Media Kit

For more information about RPB, our Grants Program, research we have supported, or for comments or quotes from eye researchers on issues pertaining to eye disease, contact:

Matthew Levine
Director of Communications and Marketing
Research to Prevent Blindness
212.752.4333
800.621.0026
mlevine@rpbusa.org

RPB by the numbers

Last year alone:

• RPB provided $10.94 million in new grant support.
• RPB approved and funded 93 new grants.
• RPB support was cited in 978 peer-reviewed published studies.
• RPB provided research support to 168 scientists at 56 departments of ophthalmology at medical schools across the U.S.

Since its inception, in1960:

• RPB has provided more than $262 million in grant support to researchers at medical schools across the U.S. and international researchers traveling to the U.S. for scientific collaborations.
• RPB has approved and funded 3,107 grants.

Who We Are - What We Do

RESEARCH TO PREVENT BLINDNESS is the world's leading voluntary organization in support of eye research.  RPB was founded in 1960 by Dr. Jules Stein to meet a clear-cut need for intensive research into the causes, treatment and cure of all blinding diseases.  Financial support for the organization comes from  RPB individual donors, foundations, corporations and federated campaigns.

Until RPB's establishment, progress in eye research was stunted by the inadequacy of physical and financial resources for effective investigations in vision.  RPB's far-reaching programs have since brought about a renaissance in the science of ophthalmology.

    ●    Working closely with the nation's top scientists and physicians, RPB has enabled medical institutions throughout the U.S. to develop strong programs in eye research.

    ●    RPB has channeled more than $262 million into eye research.  Its programs are stimulating important new scientific investigations, accelerating the pace of research, and producing unprecedented progress in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of eye disease.

    ●    RPB has produced more than $53 million for the construction of modern eye research centers that now span the country.  RPB-sponsored centers at the University of California, Los Angeles,  The Johns Hopkins University,  Columbia University,  University of Louisville,  Medical College of Wisconsin,  Baylor College of Medicine and Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland now provide research, treatment and teaching facilities for large population areas. Other centers are being planned to meet the critical need for eye research laboratories.

    ●    RPB is attracting talented scientists to careers in eye research through RPB Special Scholars Awards, RPB Manpower Awards, an RPB scientific Career Development Awards program and nationwide expansion of opportunities for creative research. The $25 million Jules and Doris Stein RPB Professorship program brings outstanding basic scientists to the study of the eye and its diseases.
 
    ●    RPB's International Research Scholars program permits the sharing of knowledge by research scientists here and abroad.

    ●    RPB was the catalyst that led Congress in 1968 to establish a separate National Eye Institute within the National Institutes of Health, and has been a major influence in stimulating legislative interest and support for the work of the National Eye Institute.

Since its founding, RPB has been identified with virtually every major scientific advance in eye research including the development of laser surgery, new drugs that prevent blindness, and intraocular lenses used in cataract surgery that help improve and/or restore vision to more than one million Americans each year.  In addition, RPB makes available to the public free information on a multitude of eye diseases.