Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen and Lia Huo honoured by Fighting Blindness Canada

Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen, a resident physician in the department of ophthalmology and vision sciences in the University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and Lia Huo, an MD/PhD candidate in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, have received 2025 Clinician-Scientist Emerging Leader Awards from Fighting Blindness Canada.

The awards support early-career clinician-scientists who are advancing research related to retinal and vision diseases.

Nguyen was recognized for research focused on immune mechanisms in thyroid eye disease, including efforts to predict and prevent dysthyroid optic neuropathy and related vision loss. “In clinic, I see the toll thyroid eye disease takes on patients’ lives. My research is about giving them hope that soon we will be able to predict, prevent and cure it,” Nguyen said. 

Huo was honoured for research investigating gene-agnostic neuroprotective therapies for retinitis pigmentosa using retinal organoids and a slow-release hydrogel delivery system to support photoreceptor survival. “Seeing how vision loss affected my own family strengthened my commitment to finding better options for patients,” said Huo. “By studying how cone-protective factors support human photoreceptors in retinal organoids, we can test and develop new gene-agnostic therapies.”

Read the Fighting Blindness Canada announcement