Mission & History

• We establish ambitious goals because we believe this inspires hope for our patients,
  and promotes excellence for our scientists, doctors, business partners, and
  employees.

• We fund innovative and promising glaucoma research.
• We believe that curiosity, discipline, and collaboration enable scientific discovery
  and novel solutions.
• We invest in high risk/high reward research projects for maximum impact.
• We embrace new ideas and different perspectives.
• Our creative approaches and bold ideas provide hope for patients.

• Our research model empowers scientists with diverse expertise to collaborate in a
  multi-disciplinary approach.
• We believe scientific collaboration speeds outcomes, supports diversity, and enables
  efficient operations.

• We aspire to excellence in every aspect of our work.
• We involve stakeholders in our decision-making.
• We commit to providing the highest quality materials and educational resources for
  patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals.
• We recognize that diversity and inclusion are essential to excellence.

• We treat our diverse community of patients, doctors, scientists, philanthropists, and business partners and employees with dignity, respect, and integrity.
• We value and celebrate the unique contributions of all team members.
• We advocate for diverse communities.
• We value our colleagues and create an environment where each person is heard, safe, respected, and supported. We encourage the professional development of every team member.

• We embrace fiscal responsibility and accountability for the stewardship of resources
  entrusted to us.
• We are transparent and provide accurate and timely reports.
• We adopt sound financial and investment management policies and internal controls
  to ensure accountability and trust.

Amanda Eddy:
I was born with glaucoma. My father actually had glaucoma and went blind when he was young, so it’s been a really big part of my life.

The Glaucoma Research Foundation website has so much useful information for people who are recently diagnosed. Honestly, that’s how I found it, was searching online and looking for tools and information about glaucoma, and it was one of the first sites that popped up that had really useful information.

H. Dunbar Hoskins, Jr., MD:
I think GRF as an organization is unique because it’s the largest foundation in the country, maybe in the world, I think it is in the world, focused only on one disease: glaucoma.

Richard A. Lewis, MD:
And I certainly knew Bob Shaffer and Dunbar and Jack, and saw the development of this in 1978. I was in residency at the time and then the foundation started with that same mission to prevent visual loss from glaucoma. You’ve raised over $40 million, some important initial discoveries. The first genetic discovery in glaucoma, the TIGR gene, and then of course the Family History Project. And one of the things that we all quote in all of our practices is the Normal Tension Glaucoma trial. All of those came out of the Glaucoma Research Foundation, and I don’t think there’s any foundation in the world that can make those kinds of claims.

Robert D. Fechtner, MD:
The Glaucoma Research Foundation has stimulated collaboration. This is a slide I’ve been showing for over a decade, and it’s alphabet soup of glaucoma studies. The Collaborative Normal Tension Glaucoma Study is the only one of the major clinical trials that was not funded in part by the government. It was funded by the Glaucoma Research Foundation. It was the first multicenter clinical trial to document that lowering eye pressure preserves vision. It was a catalyst. The Glaucoma Research Foundation is a catalyst for scientific innovation. We are seeing work from a gifted group of scientists looking for biomarkers. There are Shaffer grants being given as priming the pump, and with great success.

James D. Brandt, MD:
My relationship with the GRF goes back well over 20 years. GRF funded some of my early work in the field of new drug development for glaucoma, and I’ve been forever grateful to the seed funding that the GRF gave to us.

Joel S. Schuman, MD:
There just aren’t very many places that glaucoma investigators can go to get funding for this sort of work. In addition, the Catalyst for a Cure program forms a consortium of people who generally have not worked together before, to bring people together who have unique skillsets and to create some synergy between the groups.

Monica L. Vetter, PhD:
Funding from the Glaucoma Research Foundation has made such a tremendous difference. It’s brought new people into the field, really catalyzed new initiatives and new ideas, and has been able to stimulate a lot of interesting and important new directions in glaucoma research.

Andrew D. Huberman, PhD:
The field of glaucoma research I think has advanced tremendously in no small part due to the support of the Glaucoma Research Foundation. I think that’s absolutely clear.

Robert D. Fechtner, MD:
The Glaucoma Research Foundation is serving an essential purpose for us. Their focus is to help us find a cure.

Amanda Eddy:
I don’t know. I’ve been using the same medications for 36 years, one eye drop I have been using my entire life. I genuinely think that a cure will be found in my lifetime and the funding and just all of the work that Glaucoma Research Foundation is doing towards that, they’re making it happen. Grants and events like Glaucoma 360 and all of the learning and everything that’s going on is just propelling that cure, which we’ll get to. Yeah, a cure would mean… It would just mean everything. Sorry.

Christopher Wilmoth:
What helped me through it is I just remember I’m not the only one who was born with glaucoma, and it could have been much worse. I could have lost my sight.

Catherine Wilmoth:
We don’t want people to lose their sight, and if it’s preventable, it’s really important to find a cure, so more people can see until the end of their lives and see all the beautiful colors in this world that we live in.