About the RD Fund

Dr. Adrienne Graves is a visual scientist by training and a global industry leader in ophthalmology. As the former CEO of Santen Inc., the US subsidiary of a 130-year-old Japanese pharmaceutical company, she successfully established a strong global presence, brought multiple ophthalmic products through development to approval and commercialization, and led global teams through successful acquisitions and partnerships. At Santen, Dr. Graves served as Sr. VP of Worldwide Clinical Development (US, Europe, and Japan) for 7 years and CEO for 8 years. Prior to Santen, she spent 9 years at Alcon, joining as Sr. Scientist to establish Alcon's first Retinal Electrophysiology Laboratory. She progressed through roles of increasing responsibility in R&D, including directing clinical development in multiple therapeutic areas and serving as Director of International Ophthalmology.

Dr. Graves currently serves as an Independent Director on the boards of Iveric, Akorn, Inc, Nicox S.A., Surface Pharmaceuticals, Oxurion, and Greenbrook TMS Healthcare. She previously held board positions at Encore Vision (2011–2017; acquired by Novartis), Envisia Therapeutics (2014–2017; assets acquired by Aerie Pharmaceuticals), TearLab Corporation (2005–2018), and Aerpio Therapeutics (2012–2017). Dr. Graves also serves as Director on the following Foundation Boards: American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Foundation, Foundation Fighting Blindness and Foundation Fighting Blindness Retinal Degeneration Fund, Glaucoma Research Foundation, American Academy of Ophthalmology Foundation (Emeritus), Retina Global, Himalayan Cataract Project. She co-founded OWL (Ophthalmic World Leaders) and Glaucoma 360. 

Dr. Graves received an AB with Honors in Psychology from Brown University, a Ph.D. in Psychobiology/Neuroscience from the University of Michigan, and she completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Visual Neuroscience at the University of Paris.

David Brint is CEO of Brinshore Development Company, where he is responsible for Brinshore’s real estate development, acquisitions, development financing, equity syndication, and property management activities.  David has arranged over $1 billion in complex financial transactions utilizing a variety of tools including: tax exempt bonds, Federal HOPE VI, CDBG, Empowerment Zone and HOME funds, mortgage-based and cash-flow loans, credit enhancements, Historic and Low Income Tax Credits, TIF financing, and assorted grant programs.  These creative financing tools have been used to leverage public and private resources and have enabled the development of over 4,000 units of successful affordable housing.

David, on behalf of Brinshore Development, is also the Midwest Regional representative and Vice President for the Richman Group Capital Corporation, L.L.C., a national syndicator of low income housing tax credits.  He oversees all of the due diligence, market rate analysis, and acquisition closing for the company's Midwest region, which has amounted to over $300 million since 1994.

David previously served as Board President of the Foundation for Retinal Research, which he co-founded and which has now merged with Foundation Fighting Blindness.  He is also a board member of a number of non-profit institutions including Director of the Illinois Housing Council, Director of The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who are Blind and Visually Impaired and Director of Kids Can Do Foundation.  He is a former member of the Chicago Federal Home Loan Bank Board Community Investment Advisory Council, and Founding Member and past Director of Highland Park Community Land Trust.  He formerly served as Board President of the Victor C. Neumann Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving developmentally disabled individuals.

David received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

David has been involved with Foundation Fighting Blindness since 1998; his son Alan is affected with LCA.  David is actively involved with Foundation Fighting Blindness events in the Chicago area.

Tony co-discovered the role of VEGF in ocular vascular disease and helped lead the development of the first anti-VEGF drugs for nAMD (pegaptanib), DME, DR and RVO (ranibizumab). Anti-VEGF drugs have reduced legal blindness from nAMD and DR by half around the world. At Genentech, Tony helped guide the successful development of the first anti-VEGF long acting delivery technology (port delivery system) and the first bispecific antibody (BEGF/Ang2) for retinal disease.

Dr. Jean Bennett is the F.M. Kirby Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of Medicine and previously served as director of the Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics (CAROT) at the University of Pennsylvania.  In addition to Dr. Bennett’s positions at the University of Pennsylvania, she has been an Investigator at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for more than a decade.  She also co-founded life science companies Spark Therapeutics (acquired by Roche), GenSight Biologics and Limelight Bio.  She was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Bennett received her Ph.D. in Zoology and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkley, and obtained an M.D. from Harvard University.  She also completed postdoctoral fellowships in Radiobiology and Environmental Health at the University of California, San Francisco, Human Genetics at Yale School of Medicine and Development Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  She received her B.S. in Biology from Yale University.

Dr. Bennett serves as Director for Opus Genetics and REGENXBIO.

Catherine Bowes Rickman, Ph.D. is a professor of ophthalmology and of cell biology in the Duke Eye Center at Duke University in Durham, NC.

Catherine leads a team of researchers focusing on developing and using mouse models to understand the pathobiology of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and on developing and testing therapeutic targets for AMD. She has a long-standing interest in the molecular and cell biology and pathology of the retina. Amongst her seminal discoveries was the identification of the gene responsible for retinal degeneration in the rd (rd1) mouse. She has applied her expertise in mouse genetics to develop multifactorial models to demonstrate AMD risk based on lipid or complement dysregulation, aging and diet. Distinctively, these models provide valuable tools for the better understanding pathology in AMD and testing of novel AMD therapeutics.

Renowned retinal surgeon, inventor and entrepreneur Dr. Eugene de Juan, Jr., serves as Vice-Chairman of ForSight Labs, where he participates as an active inventor and advisor in early-stage ophthalmic device opportunities.

Dr. de Juan, Jr., splits his time between ForSight Labs and UCSF.  He holds the “Jean Kelly Stock Distinguished Chair” in Ophthalmology.  UCSF recruited Dr. de Juan for this special role to augment translation of the many ideas being developed within the academic center.  He continues to see patients, operate and teach at UCSF.

Dr. de Juan, Jr., has participated in the development of a number of ophthalmology’s most exciting new technologies with over 100 products and the founding of nine venture funded companies including Second Sight, InnoRx, NeoVista, and Retina Labs, in addition to ForSight Labs’ first five “VISION” companies: Transcend Medical, Inc., founded in 2005; VISION2 (acquired by QLT, Inc. in 2007); Nexis Vision, Inc. (formerly ForSight VISION3, Inc.), founded in 2007; ForSight VISION4, Inc., founded in 2009; and ForSight VISION5, Inc., founded in 2010.

Prior to moving to San Francisco, Dr. de Juan, Jr., was a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Southern California and CEO of the Doheny Eye Institute, focusing on innovative techniques for treating blinding retinal disorders through retinal transplantation, macular translocation, robotic surgery, retinal implants, and other new procedures, medicines and instruments.

Prior to these positions, Dr. de Juan served at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he was Co-Director of Vitreoretinal Service, Director of the Microsurgery Advanced Design Laboratory (MADLAB) and Joseph E. Green Professor of Ophthalmology. From 1983 to 1992, he was a member of the medical staff of the Duke University Eye Center, holding joint teaching appointments with the departments of ophthalmology and cell biology.

He is a passionate supporter of ophthalmic education and development and has recently helped established a chair for Ophthalmic Education at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. de Juan completed his medical degree and internship training at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine.  He served an internship at University of South Alabama Medical Center followed by a residency at the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute in Baltimore, MD, and a fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery at Duke University.  He holds patents on over sixty medical devices and is responsible for more than 250 academic publications.

Dr. de Juan was elected as Foundation Fighting Blindness National Trustee in 2014.

Dr. Jacque Duncan is an ophthalmologist at UCSF Medical Center who specializes in treating retina degenerations such as retinitis pigmentosa, which affects one in 3,500 people worldwide; and age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people over age 50 in the U.S. Both conditions run in families and currently have no cure.  Her expertise includes the diagnosis and treatment of retinal diseases such as Usher syndrome, cone-rod dystrophy and Stargardt disease, a form of macular degeneration that develops in childhood, and the use of experimental techniques to slow or prevent these conditions.

In her research, she is studying treatments to preserve vision and to use devices to stimulate visual perception in patients.  She has received research funding from Research to Prevent Blindness, Karl Kirchgessner Foundation, Hope for Vision, and American Geriatrics Society in addition to a Career Development Award from the Foundation Fighting Blindness.

Dr. Duncan earned a medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco, where she completed an ophthalmology residency.  She also completed a medical retina fellowship at the Scheie Eye Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, where she focused on patients with age-related macular degeneration and inherited retinal degeneration.  She returned to UCSF and joined the faculty in 2000.  She is a professor of clinical ophthalmology at UCSF.  Dr. Duncan is chair of the Foundation Fighting Blindness Scientific Advisory Board.

Ms. Lisbakken is a Managing Director and the Head of Biopharma Investment Banking at Wedbush PacGrow.  She has been with the firm since 2004 and completed over 200 transactions totaling over $20 billion during her tenure.  Ms. Lisbakken has extensive experience with strategic assignments, private placements, IPOs, follow on offerings, PIPEs, reverse mergers and ATMs for biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical companies including several eye care organizations.  Prior to Wedbush, she worked at ICOS (now part of Eli Lilly) on Cialis and the PDE4 program.  

Ms. Lisbakken holds an AB in Molecular Biology from Princeton University where she completed her thesis under the direction of Dr. Thomas Shenk, the Elkins Professor in the Life Sciences and former board member of Merck & Co

José-Alain Sahel, M.D., is distinguished professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, Eye & Ear Foundation Endowed Chair University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and adjunct professor of Robotics and Bioengineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. He is an exceptional class professor of Ophthalmology at Sorbonne Université and was the founding director of The Vision Institute (Sorbonne Université, Inserm, CNRS) Paris, France (till 31 December 2020). He headed the French National Reference Center for Rare Retinal Dystrophies and the Paris Ophthalmology Clinical Investigation Center (2006-2020), overseeing more than 80 clinical trials, some of them within the most advanced areas of biomedical technologies (retinal implants, gene therapy, stem cell therapy, optogenetics).

Dr. Sahel is a clinician-scientist conducting research on vision restoration focusing on cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying retinal degeneration and development of treatments for currently untreatable retinal diseases. He co-authored over 680 peer-reviewed articles and 40 patents. He was a founder of Fovea pharmaceuticals, which became the ophthalmological division of Sanofi, and is a scientific co-founder of StreetLab (visual adaptation and rehabilitation), GenSight Biologics (gene therapy) and Pixium Vision (artificial retina), among other biotech companies. 

Dr. Sahel is recipient of numerous awards including the Foundation Fighting Blindness Llura Liggett Gund Award, Alcon Research Institute Award for Excellence in Vision Research, Grand Prix NRJ-Neurosciences-Institut de France, Foundation Fighting Blindness Llura Liggett Gund Award, Charpak-Dubousset Award, Médaille Grand Vermeil, Ville de Paris, 2021 Breakthrough in the Life Sciences - Falling Walls Foundation, Berlin, Germany. 

He was elected to the: Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis, Académie des Sciences-Institut de France, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, National Academy of Technologies of France, Association of American Physicians and American Ophthalmology Society. Dr. Sahel is Honoris Causa doctorate of University of Geneva and held the Technological Innovation Chair at the Collège de France (2015-2016). He is a member of several editorial scientific advisory boards, including Science Translational Medicine.

Dr. Jonathan Steinberg joined Summit Medical Group as the Director, SMG Arrhythmia Center and Director, Cardiac Clinical Trials and Education.

Jon specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of heart rhythm disorders, and has an international reputation for diagnosis of complex arrhythmic conditions and expertise in catheter ablation of cardiac arrhythmias.  Jon has an extensive clinical and research track record in the field, having practiced for more than 25 years.  His past accomplishments include founding the Arrhythmia Institute at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City, where he also serviced as Director of the Division of Cardiology, and the Arrhythmia Institute at the Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ.  Jon is the lead editor of the electrophysiology textbook, “A Practical Guide to Catheter Ablation of AF.”  He has led or participated in hundreds of research studies in his area of expertise, and has authored more than 200 papers in peer-reviewed high-profile publications.

Jon is currently a Professor of Medicine (adj) at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry and formerly Professor of Medicine at Columbia University.  He is the recipient of numerous research grants (including prestigious funding from the NIH), serves on the editorial board of several electrophysiology journals (including Heart Rhythm, published by the Heart Rhythm Society) and is currently on the electrophysiology subcommittee of the American Board of Internal Medicine preparing board questions for his peers.  He is a fellow in several professional societies including the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Physicians, the European Society of Cardiology and the Heart Rhythm Society.  He currently serves as President of the International Society of Holter and Noninvasive Electrocardiology.

Jon has been recognized by his peers as a Top Doctor in New York Magazine for numerous years, and was the only New Jersey electrophysiologist selected in 2016.  He has been similarly recognized by New Jersey Monthly, Inside New Jersey, Super Doctors and Castle Connolly.

Jon graduated summa cum laude from Queens College and from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, both of the City University of New York.

Jon has been involved with Foundation Fighting Blindness since 2002.  He is actively involved with Foundation Fighting Blindness events in the New Jersey/New York area.  Jon’s son Josh is affected with RP. 

Warren is the former President of Gund Investment Corporation, where he led investment activities for Gordon Gund.  Typical investments included: direct private equity investments, fund investments, and public equities. 

Warren is an early investor and serves on the board of several companies including Align Technology, the maker of “Invisalign” (an alternative to traditional wire and bracket orthodontics).  Warren served on the board of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Gund Arena Company for 15 years and was the franchise’s Alternative Governor on the National Basketball Association’s Board of Governors from 2000 until 2005.  Other privately-held Gund corporations Warren has had operational and board of director’s responsibilities with include: Nationwide Advertising Services (a recruitment advertising agency), JobOptions (an internet job board) and Gus Hotel Management Corporation (an operator of Sheraton hotels in Silicon Valley).

Warren is an early investor and board member in ARdVRk Technologies, Inc.  ARdVRk Technologies focuses on developing augmented and virtual reality apps for healthcare, life sciences and medical device companies.  In addition, Warren serves on the board of One Focus Vision and Forsight Vision 6, and serves as a trustee of The Baldwin School, a K-12 private girls school in the Philadelphia area.

Prior to joining Gordon Gund in 1990, Warren worked in the Corporate Finance Department of Drexel Burnham Lambert. 

Warren has been involved with Foundation Fighting Blindness since 1998.  Neither he nor anyone in his family is affected by a retinal disease.  Warren is actively involved with Foundation Fighting Blindness events in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Orange County and Boston. 

Warren is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, Princeton University and Groton School. 

Dr. Rusty Kelley is the managing director for the Foundation Fighting Blindness' venture arm, the Retinal Degeneration Fund. Reporting to the CEO, Rusty is responsible for all external investment opportunities that strategically align with the Foundation’s therapeutically focused mission. Rusty brings over 25 years of experience in developing, identifying, and advancing life science technologies to his leadership role.

Prior to Foundation Fighting Blindness, Rusty led the translational and interdisciplinary sciences funds at the Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF). Rusty worked closely with the BWF President & Board and private and public agencies and funders, including the National Institute of Medicine and the FDA to address underserved matters of national importance. 

Prior to BWF, Rusty was a senior scientist, director and then head of preclinical at Tengion, a tissue engineering biotech firm emanating from Boston Children’s Hospital and Wake Forest University. As a member of the President’s leadership team Rusty was a lead steward of Tengion’s translational pharm-tox studies, IP portfolio, first-in-human regulatory filings, and helped secure private financing.   

Earlier in his career out of Wilmington NC, Rusty served in clinical development at PPD, Inc. to oversee clinical trials in the U.S. and overseas in the divisions of Medicine, NIH trials and Infectious Disease. Prior to PPD, Rusty served on the bench in the pharmaceutics and analytical chemistry divisions for AAIPharma.

Rusty received a BA in Chemistry from UNC Chapel Hill, a PhD in Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics at LSU’s Health Sciences Center. Rusty was then awarded an American Heart Association postdoctoral fellowship in the School of Medicine at UNC Chapel Hill, and recently earned an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Rusty currently serves as a Board Observer for Atsena Therapeutics, Nacuity Pharmaceuticals, and Stargazer Pharmaceuticals. Rusty is also currently a Board Director of the DC-based Health Research Alliance (HRA is a consortium of over 80 private funders & venture philanthropy orgs), and North Carolina’s Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED). 

Jason Menzo is the chief executive officer at the Foundation Fighting Blindness, the world’s largest private funder of research for finding treatments and cures of a variety of blinding retinal degenerative diseases. The Foundation has raised over $700M since its inception, and is currently funding 75 research projects, and 25 clinical trials globally.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Jason was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and subsequently the Business Unit Head for Sun Ophthalmics. He was one of four founding members of Sun Ophthalmics, and helped to build it from the ground up and into the well-known entity it is today.

He was also a founding member of Nicox, Inc. where he led the commercial launches of three ophthalmic brands. He has previously held positions of increasing responsibility with Bausch + Lomb and Inspire Pharmaceuticals.

Peter Ginsberg is EVP, Corporate Development, Chief Business Officer for Foundation Fighting Blindness. In that role, Mr. Ginsberg oversees the development of financial plans and processes while providing leadership on business transactions, strategic planning, and new activities aimed at creating novel revenue streams across the Foundation Fighting Blindness and RD Fund. He led record-setting transactions during his tenure with large and small biopharmaceutical companies and has worked extensively within ophthalmology, inspired by his long-time mentor who has retinitis pigmentosa.

Most recently, Mr. Ginsberg served as vice president of business development at Savara Pharmaceuticals (SVRA), an orphan lung disease company. Previously, he headed business development for BioDelivery Sciences (BDSI), United Therapeutics (UTHR) and SurModics (SRDX). Ginsberg also served as VP of business & technology development for the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, where his group financed and advised emerging life science companies. He further spent 15 years in the healthcare investment industry, during which time he was named a Wall Street Journal All-Star as Piper Jaffray’s lead biotechnology analyst.

Ginsberg serves as a board member for First Flight Venture Center and is a Chartered Financial Analyst and member of the CFA Institute. He earned an A.B. in Economics from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Dr. Gelfman joined the Foundation Fighting Blindness as Chief Scientific Officer in April 2021. She is responsible for leading the overarching scientific strategy for the organization with a focus on research initiatives designed to accelerate new treatments and cures for inherited retinal diseases. Additionally, she oversees the Foundation's non-clinical research portfolio, including early translational and pre-clinical research programs, and serves as the primary scientific contact with the Foundation's Scientific Advisory Board, the Research Oversight Committee, academic institutions, and government science agencies.

She was previously Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development, at Adverum Biotechnologies, an ocular gene therapy company developing AAV-based treatments for wet age-related macular degeneration and inherited retinal diseases. Prior to that, she was the Senior Director, Scientific Services/Preclinical and Translational Science at Ora, Inc., an ophthalmic contract research organization (CRO) providing pre-clinical, regulatory, and clinical trial services for companies worldwide. She designed preclinical and translational strategies and integrated them into the clinical development process for the advancement of therapeutics to treat major unmet medical needs. Prior to Ora, Dr. Gelfman spent 12 years at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals in the area of molecular genetics where she was involved in early drug target discovery using molecular, cellular, and biochemical approaches, and directed in vivo pharmacology efforts in the areas of ocular inflammation and retinal degeneration.

She received a postdoctoral fellowship grant from the National Eye Institute to study changes in gene expression in the retinal pigmented epithelium at the University of California Davis, where she also taught and mentored both undergraduate and graduate students. Her experience covers more than 20 years in drug discovery and development in ophthalmology, spanning academia, the CRO industry, and the biotechnology sector. Dr. Gelfman holds a BA in Biology from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from The University of Texas at Austin.