Rebecca Sumalini

Rebecca Sumalini Chakram is an optometrist and researcher with expertise in low vision and special needs vision care. She completed her bachelor's degree from the Bausch and Lomb School of Optometry, affiliated with the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, India. Rebecca then earned her PhD in optometry and vision sciences from a collaborative program of Brien Holden Institute of Optometry and Vision Sciences, L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), and City, University of London, London, UK, focusing on cerebral visual impairment.
Since 2009, Dr Sumalini has been working as a consultant optometrist at the Institute for Vision Rehabilitation at LVPEI, Hyderabad, India. She has presented her research at national and international conferences and published several papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr Sumalini played a pivotal role in establishing the Special Needs Vision Clinic at LVPEI. She currently serves as the Regional Clinical Director for the Opening Eyes program as part of Special Olympics Bharat.
Her doctoral work received several notable recognitions, including the Developing Country Eye Researcher Fellowship (DCERF) award from ARVO in 2022 and an honorable mention in the Envision-Atwell Award for low vision scientific presentation by the Low Vision Research Group at ARVO-2022. Additionally, her science story won the best video award under the public choice category at the Global Young Scientists Summit 2022.