Dr. Sally Atherton named ARVO executive director

Rockville, MD-Sally Atherton, PhD, has been appointed executive director of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). Her tenure will begin in January 2013.

Dr. Atherton has been chairwoman of the department of cellular biology and anatomy at Georgia Health Sciences University, Augusta, GA, since 2000.

Prior to her appointment as executive director, Dr. Atherton held various administrative, review, and leadership positions in academia with ARVO and for other organizations. She has been a member of ARVO since 1983 and is a Gold Fellow. She has served on the annual meeting program committee, the site selection committee, and as a trustee to the immunology and microbiology section. She is an ARVO past-president (2003–2004), and served as the ARVO executive vice president from 2007 to 2012.

Through her work as executive vice president, Dr. Atherton has represented ARVO at numerous international meetings and engaged in advocacy activities to educate congressional leaders about the importance of eye and vision research.

She received her PhD in microbiology (virology) from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and has a wide range of post-doctoral fellowship and teaching experience.

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