Battling Blindness: Virtual Investor Event on Treatments for Retinitis Pigmentosa to Be Held October 19; Panelists include Kiora Pharmaceuticals, Foundation Fighting Blindness, and Retinal Surgeon Christine Kay, M.D.

Christine Kay, M.D. is a vitreoretinal surgeon and IRD specialist at Vitreoretinal Associates in Gainesville, Florida. Prior to this, she was an assistant Professor and director of the retinal fellowship and retinal genetics service at the University of Florida. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in neuroscience and went to medical school at the University of Florida. She completed her ophthalmology residency at the University of South Florida where she was chief resident, and completed her surgical vitreoretinal fellowship training at the University of Iowa with a clinical research focus on Best vitelliform macular dystrophy under the mentorship of Dr. Edwin Stone. After completion of her vitreoretinal surgical fellowship, she was awarded a 5-year Career Development Award (with co-sponsors Edwin Stone M.D., Ph.D. and William Hauswirth, Ph.D.) from the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), which funded a clinical scientist position focusing on the development and optimization of a viral vector delivery system for the genetic treatment of achromatopsia.

She was principal investigator and surgeon for AGTC achromatopsia trials, Biogen/Nightstar sponsored XIRIUS gene therapy study for XLRP, and now for both the Meira-sponsored phase 3 gene therapy study and the 4D Therapeutics study for XLRP. She is also a PI and leading recruiter in the Alkeus-sponsored Stargardt disease trial, as well as the Foundation Fighting Blindness sponsored natural history trial on patients with Ush2A-associated Usher syndrome and EYS-associated RP. She is also a PI for Iveric Bio sponsored trial for Stargardt disease and the ProQR sponsored trial for treatment of dominant RP. Dr. Kay is also PI for RegenxBio gene therapy trial for exudative AMD and Gyroscope’s gene therapy trial for atrophic AMD.

Dr. Kay is a member of both Macula Society and Retina Society, and has published over 20 either first or senior author articles in peer-reviewed ophthalmic journals. She has been an invited speaker at the annual Foundation Fighting Blindness VISIONS conference for the past 10 years, and is actively involved in FFB’s clinical trial consortium for inherited retinal disease, and has been senior faculty at an instructional course in retinal gene therapy at AAO for the past 8 years.

Ben has been communicating retinal disease science and research for the Foundation for nearly 18 years. He presents the latest news on emerging therapies at local and national events for patients and families, and conducts a variety of science education activities for staff and constituents. Ben hosts the Eye on the Cure podcast series which is available on most major podcast platforms. In addition, he reports on the latest research advancements for the Foundation’s electronic and print publications. Ben also enjoys working with constituents one-on-one to help them understand their retinal disease and the research underway that may benefit them.

Ben has written three books – Retina Boy, Jerry’s Vegan Women, and The Vegan Monologues – all published by Loyola University (Maryland). He earned a master of arts in writing from Johns Hopkins University, a master of science in systems management from the University of Maryland, and a bachelor of science in computer information science from Cleveland State University.

Dr. Eric Daniels is the Chief Development Officer of Kiora Pharmaceuticals, joining in October 2021. Eric has nearly 20 years of operating experience in biotechnology and medtech companies. Prior to joining Kiora, he served as the CEO of OccuRx Pty Ltd as well as Co-founder and Director of Bayon Therapeutics, Inc., both focused on the development of next generation ophthalmic therapeutics. Eric is also a Co-Founder and Director of Okogen, Inc., a specialty ophthalmic biotechnology company.

Eric previously served as part of the leadership teams at Puregraft LLC, Tensys Medical, and Cytori Therapeutics, Inc., serving in senior medical, R&D, and commercial roles. Eric holds an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, where he also received his MD from the UCLA School of Medicine. Eric received his BS in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Shiv has a BA in Biochemistry UC Berkeley, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He ran the Smith Barney Biotech fund at Citigroup and started Sellside Biotech practices at Montgomery & Co. and Morgan Joseph. In 2008 he was rated among the top three biotechnology analysts by Forbes in the US. His opinion on the US Biotechnology sector has been widely quoted in leading US media including CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, and Barron’s Guide. In the past decade, Shiv had leading roles as an investor relations and strategy executive at Spectrum pharmaceuticals. He is the founder and CEO of BioRamon Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company involved in the discovery and research of oncology medicine.