On June 2, Dr. Rafael Simó, head of the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital and of the Diabetes and Metabolism research group at Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), received in Coimbra (Portugal) the prestigious Eva Kohner Award at the congress organized by the Ocular Complications Study Group of the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes. This award recognizes the trajectory in basic and clinical research in diabetic retinopathy and has been granted to world-renowned leaders in this field.

Diabetic retinopathy is the most common microvascular complication associated with diabetes, and the leading cause of preventable visual impairment and blindness in the working-age population worldwide. In recent years, Dr. Simó has led several lines of research to identify new therapeutic targets and strategies to prevent and treat the early stages of this disease based on neuroprotection.

As part of the event, Dr. Rafael Simó gave the lecture "Neurovascular Unit impairment in Diabetic Retinopathy: Clinical and Therapeutic implications" and previously explained his relationship with Dr. Eva Kohner and her influence on his research career.

On June 6, Dr. Rafael Simó also gave the lecture of admission as a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia (RAMC) after receiving the Joaquin Barraquer Award last January. Dr. Simó spoke about his contributions to the pathogenesis and discovery of new therapeutic targets in diabetic retinopathy.

Eva Kohner Award in diabetic retinopathy

The prize awarded by the Ocular Complications Study Group of the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes is named in honor of the Hungarian ophthalmologist Eva Kohner (23 February 1929 – 24 September 2021). Born in Budapest in a wealthy Jewish family, Dr. Kohner survived the Nazi Holocaust and fled her country to London, where she first enrolled in nursing school and then studied medicine, graduating in 1959.

Her passion was the study of diabetic retinopathy, which was then an incurable cause of blindness. Dr. Kohner described the pathophysiology and natural history of the disease and pioneered photocoagulation as an effective treatment. She was also instrumental in the introduction of screening programs for diabetic retinopathy and founded the Ocular Complications Study Group of the European Society for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), which is the framework for the award of the prize that bears her name.

Among the long list of titles and honors awarded to her, the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen in 1995 and the Arnall Patz Medal of the Macula Society in 2002 stand out. Fate led her to spend her last years almost blind, a real contradiction for someone who dedicated her life to saving the sight of others.