HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) is a nonprofit organization created in 1960 by Jules Stein, the founder of
Music Corporation of America Music Corporation of America, formerly known as Universal Music Group Nashville, is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. It was officially opened in 1945 as MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville which opened on New Year's Day 1950 a ...
, to stimulate research to eliminate blinding diseases. It supports eye research directed at the prevention, treatment or eradication of all diseases that threaten vision. In pursuit of this objective, RPB has committed hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to support high-impact vision research. RPB's grant-making programs provide major eye research funding to leading scientific institutions in the U.S. and support the work of hundreds of talented vision scientists engaged in a diverse range of disease-oriented research. RPB's far-reaching activities are planned and carried out with the expert advice and guidance of a Scientific Advisory Panel composed of distinguished leaders in the field of medical science.


Mission statement

RPB's mission is to preserve and restore vision by supporting research to develop treatments, preventives and cures for all conditions that damage and destroy sight.


Eye diseases researched

Eye diseases addressed by grants from RPB include
macular degeneration Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred vision, blurred or vision loss, no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no sym ...
,
cataracts A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision of the eye. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colours, blurry or double vision, halos around ligh ...
,
glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can lead to damage of the optic nerve. The optic nerve transmits visual information from the eye to the brain. Glaucoma may cause vision loss if left untreated. It has been called the "silent thief of ...
,
diabetic retinopathy Diabetic retinopathy (also known as diabetic eye disease) is a medical condition in which damage occurs to the retina due to diabetes. It is a leading cause of blindness in developed countries and one of the lead causes of sight loss in the wor ...
,
dry eye Dry eye syndrome, also known as keratoconjunctivitis sicca, is the condition of having dry eyes. Symptoms include dryness in the eye, irritation, redness, discharge, blurred vision, and easily fatigued eyes. Symptoms range from mild and occas ...
, corneal diseases,
uveitis Uveitis () is inflammation of the uvea, the pigmented layer of the eye between the inner retina and the outer fibrous layer composed of the sclera and cornea. The uvea consists of the middle layer of pigmented vascular structures of the eye and ...
,
low vision Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...
,
amblyopia Amblyopia, also called lazy eye, is a disorder of sight in which the brain fails to fully process input from one eye and over time favors the other eye. It results in decreased vision in an eye that typically appears normal in other aspects. Amb ...
and
strabismus Strabismus is an eye disorder in which the eyes do not properly align with each other when looking at an object. The eye that is pointed at an object can alternate. The condition may be present occasionally or constantly. If present during a ...
,
retinitis pigmentosa Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a member of a group of genetic disorders called inherited retinal dystrophy (IRD) that cause loss of vision. Symptoms include trouble seeing at night and decreasing peripheral vision (side and upper or lower visua ...
,
color blindness Color blindness, color vision deficiency (CVD) or color deficiency is the decreased ability to color vision, see color or differences in color. The severity of color blindness ranges from mostly unnoticeable to full absence of color percept ...
and ocular cancers.


History

Shortly after it was founded, RPB conducted the first comprehensive survey of the state of eye research in the United States. Among the findings was strong support within the eye research community for a separate National Eye Institute as part of the National Institutes of Health. RPB then led the movement that caused Congress in 1968 to establish the National Eye Institute. In the following years, RPB became a major influence in stimulating legislative interest and support for the work of the
National Eye Institute The National Eye Institute (NEI) is part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The mi ...
. Another finding was lack of sufficient laboratory space—across the country—for eye research. Over a span of years, RPB organized capital campaigns for the construction of modern eye research centers in large population areas:
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
,
Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
,
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
,
University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...
,
Medical College of Wisconsin The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) is a private medical school, pharmacy school, and graduate school of sciences in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The school was established in 1893 and is the largest research center in eastern Wisconsi ...
,
Baylor College of Medicine The Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a private medical school in Houston, Texas, United States. Originally as the Baylor University College of Medicine from 1903 to 1969, the college became independent with the current name and has been se ...
and Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland. Through a grants program, Research to Prevent Blindness has channeled more than $407 million into eye research.


Grants

RPB works with medical institutions throughout the United States to strengthen their programs in eye research. Unrestricted grant programs are intended to produce new scientific investigations, accelerate the pace of research and complement government
grants Grant or Grants may refer to: People * Grant (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Grant (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters ** Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), the 18th president of the U ...
. Research to Prevent Blindness also provides individual grants, which are directed toward investigators working across all areas of vision science, on ground-breaking science. Since its founding, RPB grant support has been identified with virtually every major scientific advance in eye research including the development of
laser surgery Laser surgery is a type of surgery that cuts tissue using a laser in contrast to using a scalpel. Soft-tissue laser surgery is used in a variety of applications in humans ( general surgery, neurosurgery, ENT, dentistry, orthodontics, and ...
for eye conditions, new drugs that prevent blindness, and refinements to the
intraocular lens An intraocular lens (IOL) is a lens (optics), lens implanted in the human eye, eye usually as part of a treatment for cataracts or for correcting other vision problems such as myopia, near-sightedness (myopia) and farsightedness, far-sightednes ...
es used in cataract surgery.


References


External links


Official website
{{Authority control Health charities in the United States Blindness organizations in the United States Medical and health organizations based in New York (state)