We are saddened to inform you of the recent passing of Nigel W. Daw, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology and Visual Science. Dr. Daw was a long-standing member of Departments of Ophthalmology and Visual Science and Neuroscience. His career as a world-renowned scientist, educator, and author profoundly influenced the fields of visual physiology and developmental neuroscience and greatly enriched the Yale Vision Research Community.
Dr. Daw was recruited to Yale from Washington University in St. Louis in the early 1990’s by Dr. Marvin Sears, the founding chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at Yale. He served as professor and research director in Ophthalmology and Visual Science and professor in Neurobiology. He was an outstanding visual physiologist and developmental neurobiologist, having trained with Nobel laureates David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel. His early research work made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the organization of color vision in the retina, geniculate nucleus, and visual cortex. His laboratory also uncovered essential physiological and pharmacological properties of the receptive fields of retinal neurons and revealed the roles of various neurotransmitters and neuromodulators in complex visual computations, such as direction selectivity and orientation sensitivity. His seminal work on central visual function combined studies of visual physiology and visual system development and made important contributions to our understanding of developmental plasticity and visual function-specific critical periods, which also provided crucial insights into the treatment of amblyopia. He wrote the widely used textbook, Visual Development, and the popular book for the general audience, How Vision Works.
Dr. Daw earned many honors and awards. He received the 1994 Friedenwald Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology for his many contributions to the field and was elected an American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow in 2003. He was a prominent member of Yale faculty and played an important role in bridging clinical and basic science departments at the School of Medicine. He is fondly remembered as a distinguished scholar, a respected colleague and mentor, a trusted friend, and a very compassionate human being.
Please join us in extending our deepest sympathies to his family. The link to the obituary prepared by his family is: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/nigel-daw-obituary?id=37372351