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Archive for the FFB on the Road Category

Retinal Regeneration is Major Focus of NEI’s Audacious Goal

Paul SieivingThe National Eye Institute (NEI) just announced that fighting blindness — retinal degenerations, in particular — has gotten audacious. It’s potentially life-changing news for people with these difficult conditions.
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Stay Tuned for Daily Updates on “Life-Changing Research” from ARVO

ARVO 2013 discuss some of the posters on displayI am excited to be reporting to you live from Seattle where about 10,000 of the world’s top eye researchers are convening for the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). While researchers from many different ophthalmic fields are present at ARVO, it is the world’s largest gathering of retinal scientists. Continue Reading…

Save Your Vision Month is Underway

April at a Walmart vision centerThree weeks ago, in recounting my participation in Charity Day at Cantor Fitzgerald, I mentioned that FFB had established October as Save Your Vision Month (SYVM). Well, now it’s here, so I wanted to reiterate what SYVM is all about and how the Foundation has been preparing for it the past couple of weeks.
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Kicking Off a Charitable Season

Ryan Lochte, I didn’t get a chance to meet. I did, however, get a picture taken with Michael J. Fox, who was very cordial but focused most of his attention—and rightly so—on a little girl with muscular dystrophy. Now, actor Steve Buscemi is a character and a half. I was there with Leah Bartos, who’s Mrs. New York, and because I’m Mrs. World, and the two of us were wearing crowns and sashes, he took a look at us and, before a photo was snapped, said, “Wow, let me get in between these two ladies.”
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Fighting Blindness in China Will Greatly Benefit the West

Huajin Li and Fei Xu, two of Dr. Sui’s students, standing in front of Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Photograph by Dr. Steve Rose.A couple weeks ago, I was in China, to visit with Dr. Ruifang Sui, a Foundation-funded clinician-researcher at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing. During my time there, I felt like I had never left the United States. Don’t get me wrong — there’s no mistaking Beijing for Baltimore (the location of our national office) or Mandarin for English. But when it comes to retinal degenerations, we and the Chinese have a lot in common.

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Tempering the Immune System to Save Vision

A retina with dry AMD. The yellow spots (called drusen) accumulate and can cause damage in AMD. The human body has highly impressive mechanisms to protect itself from harm. For example, a group of molecules known as the complement system work with antibodies to kill invading bacteria by punching holes in them and letting the internal contents leak out.
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Retina International Congress Features Reports on Latest Research Advances

A transcorneal electrical stimulation device developed by Okuvision GmbHThis past weekend, I had the pleasure and the privilege of participating in the 17th International Congress of Retina International in Hamburg, Germany. Retina International is a volunteer association of 33 national groups for people with retinal degenerations.  The Congress is the European equivalent of the Foundation’s VISIONS conference. With research presentations translated into several languages, I felt like I was at the United Nations. I myself presented (in English) an update and review of many of the clinical trials underway for retinal degenerative diseases.
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Energized and Inspired by the Usher Syndrome Family Conference

VISIONS Guest and Tactile InterpreterLast weekend, I had the privilege of presenting at the third annual Usher Syndrome Family Conference in St. Louis. And while updating the attendees on the latest research was fulfilling, listening to the parents’ panel talk about how Usher syndrome has affected their families was quite moving.
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New Brand, Same Mission

Video Included:
Tom BernardinNow that VISIONS 2012 is over, we’re sharing with the world what attendees witnessed at the conference’s awards dinner Saturday night – an unveiling of FFB’s new logo:
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Putting Myself to the Test

John Corneille at VISIONS 2012Yesterday, my last full day at VISIONS 2012, started off in what may seem an odd way, in that I prevented the hotel maid service from doing its job. I did so by hanging the “Do Not Disturb” tag outside my door, a trick I learned a couple years ago, not long after I began venturing out on trips like this on my own.
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