Foundation Fighting Blindness

Organization Overview

www.blindness.org

The urgent mission of the Foundation Fighting Blindness is to drive the research that will provide preventions, treatments and cures for people affected by retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, Usher syndrome and the entire spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases. Since its establishment in 1971, the Foundation has raised nearly $550 million to fund thousands of studies at hundreds of prominent institutions. Throughout its history, FFB has maintained an extraordinary commitment to directing as much revenue as possible for research and public health education programs – historically, more than 75 percent. . This has made FFB the world’s leading non-governmental source for inherited retinal disease research funding. FFB-funded investigators are exploring a variety of areas including: genetic discovery, gene therapy, cellular transplantation, drug development, nutrition and retinal prosthetics. The Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board – leaders in retinal disease science and clinical care – provide oversight and guidance. FFB also established the –Foundation Fighting Blindness Clinical Research Institute to accelerate the translation of laboratory-based research into clinical trials for treatments and cures of retinal degenerative diseases.