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In the News

Fight for Sight and Women's Eye Health.org Announce Joint Summer Student Fellowship Award Winner 

New York, NY, August 3, 2010 - Fight for Sight today announced its 2010 winner of the Women's Eye Health.org Summer Student Fellowship award, Andrew J. McClellan (left), pursuing an M.D. at Baylor College of Medicine, Cullen Eye Institute, for his research project, "The effect of gender on spontaneous, age-related dry eye disease."

Affecting more than 25 million Americans, dry-eye disease is a common health problem associated with aging, but women are much more commonly diagnosed with the disease than men. McClellan's research project will focus on age-related changes in the immune system as a commonality between menopause and dry eye disease (DED), both of which are known to be significantly influenced by sex hormones. The award is a firsttime collaboration between Fight for Sight and Women's Eye Health.org, for $2,100 during the summer of 2010. McClellan's sponsor is Stephen Pflugfelder, M.D.

"Women's Eye Health.org is proud to join forces with Fight for Sight to sponsor summer student research and training in diseases that disproportionately affect women," said Women's Eye Health.org chair, Ilene K. Gipson, PhD., Senior Scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute and Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School.

Fight for Sight's (FFS) mission is unique among eye and vision research foundations -- it identifies and funds promising students and researchers at the beginning of their academic and professional careers. The FFS grant allows awardees to obtain preliminary results and the first experience necessary to successfully apply for larger federal and foundation awards, such as the National Institutes of Health.

"The 2010 grant awardees will research a wide range of eye and vision issues that affect millions of Americans every day," said Mike Wilke, executive director of Fight for Sight. "We are pleased to offer these individuals the opportunity to pursue their goals for vision research -- often these first research studies inspire a life-long passion for eye research, as so many of our alumni have gone on to achieve great things in the field."

Over the last 64 years, Fight for Sight grants have been awarded to numerous scientists and researchers who have become major industry leaders. Just a few of the prominent alumni include: Robert Machemer, MD, the "father" of modern retinal surgery; László Bitó, PDD, who developed the glaucoma drug Xalatan; Paul Sieving, MD, PhD (1980), current Director of the National Eye Institute; and more. Since its inception, FFS has awarded over $20 million in grants to more than 3,000 eye researchers. Grantees are selected through a rigorous review process by Fight for Sight's Scientific Review Committee.

About Fight for Sight
Since 1946, Fight for Sight has invested in the future of eye and vision research by funding promising scientists early in their careers. FFS has supported over 3,000 new scientists with more than $20 million in research that has contributed directly or indirectly to major advances in ophthalmology and vision research, including development of the IOL, aspects of donor cornea preservation, various uses of ophthalmic lasers, glaucoma therapies, and gene therapy.

About Womens Eye Health.org
Formed in 2002, in response to the troubling reality that two-thirds of the world's population of blind and visually impaired persons is women. Researchers at the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston joined forces with colleagues from the U.S. and the world to form an education and outreach program.

WEH.org celebrated World Sight Day on October 8, 2009, with vision testing and educational outreach to the Boston community. This year's theme was Gender & Eye Health - Equal Access to Sight.
Click to view a video from UNC Health Care >

Click to view a video from our outreach in at Peking University, China >

 

Downloads (pdf):
Key Messages
Status of Women
Fact Sheet
Click here for more information on Vision 2020

Media Advisories and Public Service Announcements
In a press release dated November 15, 2002, the Women’s Eye Health.org introduced themselves to the press as a concerned group of scientists and top U.S. vision experts whose mission was to educate people that two-thirds of legally blind Americans were women, and through education, we can do something about it!

Vision

Vision Researchers Educate Capitol Hill about Chronic Dry Eye
On February 15th, the WEH.org and Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) cosponsored a US congressional briefing regarding advances and treatment for chronic dry eye diseases--a growing health problem. WEH.org Executive Committee member Janine Smith (NIH), WEH.org Advisory Board member Kelly Nichols (Ohio State Univ) and James Jorkasky of NAEVER/AEVR spoke to Congressional members and staff. The following is a link to the press release found on the NAEVR/AEVR website. 

Task Force Formed to Fight Preventable Blindness in Women (PDF)

In a press release dated November 04, 2003, the Women’s Eye Health.org announced their upcoming symposium “Improving Women’s Eye Health: Strategies to Address the Greater Burden of Blindness Among Women,” to be held at the Harvard Club of Boston on November 7, 2003.

First International Conference on Women and Blindness (PDF)

In January 2003, we released two public service announcements asking women to (1) protect their vision and (2) to protect the vision of their family members.

PSA, Protect Your Vision (PDF)

PSA, Protect Family’s Vision (PDF)

Media Coverage
Since the day of our press release, 11/15/02, we have had strong coverage by the media regarding our mission. On 11/15/02 we were covered by The Boston Globe and WBZ radio in Boston. Most recently on June 10, 2004, the 14th report of our cause was released by the news service of The Society for Women’s Health Research.

Date	Medium	Author	Title
11/15/02	The Boston Globe	Stephen Smith, Staff Reporter	"Women found much more likely than men to lose their eyesight. US Task Force seeks reasons"
11/15/02	WBZ Radio, Boston	Garo Hagopian, Interviewer	Ilene K. Gipson, Ph.D., Interviewee
11/20/02	Chicago Tribune	Stephen Smith, Boston Globe Reporter	“Task Force will study women and blindness”
12/10/02 12/11/02	Cox News Service Palm Beach Post	Carolyn Susman, Staff Writer	“Blindness hits women disproportionately”
10/2003	National Women’s Health Report	Debra L. Gordon, Writer	“Women and Eye Health at Midlife”
10/24/03	Ivanhoe Broadcast News	Not known	“Eye check for women—smart move”
11/2003	Ocular Surgery News	Nichole Nader	“Women around the world share high prevalence of blindness”
2003, Vol. 16, No. 48	Community Eye Health-An International Journal to Promote Eye Health Worldwide	Victoria Frances	“Why do women carry the greater burden of blindness, and what can be done?”
01/12/04	Women’s eNEWS Women’s Radio	Kathleen Nelson, WeNews Correspondent	“Women go blind twice as often as men”
01/04	Optics and Photonics News Magazine	Kim Douglas	“Scatterings: Most of the blind are women”
02/04	Eurotimes	Daithi O’hAnluain	“Researchers explore reasons for higher prevalence of blindness among women” “Tackling gender disparity in Tanzania” “Major social consequences to poor vision”
02/20/04	The Boston Globe	Judy Forman, Freelance Columnist	“Dry eyes can cause misery but no tears”
03/04	Optometry and Vision Science	Not known	“Task force formed to blindness in women”
04/04	International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) Leader Letter	Not known	“Improving women’s eye health”
Spring/ Summer 04	Mom-in-the-Middle (website)	Christina Baglivi Tinglof	“To your health: Midlife eyes”
06/10/04	Society for Women’s Health Research	Jennifer Wider, MD	“Blindness and vision problems hit women harder.”
Winter 2004	Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Newsletter	Kimberly O'Sullivan, Publications Coordinator	“Special Announcement on the Women's Eye Health Task Force"
09/2004	Eye Contact: (Schepens Eye Research Institute's Employee Newsletter)	Christine Bagley	“Two-thirds of global population blind and visually impaired are women”
2005	Editorial (Curr Opin Ophthalmolol 2005;16:231-232	Elisabeth J. Cohen, MD	“The Women's Eye Health Task Force”
05/05/05	Radio Media Tour (various US radio stations)	WEHTF Interviewee:   Debra A. Schaumberg, ScD, OD, MPH	“Mother's Day Eye Care”
06/05	Editorial, Archivos De La Sociadad Espanola De Oftalmologia	Ilene K Gipson, Ph.D. and Virginia M. Turner, DrPH	“Are women more likely to be blind or visually impaired than men?”
02/06	National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (NAEVR)/ Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) Contributor Report	Unknown (contact James Jorkasky )	Report of 2/15/06 congressional briefing:   “Vision researchers update congressional staff about important advances in understanding and treating chronic dry eye”
04/06	National Women's Health Report	Debra L. Gordon	“Women and Healthy Vision”
06/06	Ladies Home Journal	Gwen Kinkead	"What's your eye-Q?"
10/06	Optometry and Vision Science	Debra A. Schaumberg, Kelly K. Nichols	"The global sex disparity in blindness and visual impairment"
02/07	National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (NAEVR)/ Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) Contributor Report	Unknown (contact James Jorkasky )	Congressional briefing, 2/20/07: “Genes, Lifestyle and Vision Health.” Congressional staff were updated on the importance of understanding genetic factors in combination with lifestyle factors with regard to susceptibility to eye diseases. (Dr. Debra Schaumberg from WEH.org was the featured speaker.)
Jan/Feb 2007	Retina Today	Unknown (contact Rachel Renshaw) Editor-in-Chief 484-581-1858 [email protected]	"Five Questions," and interview with Debra A. Schaumberg, ScD, OD, MPH from WEH.org.
04/07	Journal of Women's Health	Jodi R. Godfrey, MS, RD	Conversation with the Experts: “Toward Optimal Health: Janine A. Smith, M.D., Discusses Vision Impairment in Women”
11/07	Review of Optometry	Kelly K. Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD	"In the Eye of a Women”
05/08	Radio Media Tour (various radio stations)	WEHTF Interviewees: Drs. Janine A. Smith, MD and Ilene K. Gipson, Ph.D. from WEH.org	“Mother’s Day Eye Care Event”; co-sponsored with Lions Clubs International Foundation
10/09	World Sight Day Congressional Briefing	Attended by WEH.org Exec. Comm. Chair, Ilene K. Gipson, Ph.D with representatives from 19 other vision advocacy organizations.	World Sight Day 2009 Theme: “Gender and Eye Health”
06/10	World Talk Radio Interview of Ilene K. Gipson, Ph.D.	Interviewer: Polly Featherston, Program Director, The Sharon Kline Hour	“Dry Eye and Vision”

 

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