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AEVR features international researcher

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The Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) announced that its Decade of Vision 2010-2020 Initiative is hosting a Congressional Briefing entitled New Developments in Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Research: An International Perspective to be held Thursday, September 23, from 12 Noon – 1:15 pm in House Rayburn

The briefing, being held during International AMD Awareness Week 2010 (September 18-26) and co-sponsored by the AMD Alliance International (AMDAI), Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), and the European Vision Institute (EVI), will feature Hendrik Scholl, M.D. (Wilmer Eye Institute/Johns Hopkins University), who specializes in the treatment of retinal diseases such as AMD and inherited retinal degenerations. He will address the latest in AMD research and discuss differences in U.S. and European funding mechanisms.

“Although an annual event, this year’s AMD briefing will have new information on the incidence and economic burden of the disease, as well as the global research into its prediction, preemption, and treatment,” said AEVR Executive Director James Jorkasky.  In March 2010, AMDAI released a report on the global burden of eye disease, including AMD, and recently, the National Eye Institute (NEI) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), formed an International AMD Genetics Consortium to share global data on the genetic associations implicated in AMD. There is so much movement in research into AMD that, in a June 15 appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. commented that, “Twenty years ago, we could do little to prevent or treat this disorder. Today, because of new treatments and procedures based in part on NIH research, 1.3 million Americans at risk for severe vision loss over the next five years can receive potentially sight-saving therapies.’’

More information on the website of NAEVR/AEVR