A veterinary ophthalmologist and research scientist at the College of Veterinary Medicine recently traveled to Washington, DC to advocate for support of eye and vision research.
Billie Beckwith-Cohen, DVM, MBA, PhD, FAAO, DACVO, joined the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) to meet with lawmakers, encourage their support of research funding, and share the ways vision research has advanced medical science: providing more effective treatments, cures for blinding diseases, sharper diagnostics, and understanding of conditions that affect both humans and animals.
She and more than 80 other ARVO advocates specifically spoke on the advancement of AI-driven diagnostics and the growing public health challenges of conditions like myopia, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. They encouraged additional funding to the National Eye Institute within the National Institutes of Health.
Beckwith-Cohen points out that researchers and patients can share irreplaceable knowledge and experiences with legislators.
“We have bright representatives working in the Capitol,” she says. “While they know a lot about policy, most don’t know as much about biology—vision research in particular. MSU is a point of pride when it comes to vision-related research, and I’m glad I could present our work.”
Beckwith-Cohen’s species-transcending research centers on the retina and inherited retinal diseases that cause blindness. Because she works with cats and dogs, whose eyes are similar to those of humans, her findings offer insights into how disease impacts both animals and people.
As she writes in a letter she shared with representatives:
“Working with dogs and cats has led me and other veterinary ophthalmologists to diagnose novel hereditary conditions in animals that can be used as a foundation to study similar conditions in people.” She explains how examining retinal diseases in dogs and cats leads to therapies, often gene therapies, that rescue vision and form the basis for further treatments in humans.
While in DC, she visited Michigan representatives in the House of Representatives and Senate.
"It was a good opportunity to meet directly with the offices held by our representatives, discuss at length the need to continue federal funding for life-changing vision-related research, and also have an opportunity to invite them to our labs,” says Beckwith-Cohen. “It was evident that vision research advocacy is a matter of policy, not politics, which affects constituents across party lines.”
Anyone can advocate for science. Among the cohort traveling to DC was a University of Michigan student, several human patients who shared the impact of vision research on their own lives, and members of academia and industry. Several attended as representatives of professional and research association committees, including in student, post-doc and young investigator seats.
“Opportunities for advocacy are available to people at all career stages—it’s never too early to start!” says Beckwith-Cohen. “You can start any day by writing to your congressional and house representatives. You are a constituent, and your voice and needs matter.”
More stories of research advocacy: PhD student and dairy researcher Ursula Abou-Rjeileh explores science policy in Washington, DC.