CHICAGO—While a wide-ranging roster of sponsors have signed on to support the goals of the upcoming Prevent Blindness Focus on Eye Health Summit, to be held June 18 in Washington D.C., there are a few weeks left for others to join in by the May 15 deadline, organizers said. The Summit is scheduled to take place at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. and will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

In conjunction with the Summit, Prevent Blindness will also hold the ninth annual Eyes on Capitol Hill event, aimed to bring those impacted by vision loss and blindness together with their respective government representatives. This will include a Congressional briefing on June 17 and reception for the Congressional Vision Caucus (CVC) the evening of June 18, according to the association.

Attendees of the Summit will include patient advocates, national vision and eye health organizations, government representatives and community-based organizations, as reported earlier this year by VMail. At the Summit, Prevent Blindness will release a new report projecting the potential burden and economic impact of vision problems into the future.

Current sponsors to date include: Allergan Foundation, Alliance for Aging Research, Alliance for Eye and Vision Research, AMD Alliance International, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Optometric Association, American Public Health Association, Association for Research in Vision & Ophthalmology, BrightFocus Foundation, EyeSight Foundation of Alabama, Foundation Fighting Blindness, Genentech, Kellogg Foundation, Lighthouse Guild, Lions Clubs International, Regeneron, Research to Prevent Blindness, Transitions, University of Michigan, Vision 2020 USA, VisionServe Alliance, and VSP.

Four sponsorship levels are available, ranging from the Non-profit Silver level at $1,000 up to the Corporate Gold level at $25,000.

In addition, according to Prevent Blindness’ Jeff Todd, COO, the organization has just finalized arrangements for a live webcast of this year’s Summit so that anyone interested in vision and public health can view the sessions live from their own computer, a new feature of this year’s event. That webcast, too, is open to sponsorship.

Registration to attend the Summit is still open. Further inquiries can be sent to PB at (800) 331-2020 or info@preventblindness.org or via the Eye Health Summit website.