Category: News

Deadline November 4, 2024

The Retina Canada research grant applications will be available in Summer 2024.

Junior Clinical Research Grant ($5,000)

Senior Clinical Research Grant ($20,000)

Retina Foundation partners with Montreal General Hospital Foundation and Lions International along with the support of long-time donor Mrs. Gail Jarislowsky to provide a new 3d surgical microscope for the MUHC.

On behalf of our team, we are so grateful for our partnership with the Retina Foundation and would like to continue to build upon it. 

Jean-Guy Gourdeau, CPA, CA, CFA
Président et chef de la direction – President & CEO 
Fondation de L’Hôpital général de Montréal

Read the full article on CodeLife.ca.

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We are pleased to announce the addition of our newest member to the Medical Advisory Committee of the Retina Foundation of Canada, Dr. Varun Chaudhary.

Dr. Chaudhary is a vitreoretinal surgeon and Chief of Ophthalmology at the Hamilton Regional Eye Institute at McMaster University.  He also serves on the executive board of the Canadian Retina Society in the role of Director of Continuing Professional Development.

Dr. Chaudry has been extremely active in research related activities throughout his career and also serves the research community as Editor-in Chief of the Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology.
Read more here: https://surgery.mcmaster.ca/bio/varun-chaudhary

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Varun Chaudhary to our committee where he will use his incredible talents to help fulfill the mandate of the Retina Foundation of Canada.

JUNIOR BURSARY WINNER:
Carolina Francisconi, University of Toronto
Retinal displacement after pneumatic retinopexy versus vitrectomy for the management of primary retinal detachment.

SENIOR BURSARY WINNER:
Netan Choudhry
Vitreous Retina Macula Specialists of Toronto
Correlation of Wide-field OCT-Angiography and Ultra-Widefield Fluorescein Angiography in Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (WONDER)

Netan Choudhry Retina Canada Senior Bursary Winner

The past year has been a busy one for the Foundation.
The goals of the Foundation are:

• to provide financial assistance to future retinal specialists through fellowships and research grants
• to improve patient clinical care

EDUCATION

Since 2012, when we first donated $10,000 for two grants, we have increased our donations so that, in 2018, we provided $95,000 for two fellowships and $25,000 for two research grants. These funds provide financial support to individuals across Canada, with applications received from Newfoundland to Vancouver ( see this web site for our application process and forms) ; and a Medical Advisory Panel, with representation from Toronto Calgary, St John’s and Montreal deliberates and decides who should receive these funds.
Results of the research are printed on our web site, as it becomes available.

AWARENESS

If a patient understands their problem and the processes which can be used to remediate their problem, we believe the outcome can be much improved, and the patient is more at ease with their situation.
We provide precise and medically accurate descriptions of the various retinal diseases and their possible remedies on our web site so that patents can then obtain appropriate help as quickly as, possible.

CLINICAL CARE

This year we have joined with the Montreal General Hospital Foundation to purchase an innovative surgical and teaching tool.
Currently, retinal surgeons must bend over their patients for long periods, looking through what seems to be a microscope/binoculars – students cluster around them trying to see what is being done. The new equipment is high tech – it provides a large computer screen which the surgeon can sit at ergonomically/comfortably and look at and manipulate handles to do the required surgery. And students at the same time can see on the screen what the surgeon is doing. Thus better surgical and educational outcomes can result. Used in Europe, this technology is just coming to North America and we are one of the first here in Canada to buy one. We have been raising funds for its purchase, and need only $20,000 more to meet our goal to purchase this equipment. If you wish to donate to help us in this purchase of this patient-related equipment, please see “donate” on this web site.

CANADIAN RETINA SOCIETY.

We are associated with the Canadian Retina Society, a group of retinal surgeons from across Canada, and are happy to be able to continue to provide the funding for an annual lecture at their yearly conference.

CONCLUSION

As noted above, we are working hard to increase the number of retinal surgeons in Canada, increase patient awareness of retinal diseases and remedies, finance new teaching and surgical equipment, and support the Canadian Retinal Society.
Please support us by following our activities on our web site and donating if you can.
And again my thanks to our supporters and donors, the Medical Advisory Panel, and our volunteer Board for all their efforts in making 2018 another successful year for the Foundation.

DONALD WALCOT,
CHAIR, RETINA FOUNDATION OF CANADA

New technology greatly enhances a retinal surgeon’s ability to provide enhanced care to retinal patients.

A machine, called the NGENUITY 3D VISUALIZATION SYSTEM has been developed which aligns perfectly with our Foundation’s goals of improved clinical care and enabling the education of future retinal surgeons. Read more about the system here.
Currently retinal surgeons hunch over a microscope and peer into an infinitely small space to do corrective surgery – drawbacks include a microscopic work area, an inability for students to see what is being done, and, not unimportantly, fatigue and back strain as surgeons have to bend over their microscopes for long periods of time.
This new instrument, powered by a 3 D high dynamic range camera and a 3 D 4 K OLED monitor creates a singular operating room experience, by redefining how surgical information is captured and displayed. It allows the surgeon to sit upright – no back strain; work in a significantly bigger work space; and share his actions with students can watch the screen as the procedure is being done. Simple in concept but transformational in practice.
Currently widely used in Europe, it is just now coming to North America. There is only one such machine in operation in Canada at the Hopital Notre Dame in Montreal. We wish to join with the Montreal General Hospital Foundation to finance the purchase of one of these machines, at a cost of $110,000 – each party is to provide 50% of the funds.
How to donate.

Together, we are looking into the possibility of partnering to help fundraise for much needed medical equipment to improve retinal surgery at the MUHC.
In particular, retinal patients would benefit greatly from 3-D scanner, but the cost of such a scanner is over $100,000.

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Let’s see if together we can meet this ambitious goal in 2018.

Retina Foundation of Canada, it gives us great pleasure to introduce Dr. Gallie as the one of the recipients of the 2017 Senior Clinical Research Grant of the Retina Foundation of Canada.
The value of the research grant is $20,000 for their project titled, “Liquid Biopsy for non-invasive genomic analysis of ocular tumours”.
The Retina Foundation of Canada is a national organization dedicated to fighting retinal disease and preserving vision.  Supporting the efforts of Canadian researchers, who are investigating retinal diseases, has been one of the early initiatives of the Foundation.
Congratulations Dr. Gallie, we look forward to your research project and future publications or presentations.
 

Dr. Flavio Rezende, who won the Retina Foundation of Canada Clinical Research Grant in 2012, was part of the team to implant the first Argus II prothesis in Quebec.
We would like to congratulate Dr. Rezende on his accomplishment, and celebrate the gift of sight.
Dr. Rezende also received a Senior Research Grant in 2015 to study diabetic macular edema.
Read and watch more here in this Montreal Gazette article online.
Or read the article Montreal surgeon implants bionic eye in blind woman in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) by clicking on the image.

We thought we would share an interesting article published on Medium by Lucy Bernholz.
https://medium.com/the-development-set/this-is-why-i-give-what-about-you-ed84ab0b51e2#.q7v3gpx9f