Foundation Fighting Blindness Names Dr. Eric Pierce as the Recipient of Its Highest Honor, the Llura Liggett Gund Award

The award recognizes Dr. Pierce's contributions to inherited retinal disease research, including work that led to the first FDA-approved gene therapy for an inherited disease and leadership of the world's first in vivo CRISPR genome-editing study in humans.

DENVER, May 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Foundation Fighting Blindness, the driving force in the global development of treatments and cures for blinding diseases, announced that Eric A. Pierce, MD, PhD, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the Llura Liggett Gund Award. The Foundation's highest honor, the award is presented annually to an individual whose work has fundamentally reshaped inherited retinal disease research and brought renewed hope to millions of people facing blindness.

For decades, a diagnosis of inherited retinal disease meant a gradual progression toward blindness with no treatment options. Dr. Pierce has spent his career changing that. Today, patients who once had no recourse are enrolling in gene therapy clinical trials, receiving FDA-approved treatments, and in some cases seeing clearly enough to recognize the faces of family and friends.

Dr. Pierce, the William F. Chatlos Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Ocular Genomics Institute at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, has identified genes responsible for multiple forms of inherited retinal disease and helped develop the diagnostic tools now used worldwide to match patients to treatments. He was among the scientists in the early clinical trials of AAV-RPE65 gene therapy — the research that led to the 2017 FDA approval of LUXTURNA^®, the first in vivo gene therapy approved for an inherited disease.

As principal scientist of the BRILLIANCE trial, Dr. Pierce led the world's first study of in vivo CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing in humans, targeting a form of inherited retinal disease caused by mutations in the CEP290 gene. Published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2024, the trial demonstrated measurable improvements in vision for 11 of the 14 participants — including both adults and children — who had lived their entire lives with severe impairment. This included individuals who, for the first time, could see the food on their plates.

"When I started in this field, I had to tell families that we were working towards therapies but that there were no treatments yet," said Dr. Pierce. "Today, those conversations have completely changed. We're talking with patients about genetic diagnoses and discussing potential therapies and any clinical trials that might be right for them. That shift from if to when is what drives everything we do, and I share this recognition with the patients, families, and colleagues who made it possible."

Dr. Pierce's relationship with the Foundation spans more than 25 years. He has served as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, helped shape research funding strategy, and launched career development initiatives that have supported a new generation of investigators. He has also remained closely connected to the patient and family community, regularly presenting at Foundation events to help people understand where the science is heading.

"Eric has a gift for making people feel like partners in this work, whether it's a postdoctoral fellow he's mentoring or a family at one of our conferences who just received a diagnosis," said Dr. Amy Laster, chief scientific officer at the Foundation Fighting Blindness. "He was the unanimous choice for this award, and anyone who has worked alongside him will understand why."

The award was formally presented during the Retinal Therapeutics Innovation Summit on May 1, 2026. Past recipients of the Llura Liggett Gund Award include Jean Bennett, José Sahel, William Hauswirth, and Robert Eugene Anderson, among other internationally recognized leaders in vision science.

About the Foundation Fighting Blindness
Established in 1971, the Foundation Fighting Blindness is the driving force in the global development of treatments and cures for blinding diseases. The Foundation has raised nearly $1 billion toward its mission of accelerating research that will provide preventions, treatments, and cures for people affected by retinitis pigmentosa, Usher syndrome, Stargardt disease, Leber congenital amaurosis, age-related macular degeneration, and the spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases. Visit FightingBlindness.org for more information.

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SOURCE Foundation Fighting Blindness