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Public Awareness and Attitudes: Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Ms. Armstrong is Senior Vice President with the Environics
Research Group and currently directs National Pulse on Health
Strategy, a major syndicated study involving over 2,000 Canadians and
2,000 health professionals. Ms. Armstrong was recently appointed
Director of the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion (LISPOP),
at Wilfred Laurier University. Her practice focuses on public policy
in Ontario, health care and education.
Current Estimates and Projections of Vision Loss in Canada
Dr. Buhrmann is an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the
University of Ottawa Eye Institute. His research interests center on
applying epidemiology to prevent vision loss in Canada and in the
developing world. His current research includes estimating the current
and projected prevalence of blindness in Canada and describing low
rates of retinal screening among persons with newly diagnosed diabetes
in Ontario.
Topic: Social Costs of Blindness
Dr. Burke is the Director of Research at The Roeher Institute. She
has been working on issues of disability and human rights in the areas
of health, genetics, disability supports, inclusive communities, early
child development, education and employment. This work included a
study on genetic counseling that led to the publications of The
Construction of Disability and Risk In Genetic Counselling Discourse.
Topic: Aging, Acuity and Advocacy: Population Aging, Vision Loss
and Social Policy
Dr. Foot is a Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto and
author of Boom, Bust & Echo: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic
Shift in the 21st Century. As a demographics expert, Dr. Foot explores
the changes of the aging boomer generation and its effects on
society’s needs.
Topic: The Economic Costs of Blindness
Dr. Frick is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health. He has published research on the global
productivity cost of blindness and how the VISION 2020 blindness
prevention program could affect this cost.
Topic: Demographics of Low Vision and Blindness in Canada
Dr. Gresset is a Professor at the School of Optometry at the
University of Montreal. His research interests lie in the areas of
visual health of populations, readjustment of people with visual
deficiencies, the use and development of visual supports and the
evaluation of procedures aimed at reducing visual incapacities.
Topic: Blindness: We Know What it Costs! Now What?
Dr. Javitt is an Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins
University,
with an extensive background in health informatics, health services
research and
public health. He is a senior fellow of the Potomac Institute for
Policy Studies and also serves as Chief Medical Officer of the newly
founded Academy for Homeland Security.
Topic: New Paradigm of Disability: Impact on Assessing Costs of
Blindness
Dr. Kirchner directs the Department of Policy Research and Program
Evaluation for the American Foundation for the Blind. She is co-editor
for Research of the Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness (JVISB)
and is a lecturer at Columbia University’s School of Public Health.
Her research concentrates on concepts, measure and policy uses of
socio-demographic statistics on disability.
Topic: How Society Can Drive Down the Cost of Blindness
Mr. Lepofsky is the founding President of the Canadian Association
of Visually Impaired Lawyers (CAVIL) and a prominent figure in
Canada’s disability rights movement. He is the chair of the Ontarians
with Disabilities Act committee, a voluntary coalition advocating for
disability accessibility legislation in Ontario
Topic: The Prevalence of Blindness in British Columbia and the
Impact Upon Cost
Dr. Maberley is an Assistant Professor with the University of
British Columbia’s Ophthalmology Department. He heads the
ophthalmology component of the British Columbia Diabetes Telemedicine
project and is a scientific advisor to the National Aboriginal
Diabetes Association and sits on board of the National Coalition of
Vision Health. Dr. Maberley has expertise and performs research in the
medical and surgical management of: diabetic retinopathy, macular
degeneration, macular holes, complex retinal detachments, and high
myopia.
Topic: The Utilization of Research Evidence to Guide Health
Policy
Dr. Persaud is an Assistant Professor of the School of Health
Services Administration at Dalhousie University and is cross-appointed
to the Department of Ophthalmology. He is a member of the Scientific
Advisory Panel of the Canadian Coordinating Office of Health
Technology Assessment and his research interests are in the areas of
integration of vision care services, performance driven organizational
change, and the utilization of research evidence to guide policy.
Topic: Costs Associated With Glaucoma
Dr. Quigley is a founding member and Director of the American
Glaucoma Society. He is Chief Executive Officer of the Association for
Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and Editor-in-Chief of
Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. His research has
helped to improve the early diagnosis of glaucoma.
Topic: Quality of Life Related to Age-Related Macular
Degeneration
Dr. Sharma is the founding director of the Cost-Effective Ocular
Health Policy Unit, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and
Epidemiology and Deputy Head for the Department of Ophthalmology at
Queen’s University. He has conducted research into the benefits of
prescribing high doses of vitamin supplements to aging baby boomers
with vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration and how it
could save the North American health-care system more than $1.5
billion in the next 10 years.
Topic: The Impact of Vision Loss in Australia
Dr. Taylor is a Ringland Anderson Professor of Ophthalmology and
Director of the Centre for Eye Research in Australia at the University
of Melbourne. He is the Regional Chair for the International Agency
for the Prevention of Blindness is the Western Pacific. His career has
been devoted to researching strategies for the prevention and control
of blinding diseases.
Topic: The Impact of Blindness and Impaired Vision in Developed
Countries
Dr. Tielsch is a Professor and Associate Chair of the Department
of International Health at Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School
of Public Health and is contributing editor of Eye on the Literature.
His research focuses on the epidemiology and control of blinding
ocular disease in developing countries.
Mary Walsh is no stranger to television. She is an
eleven-time Gemini award winner for her
work on Salter Street Films’ wildly popular take on current affairs,
This Hour has 22 Minutes, which showcases Mary's dynamic range of characters, including the flagrantly outspoken Marg Delahunty, the
redneck reporter Dakey Dunn, and the wacky Prairie correspondent
Connie Bloor. In addition to performing her unusual cast of characters
on This Hour, Mary has been busy hosting her new series Mary Walsh:
Open Book, a literary talk show airing on CBC Television.
Topic: The Cost of Blindness in the United Kingdom
Mr. Winyard is Head of Public Policy with Royal National Institute of
the Blind (RNIB), responsible for lobbying, campaigning and policy
activities. Prior to joining the RNIB, Mr. Winyard was Professor of
Social Policy at the University of Leeds and has published extensively
on the subjects of poverty, low pay and social exclusion.
Topic: The Evolving Diabetes Epidemic among Canada’s First
Nations: Implications for Vision Care
Dr. Young was appointed Professor in the Department of Public Health
Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto in 2002. He is a
Canadian Institute of Health Research Senior Investigator (CIHR) and
his research interests focus on the health of Canada’s indigenous
peoples, especially the prevention and control of emerging health
problems, such as diabetes.
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A member of the CNIB’s Executive Management Group, Mr. Grace is vice
president, External Relations, with The Canadian National Institute
for the Blind (CNIB). Mr. Grace has served as the executive director
of the E.A. Baker Foundation, the Canadian Braille Literacy
Foundation, and the Wayne and Walter Gretzky Foundation. He is also
chair of the AMD Alliance International, the only international
organization devoted to increasing awareness of age-related macular
degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the Western world.
 Martin
J. Steinbach, PhD
Dr. Martin J. Steinbach is a professor of Ophthalmology and the
Director of Ophthalmology Research at the University of Toronto. He is
also a distinguished research professor of Psychology and Biology at
York University, as well as the director of Vision Science Research at
the Toronto Western Hospital Research Institute. He studies eye
movements and visual development processes in people with disordered
vision at the Hospital for Sick Children and at the Toronto Western
Hospital.
 Raymond
P. LeBlanc, MD, FRCSC
Dr. LeBlanc is chair of the National Coalition for Vision Health,
which dedicates its efforts to improving vision health for Canadians.
He was professor and head of the department of ophthalmology at
Dalhousie University from 1979 until 2003 and remains active in the
department as a senior academic ophthalmologist. His major research
interests are in the clinical investigation of glaucoma with major
publications in the field of perimetry.
 Eugene
Lechelt, PhD
Dr. Lechelt is a professor emeritus after spending 34 years at the
University of Alberta. In 1985, he joined the Alberta ● NWT ● Nunavut
Division board of The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB)
and served three years as chair. He also serves on the board of the
B.C. – Yukon Division. At the national level of the CNIB, Dr. Lechelt
was a member of the Client Services Committee for 10 years and is
presently a member of the national board of directors and its Planning
Committee. He is also chair of the E.A. Baker Foundation Secretariat
and chair of the Ross Purse Doctoral Fellowship Committee.
 Alan Cruess, MD, FRCSC
Dr. Cruess was recently appointed professor and head of the Department
of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Dalhousie University and
district chief of Ophthalmology of Capital Health. He was the author
and principal investigator of the Medical Research Council and
sponsored clinical trials for the evaluation of laser therapies for
both age-related macular degeneration and ocular histoplasmosis with
the Canadian Ophthalmology Study Group (COSG). Dr. Cruess remains
active in several clinical trials of new therapies for age-related
macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
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Ralf Buhrmann, MDCM, PhD, FRSCS
Mary Anne Burke
David Foot, PhD
Kevin Frick, PhD, MA, BSc
Jacques Gresset, OD, PhD
Jonathan C. Javitt, MD, MPH
Corinne Kirchner, PhD
David Maberley, MD, FRCS (C), MSc (Epid)
David Persaud, PhD
Harry A. Quigley, MD
Sanjay Sharma, MD, FRCSC, MSc (Epid), MBA
Hugh Taylor, AC, MD
James M. Tielsch,
BSc, MHS, PhD
Stephen Winyard
Kue Young, MD, FRCPC, Dphil
Gerrard
Grace