Shannon Beres Named Recipient of the 2025 Silverman Award
Fremont, California/March 4, 2025
The Dr. William and Mrs. Ruth Silverman Excellence in Community Partnerships Committee is pleased to announce Dr. Shannon Beres, Neuro-ophthalmologist with Stanford Medicine and Children’s Health is the 2025 recipient of the prestigious Silverman Award.
The award, presented at the Twenty-ninth Annual Lowenfeld-Akeson Symposium* at California School for the Blind on February 8, 2025, recognizes a member of the medical community whose partnership enhances the knowledge of educators and therapists and enriches the lives of families of young children who are blind, deafblind, have low vision or whose developmental delays include vision loss.
Jen Silverman, of Boston, Massachusetts, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Ruth Silverman presented the award to Dr. Beres who spoke of her path to the neuro-ophthalmology specialty: “My mother was a special education teacher, so I grew up with a model of helping others. In high school, I worked with children with disabilities and was a mentor for them, which inspired me to become a doctor. I chose child neurology because I was interested in helping children with special needs and was inspired by the dynamics created when there is a child in the family who has special needs.”
Nominated by an Early Childhood Teacher of Blind and Low Vision Learners, and a Parent of a child with low vision, Dr. Beres exemplifies the spirit and ideals of the Silverman Award through her work with children, their families, and their communities of care.
The award is given in honor of Dr. William Silverman (1918-2005) whose studies of newborns at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center helped alter the treatment of premature infants and gave many parents greater say in their babies’ care. A noted author, Dr. Silverman headed the editorial board of the journal Pediatrics (1962-68) and from 1981 served in an advisory role at Blind Babies Foundation.
Dr. Silverman was an advocate for rigorous testing of new treatments for patients. “His championing of clinical trials led to the concept of evidence-based medicine” said Dr. Malcolm Holliday, former chief of pediatric nephrology at UCSF. Dr. Silverman’s wife, Ruth, an RN, served as his skilled research partner and scribe.
*The Symposium is sponsored by California Association of Parents of Children with Visual Impairments (CAPVI); California Deafblind Services (CDBS); California School for the Blind (CSB); LightHouse-SF Little Learners; and San Francisco State University’s (SFSU)Graduate Program in Visual Impairments.