The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute depends on private funding to carry out its independent research mission. As grant funding from federal agencies fluctuates according to government priorities and budgets, private funding is vital for maintaining a consistent, sustained attack on the vision problems facing infants, children, elders and those with visual disabilities. Private funding is also essential for starting up new, innovative projects that are considered too unproven to qualify for federal research grants – indeed most of our breakthroughs are achieved via private seed funds that nurture new ideas, with government funding following after the initial proof of concept.
Your support enables the Institute to continue to champion "out-of-the-box” thinking, foster closer clinical collaborations, sponsor international symposia that attract the world’s best experts to discuss unsolved issues, and provide training for young scientists to join the research endeavor.
If you are interested in supporting this exciting enterprise through a financial contribution, please visit our Donate page.
Another form of involvement that is vital to our mission is participation as a subject in our research studies aimed at better understanding and developing solutions for vision problems. Without subjects, experiments cannot be carried out! All our studies involve non-invasive vision testing techniques and are targeted towards specific eye conditions and age groups depending upon the goal of the specific project.
If you are interested in becoming a research subject, please visit our Become a Subject page.