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The Foundation
Fighting Blindness, a national nonprofit
dedicated to sight-saving research, honored Gary
Katcher, Co-Founder and Chairman of GRK Partners LP, and Stephen
Tsang, M.D., Ph.D., of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia
University Medical Center with its Visionary Award at
Banking on a Cure on Tuesday, April 8. The benefit, from 6-9
p.m. at The Pierre, raised critical awareness and research
funds toward preventions, treatments and cures for
vision-robbing retinal degenerative diseases such as
age-related macular degeneration (AMD), retinitis pigmentosa
(RP), Usher syndrome and related conditions.
"We're thrilled to recognize two leaders in
the fight against blindness: Gary Katcher, whose personal
connection to vision loss fuels his passionate support of
sight-saving research, and Dr. Stephen Tsang, whose work in
our field is helping to advance treatments for families
hoping for an answer," said Bill Schmidt, CEO, Foundation
Fighting Blindness. "The funds raised through Banking on a
Cure will help drive advancements in promising areas such as
gene, stem cell and pharmaceutical therapies, with several
clinical trials already underway for patients losing
precious vision."
Visionary Award Honoree Gary Katcher is
Co-Founder and Chairman of GRK Partners LP, a hedge fund in
Greenwich, CT. Mr. Katcher, who was named a
Foundation Fighting Blindness National Trustee in 2013,
became involved in the fight against blindness to support
his brother Mitch
Katcher, who hasretinitis
pigmentosa, a genetic retinal disease
characterized by night blindness and a progressive loss of
peripheral vision. "This is a tremendous honor for me," said
Gary. "My brother Mitch's fight is my fight, and it is his
spirit and tenacity that inspires me. Searching for cures to
blindness takes amazing people and important resources and
the team at the Foundation Fighting Blindness is leading
that charge."
Mitch and his wife Anne
Katcher, also National Trustees, were Banking on a Cure
co-chairs. The Katcher family has great hope that
Foundation-funded investments in gene therapy, stem
cell-based therapies, drug development and other areas will
lead to vision-saving and -restoring treatments to help
patients in need. For example, dozens of children and young
adults have regained significant vision thanks to Foundation
Fighting Blindness-supported human studies that have paved
the way for other clinical trials for a variety of retinal
diseases. And, last February, the Argus II retinal
prosthesis, otherwise known as a 'bionic retina," received
FDA approval to
help people with advanced RP see shapes and improve their
mobility. Recently, the first two patients were
commercially implanted with the device at
one of 12 centers around the country to offer the retinal
prosthesis.
Also receiving the Visionary Award was
Foundation-funded researcher Dr.
Stephen Tsang, the László Bitó Associate
Professor of Ophthalmology and associate professor of
pathology and cell biology at Columbia University Medical
Center and ophthalmologist at New
York-Presbyterian/Columbia. With a focus on inherited
retinal degenerations, Dr. Tsang's contributions to
retinitis pigmentosa research are recognized
internationally, and his advances in gene therapy have led
to clinical trials for RP patients. Dr. Tsang's
Foundation-funded work aims to better understand retinal
conditions and correlate disease genetics with the nature
and magnitude of vision loss.
Co-chairing Banking on a Cure with Anne and
Mitch Katcher were Foundation Fighting Blindness National
Trustees, Iris
and Reuven Spiegel, who became involved because their
daughter Tali is affected with RP. Mr. Spiegel, President
and CEO of Israel Discount Bank, was honored with the
Foundation?s Visionary Award in 2010. The event's young
professional co-chairs were Bradford
Manning, Partner at Macoma Capital Group,
and Noah
Rabinsky.
Emceeing this year's eventwas FOX News anchor, Shepard
Smith. "I am honored to emcee this event and lend support to
an organization that has done extraordinary work in the line
of research for retinal degenerative diseases affecting
millions of Americans," said
Smith.
To give people the opportunity to get a
first-hand glimpse into the lives of the visually impaired,
Banking on a Cure will feature a masked dining in the dark
option for guests during the dinner entrée. There
will also be both live and silent auctions, where guests
will have the opportunity to bid on items such as an
Argentina Wine Getaway and trips to the Bahamas, Paris and
Los Angeles.
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