But for scientists like Kristine Ann Erickson, an associate professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and a research associate at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary in Boston, AHAF's grant program provides a much-needed opportunity to expand their research.
"I'm trying to define the pharmacology of the outflow system, the system that goes wrong" when glaucoma develops, says Erickson, who is in the midst of a two-year project to study the disease, aided by $25,000 in funding from the foundation. "People don't know how the drugs work. With AHAF, though, there's a possibility of going on some side trips [from the main area of investigation], and I have a chance to do innovative things."
Although the nonprofit foundation has only about 30 employees (just one of whom, research director Sherry Marts, is a scientist) and offers only modest-sized grants, researchers say they value its funding programs because they allow ...
