Eye & Vision Care of Santa Barbara will host its sixth annual golf tournament at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at the Santa Barbara Golf Club with proceeds benefiting the California Project to Cure Blindness at UCSB. The tournament is open to the community.
“The California Project to Cure Blindness is developing stem-cell therapies for eye disease, including macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and retinitis pigmentosa,” said Dr. Dennis O. Clegg.
Dr. Clegg is Wilcox Family Chair of Biomedicine and co-director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering at UCSB..
“We have already initiated a clinical trial for the dry form of macular degeneration with collaborators at USC, Caltech and City of Hope,” he said.
The work of Dr. Clegg and his partners was featured on the cover of National Geographic magazine last year.
The California Project to Cure Blindness is conducting research that uses embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigmented epithelial cells on a scaffold to treat the dry form of age-related macular degeneration.
Dr. Taka Nomura, founding physician of Santa Barbara Eye & Vision Care, said: “The California Project to Cure Blindness is making significant inroads to reversing the effects of vision loss, and the fact that this work is being implemented right here in Santa Barbara is extremely exciting.
“We have a chance to support research that can potentially reverse the effects of blindness and we hope people, particularly those on the Central Coast, will see the benefit of supporting this important work” he said.
The golf tournament is open to the community; individuals and/or teams can register at https://events.ucsb.edu/event/6th-annual-eye-vision-care-golf-tournament-to-benefit-the-california-project-to-cure-blindness-at-ucsb/.
Registration before May 5 is $150 and $175 after that. The event price includes a banquet, silent auction, putting contest, blind-shot challenges and prizes. The event is sponsored by Montecito Bank & Trust, Oakley and Maui Jim.
For more information or for sponsorship and volunteer opportunities, contact Joe Vega, 320-7164 or joeeyecare5300@gmail.com.
— Ann Pieramici for Eye & Vision Care of Santa Barbara.