The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute

The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute A nonprofit improving understanding, diagnosis, treatment, & rehab for visual disorders & blindness.

03/25/2025

TOMORROW! Don't miss this event about how vision impacts learning! Tuesday, March 25th, 11:30am PST

https://ow.ly/8qh650VlKBX

Does your child vision puzzle you? Have you noticed some preferences or difficulties when your child is learning and playing? Have you been told your child has Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) or low vision and you are not sure how it impacts their learning and behavior?

Featuring Dr. Arvind Chandna, Ophthalmologist and Senior Clinician Scientist at The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute.

Many thanks to the California Department of Education, Special Education Division, for making this event posible.

The new Executive Director of SKERI lays out his strategic vision for the future of the institute and the importance of ...
03/24/2025

The new Executive Director of SKERI lays out his strategic vision for the future of the institute and the importance of collaboration with Big Tech in improving the quality of life of blind and low-vision people.

William Good, MD is a new Executive Director of the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. He speaks about the place of SKERI in vision science and the imp...

Brandon Biggs, a scientist at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, delivered a groundbreaking presentation title...
03/23/2025

Brandon Biggs, a scientist at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, delivered a groundbreaking presentation titled “Can You Read This Map: Checking Maps for ADA Accessibility” as part of the ADA National Network’s webinar series on March 14, 2024. Biggs emphasized that this talk is now the definitive government source for ensuring digital maps comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).


His presentation provided a comprehensive guide to making digital maps accessible to people with disabilities, covering key challenges and best practices. Biggs, the inventor of Audiom, a tool for creating accessible maps, has been at the forefront of developing solutions for non-visual map access.


With digital maps playing an increasing role in navigation and public services, Biggs’ work sets a new benchmark for accessibility standards. His insights will serve as a critical resource for government agencies, developers, and advocates working to make geographic information genuinely inclusive.

For more details, visit the ADA National Network’s webinar archive here:
https://accessibilityonline.org/ada-tech/archives/111159

10/25/2024

Yesterday’s VSRSS seminar featured Dr. Santani Teng from The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute and his fascinating talk on the Dynamics of Braille Letter Perception in Blind Readers. Dr. Teng shared his research on how the brain adapts in the absence of vision, revealing new insights into crossmodal plasticity and tactile language processing. Thanks to all who attended for making this an engaging session! Keep an eye out for more thought-provoking seminars!

Visual illusions enter the political arena in this allusion to the scramble of 3D Magic Eye field emerging into a clear ...
10/09/2024

Visual illusions enter the political arena in this allusion to the scramble of 3D Magic Eye field emerging into a clear 3D image. The Magic Eye concept was developed at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute by Dr. Christopher Tyler and is still providing popular and scientific insights today. 🗳️

On NPR's recent Freakonomics podcast, we heard about the economics of Botox and its inventor and SKERI founder Alan Scot...
09/25/2024

On NPR's recent Freakonomics podcast, we heard about the economics of Botox and its inventor and SKERI founder Alan Scott
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/botox/
If you want to know more about how Botox came to life and what was its initial purpose, here is an interview with one of our leading scientists Dr. Preeti Verghese:
https://youtu.be/R1rq_YIg7xw?si=CsYCHCvXjp12Jq-C

Botulinum toxin (Botox) was first developed as a treatment for strabismus. Watch Dr. Preeti Verghese recollect the story of its development.

Address

San Francisco, CA

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+14153452000

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The Work We Do

The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute is a non-profit independent research center. We are interested in three main areas of research: basic scientific research to increase the understanding of normal vision in support of vision disorders, clinical research to develop new diagnostic procedures and treatments for visual and other sensory disorders, and engineering research to produce better techniques for aid and rehabilitation of the blind and partially sighted.

The research that the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute is doing has expanded its understanding of how the visual system (including both eye and brain) work and are affected by disease and vision impairment. In fact, millions of people around the world benefit from the Institute's work diagnosing and treating eye diseases. The studies conducted by its staff have also led to the development of innovative devices, and enhanced services for partially sighted, blind, and hearing-impaired people. A few examples of the Institute's accomplishments are highlighted below.


  • Innumerable innovations in diagnosis and surgery for childhood vision diseases, notably crossed eyes (strabismus)

  • Botulinum toxin (“Botox”), originally for correction of crossed eyes, leading to many wider uses