HST data has also been critical in studying the structure of galaxies near and far. As a founding member of the HST/ACS Virgo and Fornax Cluster Surveys, I used the structural properties of galaxies to challenge the then accepted paradigm that giant and dwarf galaxies belong to disjointed populations (Ferrarese et al. 2005, ApJ, 164, 334), and to demonstrate that the fundamental connection between SBHs and their host galaxies extends to compact stellar nuclei (Ferrarese et al., 2006, ApJ, 165, 17). To further investigate these issues, I initiated and led the CFHT Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS), based on which our team discovered and studied, for the first time beyond the local volume, faint galaxies whose properties are key to test and refine cosmological models and the properties of dark matter (Ferrarese et al. 2016, ApJ, 824, 10). I am as proud of the NGVS papers I have published as I am of the fact that sixteen students and thirteen postdoctoral fellows are or have been involved, to various degrees, in the analysis and interpretation of NGVS data.
Finally, as part of the Hubble Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale, I have worked to calibrate distances to nearby galaxies (e.g. Ferrarese et al. 2000, ApJ, 529, 745), ultimately leading to measuring the Hubble Constant and the age of the universe with a then unprecedented 10% precision. The paper summarizing the Key Project results (Freedman et al. 2001, ApJ, 553, 47) is the 98th most cited in astronomy, ever.