ASRS Presidents' Young Investigator Award
The Foundation has selected Rajeev H. Muni, MD, MSC, FRCSC, FASRS, as the winner of the 12th annual ASRS Presidents’ Young Investigator Award. Dr. Muni is an associate professor and vice-chair of clinical research in the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences of the University of Toronto, St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The ASRS Presidents’ Young Investigator Award is given by the Foundation to honor past presidents of our Society by nurturing the development of next-generation retina leaders. It recognizes an ASRS member age 50 or younger who has made substantial contributions to the field of retina that will potentially improve our patients’ lives. The winner receives a $15,000 honorarium. We are grateful for support of this award through a grant from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Dr. Muni and his team conducted the PIVOT randomized trial that compared pneumatic retinopexy vs pars plana vitrectomy for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. He has been instrumental in novel research assessing the integrity of retinal reattachment with various surgical approaches using multimodal imaging.
Under his leadership, Dr. Muni’s team has conducted key research in assessing baseline morphological changes, deepening our understanding of the pathophysiology of macular hole, proliferative vitreoretinopathy, and progressive outer retinal changes over time in rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Dr. Muni has published extensively on these topics in leading peer-reviewed journals. He has more than 220 peer-reviewed publications with over 60 in 2024 alone, and has delivered 38 invited lectures in 2024 in countries all over the world.
In 2023, Dr. Muni was one of 5 recipients of the inaugural ASRS Presidential Honor Award; he also has been honored with the 2018 Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario Innovator of the Year Award. In 2021, Dr. Muni won the inaugural Kreissig Award for Excellence in Retinal Surgery from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and in 2022, he won the inaugural Rosario Brancato Retina Award presented at the OCT & Retina Forum in Italy.
Dr. Muni also won the 2023 Retina Research Foundation/Paul Kayser Global Award from the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology, the highest honor given by this association for research.
About the Young Investigator Award
The ASRS Presidents’ Young Investigator Award is given by the Foundation to honor past presidents of our Society by nurturing the development of next-generation retina leaders. The winner receives a $15,000 honorarium. We are grateful for support of this award through a grant from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
The Young Investigator Award recognizes an ASRS member age 50 or younger who has made substantial contributions to the field of retina that will potentially improve the lives of our patients.
Eligibility Criteria
- 50 years of age or younger at the time the paper is published
- Member of the ASRS
- Must be first or senior author on the paper submitted for consideration
- Paper must be original and published in print or e-published in a peer-reviewed journal within the last 12 months.
- Individuals may nominate themselves or others may nominate them once the paper has been published.
- To be considered, nominees must submit the published paper, including all illustrations and online links, acknowledgement from senior author (if first author is applicant) or first author (if senior author is applicant) that candidate is in fact the primary investigator, a CV, and a paragraph summarizing the significance of their work.
Award Details
The Young Investigator Award is presented at the ASRS Annual Meeting. The recipient presents the Young Investigator Award Lecture and receives a $15,000 honorarium. Application materials are submitted online to ASRS through the nomination form. Watch for nominations to open for 2026!
Past Recipients
*Click here to learn more about these past recipients
2014 Rajendra Apte, MD, PhD
2015 Hendrik PN Scholle, MD, MA
2016 Jayakrishna Ambati, MD
2017 SriniVas R. Sada, MD,
2018 Rishi P. Singh, MD, FASRS
2019 Sophie J. Bakri, MD, FASRS
2020 Charles C. Wykoff, MD, PhD, FASRS
2021 Arshad M. Khanani, MD, MA, FASRS
2022 Justis P. Ehlers, MD, FASRS
2023 Aaron Y. Lee, MD, MSCI
2024 J. Peter Campbell, MD, MPH, FASRS