The Founders Award
Jerzy Nawrocki, MD, PhD, FASRS, chair of the Ophthalmology Department of the Jasne Blonia Clinic in Lodz, Poland, is the recipient of the 2025 ASRS Founders Award. Dr. Nawrocki, who co-founded the Jasne Blonia Clinic in 2001, 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. Nawrocki, along with his wife, Zofia Nawrocka, MD, PhD, and daughter, Zofia Anna Nawrocka, MD, PhD, FASRS, pioneered the inverted internal limiting membrane (ILM) flap technique to repair a wide spectrum of macular holes and ILM stuffing for managing optic pit. They have also collaborated and published on cool phaco in combined phacoemulsification and vitrectomy surgery, and a spectral-domain optical coherence tomography study reporting on the evolution from macular pseudohole to lamellar macular hole.
Dr. Nawrocki serves as an international representative on the ASRS Board of Directors, is a past president of the European Vitreoretinal Society (EVRS), and serves on the board of the Association of Polish Ophthalmic Surgeons.
He has authored more than 250 publications worldwide and has won 11 ASRS Film Festival Rhett Buckler Awards, as well as film awards from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, EVRS, German Society of Ophthalmology, German Ophthalmic Surgery, and the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology.
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.
Watch for nominations to open for the 2026 award!
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