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The Foundation of the ASRS Announces the 2025 M. Gilbert Grand ASRS Vitreoretinal Fellowship Award Recipient
The Foundation of the American Society of Retina Specialists is pleased to announce that Jonathan B. Lin, MD, PhD, a vitreoretinal fellow at the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University has been selected to receive the 2025 M. Gilbert Grand ASRS Vitreoretinal Fellowship Award.
The perpetual award was established by Dr. Grand to expand access to retina specialist fellowship training opportunities by helping offset some of the financial burden incurred by 2nd-year trainees during fellowship.
“I am grateful to Dr. Grand and the Foundation of the American Society of Retina Specialists for supporting me with this award. I am humbled by this recognition,” said Dr. Lin. “The award will assist me in completing my fellowship training at Stanford University and will help me to achieve my goal of becoming a vitreoretinal surgeon-scientist. I have been lucky to be the beneficiary of outstanding mentors throughout my training, and I am excited to join the field of retina soon!”
Prior to his fellowship, Dr. Lin graduated from Emory University, summa cum laude, with a BS in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and a BA in Music with a violin focus. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Nu Rho Psi, and Phi Sigma honor societies; and was a Robert W. Woodruff Scholar and a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar. As an undergraduate student, he performed research in the Department of Neurology, and spent several summers as a research intern at the US Air Force Research Laboratory for which he received Civilian Performance Awards.
Dr. Lin went on to earn his combined MD and PhD from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis with a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Investigation. His doctoral thesis was titled, “Understanding the Pathogenesis of Retinal Neurodegeneration.” For his PhD, he identified a possible role for metabolic neuroprotection in retinal degenerative diseases and discovered key age-associated alterations in the innate immune system that may contribute to age-associated ocular diseases.
Dr. Lin then completed his residency at Harvard Medical School and Mass Eye & Ear. He was selected to participate in the 18th Annual Heed Ophthalmic Foundation Residents Retreat and was honored as a co-chair for the 2022 Paul A. Chandler Visiting Professorship.
Among his many research accomplishments, he performed a rigorous meta-analysis showing that systemic complement dysregulation may be more prominent in early age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In addition, Dr. Lin was a co-senior author on the largest meta-analysis to date identifying stage-specific patterns of systemic lipid dyshomeostasis in AMD and he also led a study showing that neurofilament light chain (NfL) may be a novel molecular marker of glaucomatous neurodegeneration winning “Best Poster” at the Harvard Ophthalmology 2023 Annual Meeting and Alumni Reunion for this work.
The M. Gilbert Grand ASRS Vitreoretinal Fellowship Award is made possible by the generosity of ASRS member retina specialist M. Gilbert Grand, MD, and his family, as well as Dr. Grand’s prior retina fellows, his colleagues, and his patients.
The $2,500 perpetual award has been established to assist aspiring retina specialists with the hope that recipients will be inspired to give back similarly later in their careers.
"I congratulate Dr. Jonathan Lin, who is a very accomplished and most deserving recipient of this award," said Dr. Grand. "The progress we make in diagnosis and treatment as retina specialists is vitally important to the health and well-being of so many who suffer from sight-threatening retinal disease. I am hopeful that this award helps facilitate training of fellows whose future accomplishments will continue to advance our specialty."
Dr. Lin will receive his award on Friday, August 1 during the Awards Ceremony at the 2025 ASRS Annual Meeting in Long Beach, CA.
Learn more about Dr. Grand and the award here.
Interested in supporting this award or starting one of your own?
To support the M. Gilbert Grand ASRS Vitreoretinal Fellowship Award, visit www.asrs.org/foundation/donate-now and select the M. Gilbert Grand Award from the Donation Category dropdown menu.
To learn more about the Foundation’s activities supporting next-generation retina specialists visit https://www.asrs.org/foundation/our-vision-in-action.
Are you interested in setting up a named award opportunity? Please contact Shelly Vanover at Shelly.Vanover@asrs.org
(Published 4.2025)