(Washington, DC) Today, the Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) announced that, with the end of 2020, it has retired its Decade of Vision 2010-2020 Initiative (DOV) and is launching a new Research Saving Sight, Restoring Vision Initiative under which all AEVR education will be branded this decade.
In making the announcement, AEVR Board President Paul Lee, MD, JD stated:
“This past decade, AEVR’s Decade of Vision 2010-2020 Initiative (DOV) recognized the nation’s significant vision challenges with the aging of the population, disproportionate incidence of eye disease and blindness in minority populations, and vision loss co-morbid with an increase in chronic health conditions. In doing so, it held more than 60 Congressional Briefings, published numerous studies and fact sheets, and initiated an annual Emerging Vision Scientists Day on Capitol Hill, which in 2020 featured a virtual conversation about the impact of COVID-19 lab closures on the next generation of scientists.
Building on the successes of the last ten years, this next decade AEVR will focus on the enormous strides that past federally-funded vision research at the National Eye Institute (NEI) and other agencies has made in terms of new diagnostics and therapies to treat vision conditions, as well as the tools that support these new approaches (e.g., imaging, “Big Data”, and Artificial Intelligence), and the promise that future robust vision funding holds for even more dramatic scientific and quality-of-life advances. Every person in the United States should have access to the best eye care to prevent and treat vision loss.
As with past years, in 2021 AEVR will hold a series of Congressional Briefings (mostly virtual) and, hopefully, host its Seventh Annual Emerging Vision Scientists Day on Capitol Hill on-site in Washington, DC this Fall with the new 117th Congress.”
The Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR), a 501(c)3 non-profit foundation, educates about the value of federally funded vision research through its sustained effort Research Saving Sight, Restoring Vision Initiative. Visit AEVR’s Web site at www.eyeresearch.org
