The Vision Voice newsletter comes out three times a year. It’s our newsletter to keep you up to date with what we’re doing on behalf of the macular disease community. You’ll also find the latest research news, upcoming events, and inspiring stories from our community. This is the audio version of the newsletter.
In this version of Vision Voice, you’ll hear about MDFA’s latest economic modelling report, Investing to Save Sight: Health and Economic Benefits of Improving Macular Disease Treatment Persistence. The new report shows that an investment to save the sight of thousands of vulnerable older Australians will save the Government up two billion dollars – and it has the Australian public’s support.
You’ll also read an opinion piece penned by Patron, Ita Buttrose, AC OBE, expressing her support of the Investing to Save Sight report with a request to Government to review the cost-benefits of saving sight.
This edition of Vision Voice will introduce you to the latest recipients of the Research Grants Program. More than $700,000 has been awarded to six promising researchers building the knowledge bank of understanding in macular disease.
This year’s funding round is supporting three projects examining atrophic age-related macular degeneration, also known as geographic atrophy, for which there are no currently approved treatment options in Australia. Geographic atrophy is a significant cause of vision loss and blindness in Australia and has many unanswered research questions. One project includes a stem-cell derived modelling of geographic atrophy, and the second will address hyperspectral imaging for detecting and monitoring geographic atrophy.
The latest funding round now brings Macular Disease Foundation’s commitment to macular disease research to $5.8 million across 35 projects since 2011.
You’ll also meet Giles Cooper and 43-year-old Volkswagen, Clementine, who are driving a complete lap of Australia, some 15,000 kilometers to raise awareness and funds for research into cancer and macular disease.
An audio version of this newsletter is also available. You can listen online or ask us to send you a free CD.
