Dr. Matthew Benson is a clinician-scientist in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Alberta. He currently holds a Bayer Professorship in Translational Research in Ophthalmology appointment. Dr. Benson completed his graduate studies and ophthalmology residency training at the University of Alberta. He then completed fellowship training in ocular genetics at the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health. His clinical interests include inherited eye diseases and strabismus. He also runs a fundamental research lab that investigates disease mechanisms of inherited retinal disorders.

Dr. Ian MacDonald completed his medical degree at McGill University and trained in medical genetics and ophthalmology at the University of Ottawa. He later became an associate professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Biochemistry at the University of Ottawa and served as chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences at the University of Alberta.

Dr. MacDonald’s career in clinical genetics began with a project funded by Fighting Blindness Canada (FBC), where he introduced a genetic focus to inherited retinal disease (IRD) research, particularly choroideremia—an X-linked condition that leads to severe vision loss by mid-life. His first FBC grant in 1985 helped identify the location of the choroideremia gene on the X chromosome. In collaboration with Dr. Miguel Seabra, they developed a diagnostic test that became the global standard for the disease.

In recognition of his contributions to academic ophthalmology, Dr. MacDonald was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2009. In 2015, he led Canada’s first IRD gene therapy trial.

Effective September 1, 2024, Dr. MacDonald assumed the role of Head of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Montreal.

Dr. Larissa Moniz joined Fighting Blindness Canada in December 2019. She has a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Toronto and continued her research in the UK at UCL. Dr. Moniz has worked in research and knowledge translation in at a number of health charities both in the UK and Canada, most recently at Prostate Cancer Canada. At Fighting Blindness Canada Dr. Moniz’s team works to deliver on the mission of the organization which is to fund research towards treatments to preserve and restore vision, ensure that all Canadians have access to appropriate vision care and to provide support and information to individuals living with vision loss.