About the Foundation

The Macular Degeneration Foundation (MDF) was founded in 1991 by Edmund J. Alexandrovich as a 501c3 tax-exempt charitable medical research and educational foundation. It funds promising scientific studies designed to find a cure for macular degeneration, inhibit its progression, and restore the vision of afflicted ones.

Contact:

P.O. Box 531313 Henderson, Nevada 89053
Tel: 888-633-3937 (USA)     Tel: 702-450-2908 (Intl)     Fax: 702-450-3396     
Email: liz@eyesight.org

Edmund J. Aleksandrovich is Founder and CEO of the Macular Degeneration Foundation, Inc. Ed has been central vision legally blind in both eyes due to macular degeneration since 1990. Ed is a graduate electrical engineer, with a Masters in Business Administration and a Ph.D in Philosophy. Over the course of a long productive business career he has been Chairman and CEO of several US and international companies. Since 1991 he has been totally dedicated to the Macular Degeneration Foundation.

Liz Trauernicht is Director of Communications for the Macular Degeneration Foundation. In addition to her administrative responsibilities, Ms. Trauernicht interviews key professionals such as researchers, study trial coordinators, and CEO's of pharmaceutical companies.  She attends medical seminars at Harvard University as well as ARVO, AAO and Envision conferences. She keeps subscribers abreast of news-breaking information by publishing the foundation’s newsletter, THE MAGNIFIER. She answers questions and offers support for the macular degeneration patients that call on the toll-free lines. 

Julie Utiger is Vice President and Assistant Director of Operations for the Foundation. She has 15 years experience working in the medical field that include positions as a certified ophthalmic assistant, satellite office manager and a private surgical assistant for a prominent ophthalmologist / retinal specialist.

Willard V. (Bill) Harris, Jr. is a Director & Vice President of the Foundation. Bill has served as a trustee of Whittier college for the past 25 years and is currently vice chairman of the board. He is also chairman and a trustee of the Brethren Manor Senior Care Center in Long Beach, California, serves on the Board of Directors for the Prentice School for dyslexic children in Santa Ana, California and is president of Harris Taylor Management in Santa Ana.

David Seftel, M.D., MBA is Executive Vice President and Director of Research Development for the Foundation, Dr. Seftel, a Board Certified and part-time practicing Internist, trained at Harvard's Beth Israel Hospital and Loyola University of Chicago. He holds a Masters in Business Administration with graduate honors from Harvard University. He currently serves as medical management consultant to hospitals and health systems worldwide and as faculty advisor to the Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School.

Philip Filner, PhD., is Director of Basic Science Research for the Foundation. A graduate of John Hopkins University (B.A. in Biophysics) and CalTech (Ph. D. in Biochemsitry), Dr. Filner is the author of 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers. His professional service responsibilities include work on the Grant, Program Review, or Advisory Committees of the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency. He has additionally served on the Editorial Board of four scientific journals.

Stuart L. Fine M.D. - Board of Scientific Advisors
Chairman, Professor of Ophthalmology, and Director of the Scheie Eye Institute, The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA.

Robert J. D'Amato M.D., Ph.D. - Board of Scientific Advisors
Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Karp Center for Macular Degeneration Research at Boston Childrens Hospital. He obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins Medical School where he was the recipient of the coveted Paul Ehrlich Award for Research Excellence and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Physician Research Fellowship. He heads up the Nation's leading research laboratory in wet macular degeneration at the Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Ron Gallemore M.D., Ph.D. - Board of Scientific Advisors
Dr. Gallemore is an internationally recognized clinician, scientist and surgeon. Completing his medical degree and doctorate in Neuroscience at the University of California, S.F. and residency at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA, he was offered a prestigious retina fellowship at Duke University. Dr. Gallemore is a member of the nationally recognized Retina-Vitreous Associates Medical Group in Southern California maintaining five offices in Los Angeles with major emphasis in research.

© 2008 Macular Degeneration Foundation