Our affiliate charities are sharing their expertise in the prevention, early detection and treatment of disease with Our Future Health. By joining forces, the charities are also able to shape the programme to ensure it is fit to serve the research needs of a range of diseases and conditions.

Macular Society

Macular Society is committed to finding a cure for macular disease. Their mission is to beat the fear and isolation of macular disease by funding world-class research and providing the best advice and support.

The Macular Society works closely with Action Against Age-related Macular Degeneration, another affiliate of Our Future Health, as one of their founding charities and part of their network which is committed to finding a treatment to stop early Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) progressing to late AMD and sight loss.

Macular disease

Macular disease is the biggest cause of sight loss in the UK and developed world. The macula is responsible for central vision, fine detail and part of colour vision. If your macula becomes damaged, as it does in macular disease, then your vision may become blurred or distorted and gradually the central vision is lost. People with advanced macular disease cannot drive and may have difficulty seeing faces, and recognising friends and family becomes very difficult.

There are many forms of macular disease, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is the most common . Other forms of macular disease can affect much younger people, even children.

Affiliate charities

Our Future Health is joining with many of the UK’s leading health research charities who are providing valuable support and expertise to help develop Our Future Health. They will make a big impact in allowing us to ultimately change the way we prevent, detect and treat diseases. 

Dr Peter Bloomfield, Director of Research at the Macular Society, said: “Our Future Health’s approach will help provide invaluable insights into AMD. Collecting data in this way will enable discovery on a scale, which to date hasn’t been possible. Through this approach, researchers will be able to gain a better understanding of eye health and crucially how it may associate with other conditions and underlying genotypes. This paves the way for significant advancements in research and over the long term will lead to a new generation of treatments.

“We’re delighted to be part of this collaborative research effort. We remain dedicated to beating macular disease and by partnering with Our Future Health, we hope to further establish ophthalmic research as a promising area for discovery. This will bring us closer to a future where AMD no longer poses a threat to the sight here in the UK or globally.”

Dr Raghib Ali, CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Our Future Health, said, “We’re thrilled to be working with the Macular Society as an affiliate charity of Our Future Health. Their commitment to tackling macular disease and their expertise in sight loss research provides an exciting opportunity to collaborate to make discoveries that can prevent sight loss and help those affected by it.”

Read more about our partnerships.

Learn about how Our Future Health is changing sight loss healthcare.