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and other such agencies, and to a far lesser degree corporate and private entities—continue to shrink. It’s a far different scenario than a decade ago, let alone when she began her career. “It’s a hard time for researchers … and many are losing hope,” she says. “I’ve heard of people getting their first grant at age 40. I was 25 when I got my first grant. I worry that we’re losing a current generation and risking our next generation of basic scientists because they’re jumping ship and going to do different things.” But the personal and professional rewards of breakthrough research and treatment to prevent blindness are nearly indescribable, says D’Amore of the work that led to the Proctor Medal. “It’s been a very large group of people doing the work, and it’s nice to feel that you did something that was beneficial. That makes it all worth it.” She then returns to her arrival on the Regis campus in fall 1969, to her biology courses, to the Sisters of St. Joseph who taught them, to the opportunities—and offers the scientist’s perspective of her path to success. “You can trace it all back,” she says. “It is one of those cases where if I hadn’t gone to Regis, then I wouldn’t have done the summer fellowships, and I wouldn’t have met the mentors I had. And that’s really where and how I got interested in vascular stuff, and that’s why I’m here now.”
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It is one of those cases where if I hadn’t gone to Regis, then I wouldn’t have done the summer fellowships, and I wouldn’t have met the mentors I had. And that’s really where and how I got interested in vascular stuff, and that’s why I’m here now.”