Boston-The Schepens Eye Research Institute will honor the memory of the late Rep. John Joseph Moakley (D-MA) with a new endowed chair called the Moakley Scholar in Aging Eye Research.

Eliezer Peli, MSc, OD, Schepens senior scientist and professor of ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, is the first recipient.

Moakley, 74, died May 28, 2001, three months after he was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome. He is honored for his dedication to funding research to prevent blindness. He represented a blue-collar section of south Boston for 29 years.

"Congressman Moakley was a true hero to those of us who are searching for the causes, treatments, and cures for blinding eye diseases," said J. Wayne Streilein, MD, president of the institute.

Moakley, who suffered a complex eye condition that required special contact lenses, helped prevent reduction in National Eye Institute funding in the early 1980s. That passion for eye research continued through the 1990s.

Between 1998 and 2000, Moakley was able to encourage the Department of Defense to create a low-vision research initiative that allowed the Schepens institute to launch a multidisciplinary research program that evolved into the Center for Research on the Aging Eye.

In selecting Dr. Peli for the chair, the institute praised a career dedicated to improving the vision and quality of life of people who suffer from low vision. Dr. Peli was trained as an engineer and optometrist, and is interested in developing and testing new devices to help those with low vision. He is the author of more than 90 studies and a book on driving with low vision, and he holds five U.S. patents.