Timonium, MD – December 19th, 2017:

Bari Azman, Vice President Marketing and Business Development of Low Vision Specialists of Maryland & Virginia (LVS) has been appointed to the board of directors of the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) – Baltimore Chapter. FFB was established in 1971 to find treatments and cures for inherited retinal diseases. Today FFB is the world’s leading private funder of retinal disease research and to date has raised more than $725 million.

The foundation’s passion and commitment to curing retinal disease mirrors the work done very day at LVS. Low Vision Specialists of Maryland and Virginia (LVS) specializes in maximizing patient vision and customizing optical systems for adult and geriatric patients suffering with vision loss caused by aging and/or ophthalmic disease, as well as children suffering with Stargardt’s disease. LVS improves the quality of life for patients whose vision loss makes activities of daily difficult or impossible. The practice has a high success rate in improving patient vision.

“I am deeply honored to be asked to join the FFB board of directors and to have the opportunity to support its work that leads to groundbreaking research,” said Azman. “My family and I work every day in our low vision practice to offer those living with low vision and blindness advanced technologies to expand their daily environment. We don’t believe that people should be told nothing more can be done to enhance their vision. FFB and LVS share the philosophy of never accepting the status quo and always seeking more advanced knowledge and treatments for eye disease. I look forward to serving on the board with its esteemed directors.”

The foundation and its Clinical Research Institute has funded more than 100 research grants in genetics, gene and stem-cell therapies, retinal cell transplantation and pharmaceutical and nutritional therapies. That research has been pivotal in the identification of more than 250 genes linked to retinal disease and the launch of 20 clinical trials. FFB’s contributions to pushing forward the science and understanding of eye disease is well known in the scientific community.

“Thanks to FFB, I have confidence that we will understand and be able to successfully treat many of these (retinal degenerative) diseases in the relatively near future,” said Morton F. Goldberg, MD, former Director, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Univ. Hospital. “We are on the verge of human clinical trials and that would not have happened without the support of the FFB.”

About Low Vision Specialists of MD & VA

Low Vision Specialists of Maryland and Virginia (LVS) specializes in maximizing patient vision and customizing optical systems for adult and geriatric patients suffering with vision loss caused by aging and/or ophthalmic disease, as well as children suffering with Stargardt’s disease. LVS improves the quality of life for patients whose vision loss makes activities of daily difficult or impossible. Founded in 1976, the practice has a documented 98% success rate in improving patient vision.  LVS is a member of The International Academy of Low Vision Specialists (IALVS), and has multiple locations in Maryland and Virginia.