Draft:Ione Fine

Ione Fine (born 1971) is a neuroscientist at the University of Washington, Seattle. Her laboratory focuses on the perceptual, neural, and cognitive mechanisms underlying adaptation to sensory loss, including deafness and blindness. , and the development of computational models for new technologies for sight recovery, such as 'bionic eyes.

Academic background
Ione Fine received her BS in Philosophy, Physiology, and Psychology from Merton College, Oxford in 1993. In 1999, after a distinctly rocky start, she received her PhD from the Center for Vision Science within the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester. She completed her PhD under the supervision of Professor Robert Jacobs. Fine then pursued post-doctoral work with Professors Donald MacLeod and Karen Dobkins at UC San Diego.

Between 2004-2007, she held a joint appointment at Second Sight Medical Products LLC and the Doheny Eye Institute and Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at USC. In 2007, she moved to the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington. She is also an Affiliate Professor in the Departments of Radiology and Ophthalmology.

Her laboratory has been supported by research funding from the Association for Psychological Science James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award, the Dana Foundation, Fight for Sight, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, the International Human Frontiers Science Program, the Knights Templar Eye Foundation, the National Institute of Health, Research to Prevent Blindness, and the Weill Foundation.

Achievements, service, and awards
Between 2006-2007, Fine served as the Division Chair of the Optica (then OSA) Science and Engineering Council. In 2010, she was elected Fellow of the Optical Society of America in recognition of her service and academic achievement. She has served on the advisory board for FoVea (Females in Vision Science), is a member of BiasWatchNeuro (an advocacy group for better inclusion of female and minority neuroscientists), and co-chaired the Society for Neuroscience “Mitigating Implicit Bias: Tools for the Neuroscientist” Virtual Conference (2018). Fine has also advocated for better inclusion of female scientists in high-profile journals. She is an amusing advocate for accepting imperfection