Maureen Powers, Ph.D.

Senior Director of Research

Dr. Powers completed her undergraduate work at UC Berkeley, and her PhD in visual neuroscience at the University of Michigan. After post-doctoral research fellowships in Ophthalmology at Michigan and in Vision Science at the University of Washington, she was appointed to a professorship in the Department of Psychology at Vanderbilt University, where she attained the rank of full professor in 3 years. In addition to running her own NIH and NSF-supported laboratory and heading, at various times, the graduate and undergraduate degree programs in Psychology, she also founded and directed the Vanderbilt Vision Research Institute - now in its 18th year of continuous NIH funding. In 2000 she moved to California and began the Gemstone Foundation, for which she works as Senior Scientist today.

Dr. Powers' research has included work with animal models of retinal regeneration and the relationship between retinal processing and visual sensitivity; work with infants on visual optics and on dark adapted visual function; work on circadian rhythms in visual function in humans and animals; patient satisfaction with early radial keratotomy surgery; and most recently the relation between visual skills and academic performance. She is a 30-year member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) and of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD).

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