The Macular Degeneration Foundation (MDF) will be renamed the Macular Disease Foundation Australia and will expand its range of services to support the macular disease community more broadly.
The move to do so was unanimously agreed at the Annual General Meeting, which was held at the MDF national office in Sydney on 11 December.
Addressing a jam-packed room of MDF directors, members and guests, CEO, Julie Heraghty said MDF has achieved significant awareness of Macular Degeneration and its symptoms in the past five years.
She said that as a result of its work, the Macular Degeneration Foundation in Australia is now a world leader in raising awareness of MD and the need to have the macula checked regularly. And, as a result of the call to action to have your eyes tested and macula checked, she said, many other eye diseases had been detected early.
Professor Paul Mitchell said this makes the shift in focus from Macular Degeneration to Macular Disease logical.
“For every person with Macular Degeneration, there is another person with a different macular disease – such as diabetic macular oedema, macular hole and retinal vein occlusion. Often people with these diseases are much younger than the people with Macular Degeneration.
“Anti-VEGF looks as if it can treat some of these macular diseases as successfully as it is treating Macular Degeneration, but the problem is there is no approved funding for this to occur.”
At the annual general meeting, Ms. Heraghty said the newly named Macular Disease Foundation Australia will work to reduce the incidence and impact of all macular diseases.
Blackmores Dr. Paul Beaumont Research Fellowship Announced
During the AGM Dr. Bamini Gopinath was announced as the recipient of the Blackmores Dr Paul Beaumont Research Fellowship for 2013-14.
Dr. Bamini Gopinath is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Vision Research, Westmead Millennium Institute. She will work under the supervision of Professor Paul Mitchell on important research to improve knowledge of the nutritional and lifestyle risk for Macular Degeneration and protective factors –particularly dietary antioxidant and supplement intake, diet quality and food groups.
