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Senior Engineer Bill Gerrey Honored with a Named Room at New LightHouse Building

November 16th, 2016

San Francisco’s LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired recently moved to its new facility at 1155 Market Street, 10th Floor, San Francisco, California. One of the rooms at this new LightHouse is named “Bill Gerrey, WA6NPC Amateur Radio Station.” It is a state-of-the-art amateur radio station that is named in honor of Bill Gerrey, a blind engineer, who is a researcher and engineer at The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. Bill Gerrey earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from California Polytechnic University.


Smith-Kettlewell Announces New Wayfinding App for Blind and Visually-Impaired Travelers

September 29th, 2016

Remote Infrared Signage (also known as “Talking Signs”) was invented at The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco. This powerful system used infrared beams to provide blind travelers with information about the location of transmitters marking bathrooms, bus stops, businesses, buildings, and beyond. Users could point hand-held receivers to accurately locate and identify the “signs” in that direction.


Scientists Receive NEI Grant Aiding Blind Interaction with Physical Objects

August 1st, 2016

James Coughlan, PhD, Senior Scientist at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, California, was recently awarded a four-year grant from NIH-NEI (R01EY025332) entitled, “Enabling Audio-Haptic Interaction with Physical Objects for the Visually Impaired Summary”.



Associate Scientist Dr. Chuan Hou Is Awarded a Five-Year Grant from NEI-NIH

January 27th, 2016

Congratulations to Associate Scientist Chuan Hou, MD, PhD, of The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco, who was awarded a five-year grant for an amblyopia study from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health.  Dr. Hou is a pediatric ophthalmologist with over ten years experience in clinical practice and eye surgeries in strabismus, cataract, glaucoma and retinal detachment. She has over fifteen years experience in vision research with substantial expertise in amblyopia and infant vision development with VEP and fMRI-informed EEG source-imaging methodology. With her clinical and research background, Dr. Hou is unique in her ability to conduct this proposed study.


UK Ophthalmologist Joins Smith-Kettlewell Research Staff

November 6th, 2015

Arvind Chandna, MD, joined The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco on November 1, 2015, as a Senior Clinicial Researcher in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus.
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Smartphone app, BLaDE, detecting a bar code


Dr. Coughlan’s Bar Code Reader, BLaDE, Featured in Scientific American

August 11th, 2015

Work by Drs. James Coughlan and Ender Tekin on bar code readers as an accessibility tool is discussed in Scientific American. The work with using these tools is specifically focused for people who are blind or who have visual impairments.


Dr. Suzanne McKee Awarded 2015 Davida Teller Award

May 19th, 2015

Congratulations to Dr. Suzanne McKee who was awarded the 2015 Davida Teller Award by the Vision Sciences Society (VSS).


NEI NRSA Fellowship Award Issued to Dr. Natela Shanidze

April 22nd, 2015

Congratulations to Dr. Natela Shanidze who was awarded a three-year fellowship from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health.


Dr. Likova’s Research on the Power of Drawing Featured in National Endowment for the Arts Webinar

March 20th, 2015

On March 18, 2015, Dr Lora Likova’s work on how learning to draw promotes brain plasticity and can serve blindness rehabilitation was featured in a live National Endowment for the Arts webinar on Visual Arts, Learning, Coping.