Jan 13, 2026

Top 10 Highlights of 2025

A year of strategy, science, and community — accelerating vision health across Canada

In 2025, Fighting Blindness Canada (FBC) advanced a bold agenda: strengthening research leadership, expanding education and community programs, and translating discovery into real-world impact. From the launch of a new five-year research strategy to the first patient dose in a landmark stem cell trial, 2025 was a year of measurable momentum.

Below are FBC’s Top 10 Highlights of 2025.

1. Launch of a New Five-Year Research Strategy
   In October, Fighting Blindness Canada unveiled a research strategy: Research in Focus 2025–2030. This milestone sharpened our priorities around scientific excellence and accountability. Learn more about the Research Strategy.
2. Clinician-Scientist Emerging Leader (CSEL) Awards
   In November, Fighting Blindness Canada announced the 2025 CSEL Award recipients, supporting early-career ophthalmologists and optometrists who bridge patient care and research. Awardees included Dr. Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen, whose research focuses on preventing sight-threatening complications of thyroid eye disease, and Dr. Lia Huo, whose work explores a gene-agnostic therapy for retinitis pigmentosa. The program continues to strengthen Canada’s vision-research pipeline. Learn more about the awardees and their research.
3. First Patient Dosed in a Stem Cell Trial
   A defining scientific milestone arrived in July when the first patient was dosed in the BlueRock photoreceptor replacement clinical trial — building on foundational research, some of it supported by Fighting Blindness Canada. This trial, rooted in the work of Dr. David Gamm and his team, represents the first stem cell replacement therapy entering clinical testing for primary photoreceptor diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. The goal of the therapy is to restore vision for patients with advanced retinal degeneration. Learn more about the clinical trial.
4. MOVE FOR SIGHT: Growth and National Momentum
   June marked a major evolution for MOVE FOR SIGHT, with the first in-person event held in Toronto alongside participation across Canada. The 2025 campaign surpassed our fundraising goal while expanding the reach and growth of the event with 450+ participants and 40+ teams from more than 160+ cities and towns, 10 provinces and three countries. MOVE FOR SIGHT has raised nearly $400K to date, demonstrating the growing power of community-driven fundraising. Register today for MOVE FOR SIGHT 2026 which will have even more in-person events in Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, and Vancouver.
5. Research Investment: Advancing Discovery and Impact in 2025
   In 2025, Fighting Blindness Canada made a significant investment in the future of vision health — funding over $1.2 million in vision research across 27 grants and projects, spanning 15 institutions in four countries. These investments reflect a deliberate focus on scientific excellence, collaboration, and progress across the research pipeline — from foundational discovery to clinical translation.
   More than half of the projects funded in 2025 (15 of 27 grants) supported early-career researchers and clinician-scientists, strengthening the next generation of leaders in vision research while advancing innovative approaches to blinding eye diseases.
   These investments build on the momentum of Fighting Blindness Canada’s research program, which, since 2020, has contributed to 159 peer-reviewed publications and helped support research that enabled over 2,600 patients to access clinical trials testing potential treatments. Guided by our newly launched five-year Research Strategy, our 2025 portfolio ensures that donor support continues to drive meaningful, measurable progress for people affected by vision loss.
6. View Point: Expanding Education, Deepening Connection
   In 2025, FBC expanded its View Point education series, offering multiple ways for people to learn, connect, and engage with the latest in vision health and research. Flagship conferences in Calgary and Toronto brought together researchers, clinicians, industry leaders, and people living with vision loss for in-depth learning and meaningful connection.
   Online, Inherited Retinal Disease (IRD) Spotlight Series and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) webinars provided focused, condition-specific education, bringing together experts and people with lived experience. Watch recordings from the in-person events and webinars.
   FBC also launched View Point Coffee Connections — small, in-person gatherings that blend clinical insight, lived experience, and peer connection. Learn about upcoming Coffee Connections and other events for 2026.
7. Advocacy: Amplifying the Patient Voice
   FBC continued its efforts to advocate for new and improved treatments for patients and for better eyecare for Canadians. We worked with Canada’s Vision Health Stakeholders to advocate for the implementation of Bill C-284, the National Strategy for Eye Care Act. We shared the patient voice in submissions to Canada’s Drug Agency and the Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux for new drugs for advanced AMD (geographic atrophy) and thyroid eye disease. Finally, we helped patients in BC, Manitoba and Saskatchewan to advocate for fair access to new anti-VEGF treatment options.
8. Young Leaders: Education, Mentorship, and Mental Health
   The Young Leaders Program marked the five-year anniversary of its national mentorship initiative connecting young Canadians (ages 15–35) with mentors from coast to coast to coast. In August, the program also hosted a webinar focused on mental wellbeing, reinforcing the importance of holistic support alongside career development. Learn more about the Young Leaders Program.
9. From Insight to Impact: Strengthening Community
   At the heart of everything in 2025 was community — it is the hopes of people living with vision loss that guides us, and their determination to accelerate progress that powers what we do. Along with fundraising and educational events, we held two community events, From Insight to Impact, in Ottawa and Vancouver. Stay tuned for more community events in 2026.
10. Accelerate Vision Health Series: Meaningful Conversations on Vision Health
    Returning for its second year, the Accelerate Vision Health Series delivered a two-part national conversation exploring themes of mental health and bridging gaps in eyecare. The episodes brought together experts and people with lived experience in important discussions. Watch the 2025 series.

Thank you for making 2025 a success.

The hope we seeded with our research awards, the lives we touched by bringing community together and the funds we raised to further vision research — none of it would be possible without your support. We can’t wait to see what we can accomplish, together, in 2026