Christine A. Curcio, Ph.D., professor of ophthalmology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is the recipient of the 2014 Ludwig von Sallmann Prize, awarded to an individual for significant contributions to vision research and ophthalmology. Curcio is the first member of the UAB faculty to be so honored. The award is conferred by the Ludwig von Sallmann Foundation at the biennial meeting of the International Society for Eye Research; it honors the internationally respected ophthalmologist and researcher for which it is named.

Curcio is the director of the UAB age-related macular degeneration histopathology lab and also is scientific director of the Alabama Eye Bank. Her research focuses on aging, age-related macular degeneration with emphasis on pathobiology, image validation through histology and collaborative genomics studies.

Curcio has written or co-written more than 90 journal articles and has presented abstracts at vision meetings every year since 1985. She has delivered about 150 invited lectures at major meetings, congresses and universities in North America and Europe. She is on the editorial boards of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, Current Eye Research, and Progress in Retinal and Eye