As the Louisville Cardinals and the Florida State Seminoles prepare to face off on the football field Saturday, the two universities will come together in a different type of exchange in the lecture hall.

As part of the ACC Distinguished Lecture Series, University of Louisville School of Medicine Professor Maureen A. McCall, Ph.D., will give a public lecture at the FSU College of Medicine on the impact of eye disease, the search for therapies and the challenges in curing blindness.

The lecture will take place Friday, Oct. 16, at 2 p.m. in the Durell Peaden Auditorium & Atrium, 1115 W. Call St. in Tallahassee, Fla. The FSU graduate program in neuroscience is hosting the event. A reception will immediately follow the lecture.

McCall holds joint appointments as professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology and Psychological and Brain Sciences. She came to UofL in 1997.

In August, McCall was named chair of the 20-member Neurotransporters, Receptors and Calcium Signaling Study Section of the Center for Scientific Review of the National Institutes of Health. The panel reviews research grant applications, helping determine which are worthy of NIH support. She is the only Kentuckian on the panel, which has representatives from universities in 14 states

The author of approximately 60 journal articles, McCall uses electrophysiological techniques in her research to evaluate normal retinal function, dysfunction caused by blinding retinal diseases, and the restoration of function using a variety of therapeutic strategies. Particular areas of emphasis are in the study of retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma and congenital stationary night blindness.

Each year, outstanding faculty members from ACC schools are chosen to be ACC Distinguished Lecturers. These scholars are invited to make special presentations by other ACC universities.

Honored as current ACC Distinguished Lecturers are Anthony Atala, Wake Forest University; Gregory Boebinger, Florida State University; Rory Cooper, University of Pittsburgh; Stefan Duma, Virginia Tech;  Rob Dunn, North Carolina State; Robin Fleming, Boston College; Peter Holland, Notre Dame; Eric Johnson, Clemson University; Neil Johnson, University of Miami, and McCall.

Each has been identified as an excellent speaker with a strong capacity for catalyzing creative thinking and collaboration. In addition to an award stipend, the ACC Academic Consortium provides financial support to enable each of our 15 universities to sponsor a “distinguished lecture event” involving one of the lecturers on their campuses.  Lectures are to be scheduled during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 academic years.  More information can be obtained from brown@wfu.edu.