The Foundation Fighting Blindness to Host Annual Conference in Dallas

Foundation Fighting Blindness
Thursday, 9 August 2001

(Owings Mills, MD) - August 9, 2001 - The Foundation Fighting Blindness announced today that it will host its annual conference, VISIONS 2001: Seeing the Light, in Dallas, Texas on September 13-15, 2001.

The Foundation Fighting Blindness is the largest non-governmental source of funding for retinal degenerative disease research in the world and has raised more than $150 million for this very purpose.

The conference is expected to bring together hundreds of individuals interested in the latest retinal degenerative disease research. World-renowned scientific researchers studying the treatments and cures for blinding diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, Usher syndrome, Stargardt disease and other retinal degenerative diseases will present the sessions and seminars during the conference. These researchers will discuss the latest cutting-edge findings in areas such as: pharmaceutical and nutritional therapies, retinal prosthetics (such as the retinal chip), and gene therapy. Attendees will hear about groundbreaking research that used gene therapy to restore vision in a dog born blind with a severe retinal degeneration.

VISIONS 2001 will also provide attendees with the unique opportunity to network with others from all across the country who are similarly affected.

Retinal degenerative diseases affect more than 6 million people in the United States. Another estimated 15 million have pre-symptomatic signs that may lead to loss of sight.

The Foundation Fighting Blindness has been consistently ranked #1 by the National Health Council for the percentage of dollars spent on research.

For more information about The Foundation Fighting Blindness or the VISIONS conference call 1-800- 683-5555 or visit www.blindness.org.

For more information, or to contact Foundation Fighting Blindness, see their website at: www.blindness.org