Aug 6, 2026 · 26 min · 8 segments
In today's episode, host Dr. Ben Young is joined by Dr. Stephen McLeod, Academy CEO, and Rebecca Hyder, Vice President of Governmental Affairs. The panel discusses why we have a National Eye Institute…
Stephen McLeodGuest
Rebecca HyderGuestBen YoungHostAnd just on a, a personal note, I was actually, as this was all going on, in the process of applying for an NIH K grant myself, and I remember looking at, like, the potential composition of the committees that would review such grants, and I was, you know, honestly kind of concerned that some of them would have been, you know, like, neuroscientists, maybe specialists, like in fMRI studies or whatnot, which I'm sure they're, like, fantastic top-level scientists, but, you know, if they're comparing, you know, retinopathy of prematurity work compared to, you know, something they might be more familiar with, I could see how the priorities might be different, um, y-you know, i-if the institutions were, were merged.
And I saw that too with others and my, y- my peers who were also going through this process too around this time.
So, y- you know, [laughs] again, speaking for personally, I, at, at the time that I heard about all this, I thought it was doom and gloom.
Well, so I think, you know, Dr. MacLeod and the academy, uh, recognized very early on, uh, that this threat was we were really, you know, working with the rest of the vision community, research community in particular, that we were the ones that were really gonna have to step in and protect, um, the independence of the NEI.
And so we very quickly mobilized to pull in together, you know, the Association of, of, of Prof- Prof- Professors of Ophthalmology, uh, the Alliance for Vision Research, um, you know, the American Academy of Optometry, you know, and just to make sure that we were all sort of rowing together.
We developed the materials that we were going to use, um, and the messaging that we needed and developed a plan of how we were gonna engage ophthalmologists to help protect the NEI.
And I will also say, you know, which built on all of the r- work we had been doing over the years to promote the value of vision research with Congress because, you know, every year as part of our congressional advocacy day, we go up, we have, you know, over four hundred ophthalmologists participate and go up to the Hill, and one of the issues we always talk about is the importance of NEI funding.
And I think all the work that we had laid, you know, that groundwork we had laid over the years really paid off because Congress really did not buy into the administration's proposal.
You know, Congress really does value the work that is done at NIH and the NEI, and so we found a lot of strong support, um, on Capitol Hill for maintaining the independence of, um, of the NEI.
We had members of Congress visit, do site visits during their August recess, and they went to institutions and really talked about the value of, of vision research and what would be lost if it were to go away.
So I, I guess out, out of interest, what, kind of what practically happened? Did it come to, like, a vote? Are these just details I don't know, or it just, it just never materialized after the proposal?
And just on a, a personal note, I was actually, as this was all going on, in the process of applying for an NIH K grant myself, and I remember looking at, like, the potential composition of the committees that would review such grants, and I was, you know, honestly kind of concerned that some of them would have been, you know, like, neuroscientists, maybe specialists, like in fMRI studies or whatnot, which I'm sure they're, like, fantastic top-level scientists, but, you know, if they're comparing, you know, retinopathy of prematurity work compared to, you know, something they might be more familiar with, I could see how the priorities might be different, um, y-you know, i-if the institutions were, were merged.
And I saw that too with others and my, y- my peers who were also going through this process too around this time.
So, y- you know, [laughs] again, speaking for personally, I, at, at the time that I heard about all this, I thought it was doom and gloom.
Well, so I think, you know, Dr. MacLeod and the academy, uh, recognized very early on, uh, that this threat was we were really, you know, working with the rest of the vision community, research community in particular, that we were the ones that were really gonna have to step in and protect, um, the independence of the NEI.
And so we very quickly mobilized to pull in together, you know, the Association of, of, of Prof- Prof- Professors of Ophthalmology, uh, the Alliance for Vision Research, um, you know, the American Academy of Optometry, you know, and just to make sure that we were all sort of rowing together.
We developed the materials that we were going to use, um, and the messaging that we needed and developed a plan of how we were gonna engage ophthalmologists to help protect the NEI.
And I will also say, you know, which built on all of the r- work we had been doing over the years to promote the value of vision research with Congress because, you know, every year as part of our congressional advocacy day, we go up, we have, you know, over four hundred ophthalmologists participate and go up to the Hill, and one of the issues we always talk about is the importance of NEI funding.
And I think all the work that we had laid, you know, that groundwork we had laid over the years really paid off because Congress really did not buy into the administration's proposal.
You know, Congress really does value the work that is done at NIH and the NEI, and so we found a lot of strong support, um, on Capitol Hill for maintaining the independence of, um, of the NEI.
We had members of Congress visit, do site visits during their August recess, and they went to institutions and really talked about the value of, of vision research and what would be lost if it were to go away.
So I, I guess out, out of interest, what, kind of what practically happened? Did it come to, like, a vote? Are these just details I don't know, or it just, it just never materialized after the proposal?
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