Glaucoma Research Foundation

Overflow Crowd Celebrates GRF 30th Anniversary

With the presentation of The Catalyst Award to Alcon Chairman, President and CEO Cary Rayment, the announcement of the Shaffer Fund for Innovative Glaucoma Research and Mark Filla, PhD as the recipient of the first Shaffer Prize, and the presentation of The President’s Award to Linda Linck, Glaucoma Research Foundation marked its 30th anniversary with a worthy celebration.

Total proceeds from the glittering black tie evening, which took place January 23, 2008 and brought an overflow crowd to the top floor of the San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis Hotel Tower, are $366,500 for a net contribution of $285,000. Proceeds flow directly to essential research and patient education resources provided by GRF, along with the basic operating expenses that support these initiatives.

National Co-Chairs Mona and Ed Zander who had flown in from Chicago for the celebration, reinforced the need for raising funds “to get ahead of this silent thief of sight.” Long-time supporters of GRF, inspired by Ed Zander’s mother who had glaucoma, Mona reinforced the wide range of those at risk as she introduced a table of special guests hosted by board member June Behrendt-Otto: young people and their families who are living with childhood glaucoma.

These included Avery Bouch (8), daughter of GRF board member Allen Bouch and his wife, Lori; 13-year old Danielle Fiarito, who had come in from Vernon Hills, Illinois with her parents, Dan and Maureen; sisters Cate (11) and Tess Wilmoth (7) with their parents Catherine and Charles, and who have dedicated birthday parties in the name of their 4 year old brother Christopher who has childhood glaucoma; and Melissa Baker, here from Tahoe with her mother Judy Molnar and who donates proceeds to GRF every July from the Lunch Tent of the grueling California Alps “Deathride.” Danielle had personally raised $1,200 by hand-weaving hundreds of yarn bracelets and selling them for $2 each; proceeds which were matched by her father’s company, Edward Jones Investment.

GRF board chair Deirdre Porter acknowledged the memory of co-founder Robert N. Shaffer, MD, and the “live and lively leadership” of co-founders and current board members H. Dunbar Hoskins Jr., MD and John Hetherington, MD. Then, proposing a toast “to those gave us such a strong vision to see a world free of glaucoma and the dedication to make it happen,” Porter invited the guests to toast the Anniversary Committee comprising past board members including Sarah Brown, Robert J. Drabkin and Lars Vistnes, MD.

Cary Rayment presented with Catalyst Award

With that, the stage was set for Dr. Hoskins to present The Catalyst Award to Cary Rayment. “He is one of us,” said Hoskins, “with the highest personal commitment to the healthiest future for our communities. At the helm of Alcon, the world’s leading eye care company, Cary Rayment is focused on a single global vision – for Alcon to be the most trusted company in eye care. Cary realizes that with his vision comes the moral imperative to reduce the incidence of preventable blindness worldwide. For this reason, Alcon annually donates millions of dollars in cash and products to charitable activities worldwide. And, I am pleased to say that under Cary’s leadership, Alcon plans to continue investing in our efforts to find a cure for this potentially blinding disease.”

Rayment later triggered the evening’s live auction, snapping up the special case of wine assembled from personal favorites contributed by each GRF board member, and then setting off a wave of bidders for the handmade bracelets of Danielle Fiarito – going for $2,000 each! Volunteer auctioneer was Jim Patrick of San Francisco’s legendary Patrick & Co office supply.

Event co-Chairs Judy and Charles Munnerlyn, PhD, opened the evening introducing an overview of recent research results from the Catalyst For a Cure consortium. The presentation included remarks by the four principal investigators: David C. Calkins, PhD, Vanderbilt University; Philip Horner, PhD, University of Washington; Nicholas Marsh-Armstrong, PhD, Johns Hopkins; and Monica Vetter, PhD, University of Utah.

GRF President and CEO Thomas M. Brunner announced the expansion of GRF’s previous Pilot Project grants program into the Shaffer Fund for Innovative Glaucoma Research. The program, awarding annual incubation grants of $40,000, will expand from annual awards of five or six grants to as many as 20.

First Shaffer Prize goes to Mark Filla, PhD

To reinforce the importance of these exploratory grants, GRF’s board of directors also established the Shaffer Prize for Innovative Glaucoma Research. The first recipient, selected by GRF’s Scientific Advisory Committee, was Mark Filla, PhD (University of Wisconsin) for his research work on targeting the trabecular meshwork cells that regulate aqueous humor outflow. The Shaffer Prize was presented by George Cioffi, MD, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee, and Director of the Devers Eye Institute, Portland, OR.

Video: Mark Filla, PhD discusses his research results

Linda Linck receives The President’s Award

Later in the evening, Brunner invited Linda Linck to the podium to present her with The President’s Award in recognition of her extraordinary volunteer leadership. Ms. Linck has been instrumental in bringing GRF together with one of the nation’s leading proponents of vision preservation, the Delta Gamma Foundation, based in Ohio, and several of its Bay Area chapters, including: Diablo Valley, Palo Alto and San Francisco.

For the tremendous financial success of the evening we are most grateful to our many wonderful sponsors including:

Ambassador Circle table sponsors:

Alcon, Melza and Ted Barr, Founders Tables hosted by Hoskins and Hetherington, Motorola, Deirdre Porter and Bradford Hall, and Ed and Mona Zander.

Lead sponsors:

Citigroup, Allergan, Timothy and Germaine Dwyer, Judy and Charles Munnerlyn, PhD, Pfizer Inc., Charlot and Dennis Singleton, Tiffany & Co., Blum Family Foundation, Cynthia and Frederick Brinkmann, Lori and Allen Bouch, Sarah and William Brown, Dodge & Cox, Irene Harris, Michael MacDougall, Robert C. Nevins. OptiMedica, June and Sean Otto, Mary Helen and James Pidgeon, Santen, and Jennifer and Richard Schifter.