Dec 7, 2015

Turning Vision Research Into Therapies (Audio)

How can we “translate” vision science discoveries into new sight-saving treatments? In Canada, we are fortunate that top thinkers across the country are working on this question. Finding answers requires contributions from research scientists and medical doctors, but it also needs the expertise of people from many different sectors, including non-profit organizations, academia, industry and government. Importantly, the effective translation of vision science into sight-saving therapies requires meaningful input from the patients and families who are living with vision diseases.

At the Toronto Vision Quest, we held a panel discussion titled “Turning Vision Research into Therapies” that brought together top thinkers to discuss how vision research is becoming new treatments and to share ideas about what can be done to help move the process forward. Panelists included: Dr. Fareed Ali from the Canadian Centre for Advanced Eye Therapeutics, Dr. Tania Bubela a legal scholar and regulatory expert from the University of Alberta, Dr. Brian Ballios a stem cell scientist and ophthalmologist from the University of Toronto, Dr. Andrew Vieira, Head of Medical Affairs, Ophthalmology at Bayer HealthCare, and Ms. Jamie Ring, Head Patient Advocate at Spark Therapeutics.

Here is what Vision Quest participants are saying about the panel:

All of the speakers were wonderful – clear, concise and knowledgeable. I enjoyed the new structure of the session with the panel discussions focused on turning research into treatments. I left inspired to be a better advocate so that we can get the funding necessary to make treatments a reality.