NAEVR Booth at ARVO Served as a "Town Hall" For Answers on NIH/DOD Research Funding Issues and to Contact Congress to Support an NEI Funding Increase

At the May 3-7, 2009, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, the NAEVR Booth served several important purposes. In addition to offering attendees an opportunity to contact their Members of Congress to support a seven percent increase in National Eye Institute (NEI) funding in Fiscal Year 2010, the booth was also a gathering spot for researchers to discuss funding opportunities, including those presented by the final FY2009 funding for the NEI ($688.5 million, which reflects a $21.4 million increase over FY2008) and the dedicated Peer Reviewed Research-Vision $4 million line item in FY2009 Department of Defense (DOD) appropriations—the latter of which was discussed in detail at a Monday, May 4, NAEVR breakfast session on DOD funding opportunities.

NAEVR Executive Director James Jorkasky also provided a briefing on research funding issues to the ARVO Advocacy Committee, Academic Chairs/Academic Research Directors, and Research Grant Administrators.

Incoming ARVO President Nicholas Delamere, Ph.D. (University of Arizona) contacts Congress	ARVO Executive Vice President Sally Atherton, Ph.D. (Medical College of Georgia) contacts Congress
James Weiland, Ph.D. (Doheny Eye Institute), left, and Murray Fingeret, O.D. (VA New York Health Care System), right, discuss defense-related vision research opportunities with NAEVR’s James Jorkasky	Bobbie Ann Austin, Ph.D. (ARVO’s Assistant Director of Science Policy and Programs) assists ARVO President-Elect and Advocacy Committee Chair Mark Petrash, Ph.D. (University of Colorado) in contacting Congress