verne, for their foresight, dedication, and leadership in establishing the Society as an open, democratic, worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement of vitreoretinal surgery and the study of vitreoretinal diseases.
Dr. Awh has been an active investigator in over 130 clinical trials, serving as principal investigator in more than 50. He has developed dozens of commercially successful surgical devices and has 28 issued or pending US patents for vitreoretinal surgical devices and treatments. Dr. Awh has been an invited lecturer in over 30 countries and on nearly every continent.
He has received the ASRS Presidential, Senior Honor, and Honor Awards, and was inducted as an inaugural member of the Retina Hall of Fame in 2017. Dr. Awh is a past board member of EURETINA, as well as co-founder and course director of the Retina Fellows Forum, which has hosted more than 1800 attendees since its inaugural meeting in 2001.
In addition to his ASRS honors, Dr. Awh has received the Senior Honor and Honor Awards from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
He moved to Nashville in 1994 to join a 2-physician retina practice, which has evolved into one of the premier private retina practices in the nation. Dr. Awh completed a vitreoretinal surgery fellowship at the Duke University Eye Center with Dr. Robert Machemer and other distinguished faculty and began his career at the Wilmer Eye Institute, where he was the founding co-director of the Johns Hopkins Microsurgery Advanced Design Laboratory.
Award Criteria
The American Society of Retina Specialists presents its Founders Award to an individual who has made major contributions to the advancement of vitreoretinal surgery, treatment, research, surgical instrumentation, and patient care.
The award is made at the discretion of the ASRS Awards Committee. The Committee considers both the significance of the contributions made, as well as the individual’s foresight, dedication and leadership in the field of retina.
The 2026 award nominations deadline was January 5, 2026.
Founders Lecture Honorees
1997 Steve T. Charles, MD, FASRS
1998 Neil E. Kelly, MD and Robert T. Wendel, MD
1999 Eugene de Juan, Jr., MD
2000 Robert Machemer, MD
2001 J. Donald M. Gass, MD
2002 Harvey Lincoff, MD
2003 William S. Tasman, MD
2004 Manfred Spitznas, MD
2005 Stephen J. Ryan, MD
2006 Kirk H. Packo, MD, FACS, FASRS
2007 Philip J. Rosenfeld, MD, PhD
2008 Alexander J. Brucker, MD
2009 Emily Y. Chew, MD
2010 Joan W. Miller, MD
2011 William F. Mieler, MD
2012 David W. Parke, II, MD
2013 Trexler Topping, MD, FASRS
2014 Paul Sternberg, MD
2015 Richard F. Spaide, MD
2016 Carol L. Shields, MD, FASRS
2017 John T. Thompson, MD, FASRS
2018 Wiley A. Chambers II, MD
2019 Lawrence A. Yannuzzi, MD
2020 Carl D. Regillo, MD, FACS, FASRS
2021 Stanislao Rizzo, MD, FASRS
2022 Maria H. Berrocal, MD, FASRS
2023 Johanna M. Seddon, MD, ScM, FARVO, FASRS
2024 Richard B. Rosen, MD, ScD (hon), FACS, FASRS, FARVO, CRA
2025 Jerzy Nawrocki, MD, PhD, FASRS