print this page | email this page
Catalyst For a Cure Campaign Sets Public Launch Sept 8
Roger McGuinn of The Byrds is GRF National Honorary Chairperson
Research Team Proves Collaboration Can Accelerate Discovery
SAN FRANCISCO, CA., Monday, August 15, 2005 – With a personal appearance by Roger McGuinn of the famed folk rock band The Byrds, the Glaucoma Research Foundation (GRF) launches the public phase of its $7.5 million Catalyst For a Cure campaign on Thursday, Sept. 8 from 6 pm to 8 pm at The City Club, 155 Sansome Street, San Francisco. Other features of the evening include an unveiling of features transforming www.glaucoma.org into a model of Internet accessibility for the vision impaired, and an update on research from H. Dunbar Hoskins, Jr., MD, a co-founder of the Glaucoma Research Foundation.
“I have glaucoma, the silent thief of sight,” said McGuinn, identified with timeless Byrds’ classics “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!”, will be the campaign’s Honorary National Chairperson and spokesperson. “I‘m coming to talk about my experience, the need for testing, and my hope that together we can speed the cure for glaucoma, once and for all.” McGuinn has created a new radio public service announcement with these messages for future release.
A primary focus of the campaign is GRF’s entrepreneurial Catalyst For a Cure (CFC) research collaboration, speeding the cure with two important innovations: departing from the academic model of sole scientists working in isolation by bringing together a team of four laboratories working in genuine real time collaboration, and by reaching into the burgeoning promise of neuroscience and genetics. Laboratory teams participating in the CFC collaboration are affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, University of Utah, University of Washington, and Vanderbilt.
Thomas M. Brunner, President & CEO of GRF explained that the campaign was launched last year, and immediately anchored with gifts of $2.5 million from members of the GRF board, reflecting a 260% increase in their personal giving. “Our board wants to send the strongest signal to the community of the urgent need to accelerate the pace of discovery, and the measurable progress this new approach is bringing.” Altogether, the campaign is at $4.2M, and just passing the 56% of goal mark.
“There is an epidemic of blindness coming,” points out H. Dunbar Hoskins Jr., MD, a co-founder of GRF along with Robert Shaffer, MD, and John Hetherington, MD. “We must get ahead of this, and that’s what GRF research and education programs are designed to do. Everyone, from infants to seniors, is vulnerable to glaucoma, though we think of glaucoma primarily as a disease of an aging population. The cutting edge approaches researchers are using challenge the aging process itself. This is a very exciting time!”
The Glaucoma Research Foundation is a national non-profit organization, receiving no government funding. Through research and education, our goal is to protect the sight and independence of people with glaucoma. For more information about glaucoma, contact the Glaucoma Research Foundation, 251 Post Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94108 or email GRFmediadesk@glaucoma.org.