Emily Chew

Director of the Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications; Chief of the Clinical Trials Branch, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Profile

At the heart of Emily Chew’s incredible career has always been the desire to have a meaningful and long-lasting impact on her patients and their families. In fact, that same desire led her to ophthalmology and the retina subspeciality, which she discovered during an elective period working with Brenda Gallie. Notably, it was Gallie who impressed upon Chew the importance of research and its potential to multiply a clinician’s impact.

Today, with that lesson clearly learned, Emily Chew stands as a giant of retinal research with a long list of field-changing work, including the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS), the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), and the Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS2), which she chairs.

Alongside the strides she has made in adding to the ophthalmology literature, Chew has also paid forward the gift of mentorship that she received from Gallie and her other mentors; she has served as a mentor to over 70 medical retinal fellows and medical students. Additionally, Chew has served the ophthalmology community by sitting on numerous committees, including the ARVO Awards Committee, the NIH Equity Committee, the Helen Keller Award Committee. She also served as the Co-Chair of the Women’s Leadership Development Program for ARVO.

With such a career, it is no surprise that Chew has become a well known face not only in the retinal subspecialty, but within the wider ophthalmology and medical communities. Her achievements have consistently been recognized by her peers; she has appeared on The Ophthalmologist Power List a record eight times, and has received a plethora of other awards and honors, including the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Secretariat, Guest and Lifetime Achievement awards, the American Medical Association’s Inspirational Physician Recognition honor, and ARVO’s Distinguished Service Awards as well as the Proctor Medal. Now in 2023, we at The Ophthalmologist are delighted to induct Emily Chew into the Power List Hall of Fame.

Awards and Honors

1981 – Research Prize, Ophthalmology, University of Toronto
1982 – EA Baker Scholarship for Advanced Training in Ophthalmology, Canadian National Institute for the Blind
1986 – Best Teacher’s Award, Ophthalmology, University of Toronto
1996 – Honors Award, American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) 
2001 – NEI Director’s Award (Achievements in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study)
2001 – NEI Director’s Award (Compassion in patient care)
2003 – NIH Director’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring
2004 – Award of Merit in Retina Research, Schepens Lecture, Retina Society 
2004 – Senior Honors Award, AAO
2005 – Secretariat Award, AAO
2005 – Honor Award, American Society of Retinal Specialists (ASRS)
2006 – J Donald Gass Medal, Macula Society
2008 – Alcon Research Institute Award
2008 – NIH Director’s Award for development of dbGaP, public access to AREDS data
2008 – NEI Director’s Award (Recruitment in AREDS2 Study)
2009 – Professional Service Award, Prevention of Blindness, Washington DC, Metropolitan Chapter
2009 – ARVO Fellow, Silver
2009 – NIH Director’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring
2009 – Founders Award, ASRS
2009 – Award of Merit for Scientific Achievements, Asian & Pacific Islander American Organization, NIH
2011 – NIH Director’s Award for dbGaP, Photographic Access
2012 – Secretariat Award, AAO
2012 – Guest Award, AAO
2013 – Lifetime Achievement Award, AAO
2013 – NIH (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute) for Diversity
2014 – Helen Keller Prize in Vision Research, The Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education
2014 – Bressler Award for Vision Research, Lighthouse Guild
2015 – Prix Soubrane de la Recherche en Ophtalmologie, Macula of Paris Congress
2015 – ARVO Fellow, Gold
2016 – Ingrid Kreissig Award, ARVO Foundation for Eye Research
2017 – Academia Ophthalmologica internationalis, Chair No. 26
2017 – Inspirational Physician Recognition, American Medical Association
2017 – Suzanne Véronneau-Troutman Award, Women In Ophthalmology
2018 – Lawrence Singerman Medal for Outstanding contributions to the advancement of science through retinal clinical trials, Macula Society
2018 – Distinguished Service Award, ARVO
2019 – Great Teacher Series, NIH
2019 – Leslie Dana Gold Medal, St. Louis Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired
2019 – Jackson Memorial Lecturer, AAO
2019 – Pioneer Award for advancement in Research in Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Diabetic Retinopathy, Chinese American Ophthalmological Society (CAOS)
2019 – Astute Clinician Lecture, NIH
2022 – American Ophthalmological Society Medal
2022 – J. Donald M. Gass Lectureship Award, Retina Society
2023 – The Ophthalmologist Power List Hall of Fame
2024 – Proctor Medal, ARVO