The achievements of The Vision of Children Foundation over three decades have warranted the attention of The University of Pennsylvania. In an exciting new collaboration, The Vision of Children Foundation has partnered with The Orphan Disease Center’s JumpStart program, part of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine. This collaboration with the Jumpstart program will identify and fund a scientific researcher focused on the understanding and the treatment of genetic eye disorders. The partnership aims to accelerate ongoing research efforts, particularly in light of the recent FDA ..read more

    Matt Keolanui, a San Diego native, grew up playing every sport you could think of. Now, as a 23-year-old college student, he continues to lead his life through his love of sports despite challenges. At just 9 years old, Matt began to struggle in school, and he was having a difficult time seeing the whiteboard in his classroom. He did not think much of it, but after returning from a field trip to Old Town, he tried to look up something in his dictionary and realized he couldn’t see. He knew something was wrong.   After various trips to the doctor, he was diagnosed with Lebe ..read more

In 2012, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna earned a Nobel prize for their breakthrough discovery of one of gene technology’s sharpest tools: the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors. CRISPR technology has revolutionized gene editing and has opened up many promising applications for human health. Using this technology, researchers are able to change the DNA of animals, plants, and microorganisms with extremely high precision, allowing for new cancer therapies and making possible the dream of curing inherited diseases. Jennifer A. Doudna (left), Emmanuelle Charpentier (right) Just 11 years ..read more

  At Scott Dunn, we live and breathe travel. Born out of a desire to revolutionise ski vacations more than 35 years ago, Scott Dunn has evolved into a pioneering force in the luxury market, customizing tailor-made vacations across more than 100 countries and all seven continents. Whether it be the finest private chalet in the Alps, a remote safari lodge in the Okavango Delta or an expedition cruise in Antarctica, we deliver a sense of luxury that matters most to you. Our global offices in San Diego, New York, London and Singapore ensure guests receive 24/7 support wherever they are in th ..read more

  Mobile apps offer a wide range of functionalities and capabilities that can assist individuals with visual impairments in various aspects of their daily lives. By leveraging the capabilities of smartphones, these apps are able to provide various functionalities that enhance accessibility and independence such as text-to-speech conversion, object recognition, navigation, wayfinding, and accessing information from the internet. Most smartphones have various built-in features and functionalities that can assist visually impaired individuals, but the versatility of mobile apps means that ..read more

   A word from Sentynl Therapeutics, VOC’s 2023 Spring Tea Presenting Sponsor: Sentynl Therapeutics is excited and honored to support The Vision of Children Foundation 2023 “Sip to SEE, Springtime Tea” as a Presenting Sponsor. The Foundation’s efforts to cure genetic vision disorders and childhood blindness hit close to home for us, as a company focused on bringing innovative therapies to patients with rare diseases, including those that are genetic and affect the youngest patients. Founded in Solana Beach, California, in 2015, Sentynl is dedicated to ensuring that no patient is ove ..read more

Joel Gomez during a training run at Triton Track & Field Stadium on UC San Diego campus, July 27, 2021. A longstanding Vision Hero of VOC, Joel Gomez was born with blue cone monochromacy, a rare genetic disease affecting the retina which leaves him legally blind. Not allowing his vision disorder to slow him down, Joel became a Paralympic track and field athlete at the age of 14. Now, at age 19, Joel continues to run competitively for Team USA and is currently training for the U.S. championship meet. The 2023 U.S. Paralympic Track and Field Championships are to be held in San Diego at the ..read more

1. How have you and/or your family been affected by vision loss? My son Andrew was born with Ocular Albinism and Nystagmus in 2003. My cousin and second cousin also have this condition. 2. What unique challenges do you/your child have to overcome? LOTS LOL. As a mom it’s hard to understand how he sees things. He has adapted to life in so many ways that I often forget that he has any vision difficulty at all. I have to remind myself that he is more sensitive to light and sun than I am and things that are easy for me, may not be so easy for him (like seeing crumbs on the counter, tying his shoe ..read more

If someone were to ask you to briefly describe your family, what would you say? My husband and I have been together for over twenty years and love raising our two kids together. My husband, Aaron Byzak, is an executive in healthcare and I am a stay-at-home mom homeschooling my two kids. Both of our children (15-year-old Adam and 8-year-old Cassandra) have Oculocutaneous albinism type 4. Adam has Asperger's as well. It is a full house when you add in the two dogs and one wild unruly cat. From the last time we did a blog on your family in 2019, do you have any exciting news to share? Adam is no ..read more

With the support of Vision of Children, Dr. Karl Wahlin of the Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego is leading a project that hopes to reverse blindness caused by a variety of inherited retinal disorders, including Ocular Albinism type 1 (OA1). Their approach aims to tap into a cellular blueprint that enables many species, including fish and amphibians, to repair damaged retinas. While this process does not readily occur in humans, Wahlin and colleagues believe that it is entirely possible that this repair process can be activated in humans too. Much like a light switch, Wahlin and colleagues ..read more