Prof. Dr. Manuel Spitschan, Head of the Professorship of Chronobiology & Health at the Technical University of Munich and Research Group Leader at Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, was awarded the 2023 David Marr Medal by the Applied Vision Association (AVA).
The award is named in memory of David Marr (1945-1980), one of the UK’s most important neuroscientists in the field of the visual system. Every other year, the AVA confers the award to honor the achievements of an outstanding vision scientist in the early part of their research career.
Prof. Dr. Spitschan received the award for
his pioneering work on the photoreceptor contributions to human vision and non-visual functions, particularly concerning the melanopsin- and cone-mediated mechanisms contributing to visual perception, the pupillary light reflex, melatonin suppression and circadian phase shifting,
as the AVA states on their website.
In 2022, Prof. Dr. Spitschan contributed to the first consensus-based scientific recommendations by an international scientific consortium for the amount of light people should receive both during daytime and at night.
At the AVA’s 2023 Christmas Meeting on 18 December 2023, he will receive the award and give a keynote lecture on his research entitled: Retinal mechanisms underlying non-image-forming vision: Known unknowns and unknown unknowns.
What a great early Christmas present!
Our warmest congratulations, Manuel!