£1.7 million funding for children’s eye health research
5 September 2023
Moorfields Eye Charity and the Medical Research Foundation are working in partnership to support research into childhood and adolescent eye health. £1.7 million of funding will be invested into this massively underfunded area of research and help save children’s sight.
The funding initiative is the first of its kind in the UK and has the potential to transform the lives of millions of children all over the world.
450 million +
children globally have a sight condition that needs treatment
90 million
of them are living with some form of sight loss
Research supported through this partnership will increase our understanding of eye health and disease in children and adolescents. It could lead to improvements in diagnosis and treatments.
Currently only 3% of research funding is spent on eye diseases. This partnership and significant investment from the Medical Research Foundation and Moorfields Eye Charity will change the landscape of children’s eye health.
The funding and multi-disciplinary approach with rapid translation of research at Moorfields and UCL will help bring new therapies and better outcomes to patients.
Andrew Dick, Director, the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology
The Medical Research Foundation is investing £1.2 million, thanks to generous donations from Barbara Sofia Formi, Anne Catherine Burdon, Louisa Stacey Pike and Herman Spooner, to support research nationally.
Moorfields Eye Charity is seeking to raise £500,000 to support paediatric research. This will provide a remarkable opportunity for Moorfields and its academic partner UCL to add further valuable impact into the paediatric space.
This is an amazing opportunity for Moorfields Eye Charity and the Medical Research Foundation to improve children’s eye health.
We’re delighted to be working together to further support Moorfields Eye Hospital and its academic partner, the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology - known for their pioneering advancements, and to make a difference to the lives of patients and their families.
Robert Dufton, Chief executive, Moorfields Eye Charity
The commitment and ambition of both Moorfields Eye Charity and the Medical Research Foundation will help change the future for children with sight loss in the UK and worldwide.
Khamani, patient at Moorfields and his mum Tatiana
The sight of millions of children depends on continual medical advances underpinned by innovative research. This joint funding between the Medical Research Foundation and Moorfields Eye Charity represents an invaluable opportunity in the hugely underfunded research field of child and adolescent eye health.
We’re thrilled to be providing funding for ground-breaking, multi-disciplinary research nationally that we hope will change the lives of many young patients with sight conditions.
Dr Angela Hind, Chief executive, Medical Research Foundation
Applications for grants will be assessed by specialists in the field nominated by both Moorfields Eye Charity and the Medical Research Foundation.
Eye to Eye: £1 million+ raised over 10 years
£1 million gift from Friends of Moorfields to new centre for advancing eye health
