My name is Anand Vinekar, and I am honored to be traveling to New York to participate in the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon as part of my worldwide crusade against childhood blindness. I am an ophthalmologist from India who specializes in treating pediatric retinal diseases, and I have an interest in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a condition that causes blindness—primarily in premature infants. I am humbly asking for your support.
Please help us win the global fight against ROP, which affects children around the world, including Asia and Latin America, where advances in neonatal care have allowed premature babies to thrive. India has the highest burden of disease, with over 3.5 million babies born prematurely every year. I am proud to be a founding member of Karnataka Internet Assisted Diagnosis for Retinopathy of Prematurity (KIDROP), which not only screens and treats vulnerable babies but also mentors specialists around the world. So far, 225,000 screenings have been completed, 3,700 babies have been treated, and blindness has been prevented.
In addition, through a collaborative effort between Montefiore Medical Center’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Lahore General Hospital in Pakistan, Umar Mian, MBBS, and Muhammad Moin, MBBS, have created Pakistan ROP Educational and Research Alliance (PROPERA), which is dedicated to increasing awareness of ROP and helping to develop screening and treatment programs in Pakistan. In 2014, only two private hospitals screened for ROP. Today, more than 20 public institutions have ROP screening programs. We have screened thousands of babies and prevented blindness in more than 500 of them!
With support from the Division of Neonatology at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) and the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Montefiore Medical Center, and in collaboration with Mount Sinai, Yale, Cornell, and NYU, the Greater New York ROP Interest Group has been established to further research initiatives and clinical care for babies in New York and Connecticut.
In partnership with researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, CHAM investigators have made revolutionary discoveries that have led to groundbreaking therapies, new models of care, and better outcomes for children.
Thank you for supporting our efforts to protect the health of children all over the world!