Foundation Fighting Blindness Appoints New Hyde Park Resident Jason Ferreira to Board of Directors

The Foundation Fighting Blindness, a national non-profit organization dedicated to sight-saving research, has named New Hyde Park, New York, resident Jason Ferreira to its board of directors. As the world’s leading private funder of retinal degenerative disease research, the Foundation works to advance preventions, treatments and cures for people affected with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), macular degeneration, Stargardt disease, Usher syndrome and related conditions.

“Jason Ferreira has provided significant support for the Foundation’s mission in a variety of ways, raising critical awareness and funds in New York and beyond,” says Bill Schmidt, CEO of the Foundation Fighting Blindness. “We’re proud to appoint him to our board of passionate leaders whose ongoing collaboration and direction fuels our sight-saving research progress.”

A Foundation national trustee since 2012, Mr. Ferreira and his family own a group of Met Foodmarkets in the greater New York area. He became motivated in the fight against blindness after his 5-month-old son, J.J., was diagnosed with Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), a genetic retinal disease characterized by severe vision loss at birth. Encouraged by hope that treatments and cures are on the horizon, the Ferreiras have raised more than three quarters of a million dollars for research. Over the past three years, they’ve created two successful fundraising events—a dinner called “Una Vision Para El Futuro,” or “A Vision for the Future,” which unites the supermarket industry to support research, and “Pitching for a Cure,” a family day at Yankee Stadium.

“With gene, cell-based and pharmaceutical therapies showing great promise in clinical trials, I’m confident that Foundation-funded scientists will advance treatments to help my son, and the millions of others affected with vision-robbing conditions,” says Mr. Ferreira.

About Foundation Fighting Blindness: The Foundation Fighting Blindness is a national non-profit organization driving the research that will lead to preventions, treatments and cures for retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, Usher syndrome and the entire spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases that affect more than 10 million Americans. Since 1971, the Foundation has raised more than $500 million as the leading non-governmental funder of retinal research. Breakthrough Foundation-funded studies using gene therapy have restored significant vision in children and young adults who were previously blind, paving the way for additional clinical trials to treat a variety of retinal degenerative diseases. With a coveted four-star rating from Charity Navigator, the Foundation also has nearly 50 chapters that provide support, information and resources to affected individuals and their families in communities across the country.