If you are a regular reader of this blog and other Foundation communications, you’re sure to have heard about the search for our #1 Front Lines Fan (FLF). We received dozens of compelling nominations from across the country, highlighting people who are taking action in the fight against blindness.
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Archive for the General Category
There’s no denying that collaboration is key to every aspect of the Foundation’s work – whether it’s researchers sharing their findings among peers to advance treatments, volunteers banding together to fundraise for events or venture capitalists investing in start-up companies developing vision-saving treatments. And my new role, as board secretary for the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research, or NAEVR, is no exception.
Here in the Communications department at FFB’s HQ, we do all we can to help our science and fundraising teams do their jobs. And in Foundation offices nationwide, our staff does all it can to help those on the front lines – those either affected by a retinal disease or supporting someone who is – do all they can to raise awareness and funds.
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The retina is an amazingly elegant and complex tissue lining the back of the eye. Retinas make vision possible; without them, we can’t see. But most people never think about their retinas — unless, of course, they have a retinal condition affecting their vision.
I’ll always remember my first Foundation Fighting Blindness conference, when I heard Dr. Dean Bok, of the University of California, Los Angeles, discuss the retina’s design and how it worked. I was new to the field and just learning. Dr. Bok opened his presentation by saying that, as a student, he was “seduced” by the beauty of retinal science. By the end of his impassioned talk, I, too, was hooked.
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This week is cause for celebration at the Foundation Fighting Blindness, because it was exactly a year ago, today, that we launched Eye on the Cure. In the debut post, Dr. Steve Rose, our chief research officer, wrote that, with any research project FFB considers funding, he asks himself, “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” In other words, is the project worth the time and resources necessary to get it up and running? He posited that Eye on the Cure was well worth the squeeze because it was an “opportunity to share not only our expertise, but the expertise of those in the field we consider invaluable.”
There’s a recent research paper from the Archives of Ophthalmology on the health care costs of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) that’s spurred lots of discussion around the FFB office. Led by Dr. Kevin Frick, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, the study compared the annual health care costs of nearly 3,000 people with RP to 3,000 people without. The bottom line: People with RP had $7,317 more in annual health care expenditures.
Steve is highly respected for his expertise and tireless commitment to finding treatments and cures for vision-robbing retinal diseases. 
As the Foundation's senior science writer, Ben writes science and research articles for the Foundation’s website, newsletters and Eye on the Cure blog. 
As the Foundation's senior writer, Rich writes and edits content for all of the Foundation’s print and online publications, including its blog, Eye on the Cure. 
Rockin’ and Rollin’ for a Good Cause
By Dr. Steve Rose on June 1, 2012 | 0 Comments
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