Speakers and presenters

Michael Baime, MD

Michael J. Baime, MD, is the director of the Penn Program for Mindfulness at the University of Pennsylvania Health System and has taught mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques since 1983. He teaches mindfulness-based stress management and communication techniques to faculty and students at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

James P. Dunn, MD
James P. Dunn, MD, is Director of the Uveitis Unit in the Retina Division at Wills Eye Hospital and Professor of Ophthalmology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He completed medical school at the University of Medicine and Dentistry-New Jersey Medical School and residency at New York University, followed by fellowships in Cornea/External Disease at the Jules Stein Eye Institute/UCLA School of Medicine and Uveitis at the Proctor Foundation/UC San Francisco School of Medicine. He was Assistant and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at The Wilmer Eye Institute at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from 1991-2013 and residency program director from 1998-2013. He joined the faculty at Wills Eye Hospital in 2014. He has been the principal site investigator for multiple National Eye Institute- and industry sponsored clinical trials in the treatment of uveitis and its complications.

Dr. Dunn has authored or co-authored over 200 publications in the area of infectious and immunologically mediated ocular disease and the ocular complications of AIDS. He is a member of the American Uveitis Society and has lectured extensively in the United States and abroad in the areas of ocular inflammatory disease, ocular infections, and residency training. He is a reviewer for numerous journals, including Ophthalmology, Ocular Immunology and Inflammation, Retina, American Journal of Ophthalmology, and the New England Journal of Medicine, and is an assistant editor for American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports. He has received the American Academy of Ophthalmology Senior Service Award.

His areas of interest include intraocular drug delivery, immunosuppressive therapy in patients with uveitis, infectious uveitis, ocular complications of HIV/AIDS, cataract surgery in patients with uveitis, and uveitic macular edema.

Annie Folkard
Patient group organiser for the Birdshot Uveitis Society

Degree/subject professional qualifications: BA (Hons) Art and design (textiles) 01/08/1976

Co-founder, director and trustee – Birdshot Uveitis Society 01/09/2009 – present

2004 Diagnosed with Birdshot Chorioretinopathy

2009 Establish Birdshot Uveitis Society (BUS) as a patient support group

2012 Establish Birdshot Uveitis Society as a charity

2010 - 2018 Instrumental in organising 4 Birdshot Days for patients and professionals in London

2012 Patient expert and organiser for BUS quality of life survey for patients with Birdshot Uveitis and Uveitis.

2013 BUS representative at “Sight Loss and Vision Priority Setting Partnership” organised by James Lind Alliance/Fight for Sight.

2013 Speaker - 2nd Birdshot Symposium, Boston US.

2015 Organiser of survey for patients treated with Ozurdex or Humira

2015 BUS participant - NICE Multi-technology appraisal (Ozurdex & Humira).

2016 Participant - Moorfields Vanguard Programme Patient Workshop,to share examples of good practice.

2017 Co – applicant to NIHR for funding for the ASTUTE trial (Adalimumab)

2017 Speaker giving patient perspective at ARVO workshop on “Novel models and trends for accelerating applied ophthalmic product discovery and development” and speaker at Baltimore,US Birdshot meeting

2018 BUS participant – NICE Fluocinolone acetonide ocular implant for treating recurrent non-infectious uveitis

2020 BUS participant – Scottish Medicines Consortium Preparation of a submission for the use of Fluocinolone acetonide (Iluvien) invitreal implant in Birdshot patients

Most recent relevant publications:

Minos E, Barry RJ, Southworth S, Folkard A, Murray PI, Duker JS, Keane PA, Denniston AK. Birdshot chorioretinopathy: current knowledge and new concepts in pathophysiology, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment.

Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2016 May 12;11(1):61. 10.1186/s13023-016-0429-8. Review.

Barry Ja, Folkard A,Ayliffe W.Validation of a Brief Questionnaire Measuring Positive Mindset in Patients With Uveitis PCH Vol 3, No 1 (2014)

Barry JA, Folkard A, Denniston AK, Moran E, Ayliffe W. Development and validation of quality-of-life questionnaires for birdshot chorioretinopathy. Ophthalmology. 2014 Jul;121(7):1488-9.e2.

Koutroumanos N,Folkard A, Mattocks R, Wright J,Xing W, Wilson-Barrett C,BonsteinK,Pavesio C,Westcott M,Moore G,Stanford M,Bunce C, Okhravi N. Bringing together patient and specialists: the first Birdshot Day. Br J Ophthalmol.2013 May;97(5):648-52.

Sharon Graham
As Regional Administrator and Staff Director for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS Philadelphia), Sharon leads and coordinates external engagement efforts around CMS programs with all stakeholders and customers in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. She is the national lead Regional Administrator for the agency’s Medicare Open Enrollment, the Marketplace, No Surprises Act and Flu Vaccination campaigns. Sharon also provides administrative and operational support to all employees in CMS Philadelphia, promoting cohesion and collaboration throughout the regional office, with other CMS components, and across HHS regional operating divisions.

Sharon has been with CMS since 1992, most recently serving as Deputy Consortium Administration for the Consortium for Medicare Health Plan Operations (CMHPO). Prior to that, she was a Special Assistant to the Regional Administrator and an Account Manager for Medicare Advantage plans. Sharon is a graduate of Moravian Universityand holds a master’s degree in Political Science from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

Ranjoo Prasad, OD

Ranjoo Prasad, OD is an optometrist practicing Low Vision Rehabilitation for over 24 years. She is currently the Director of low vision care at the Wills Eye Hospital is also staff optometrist at the Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center. She graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry and completed a residency in Low Vision Rehabilitation at the University of Houston College of Optometry. She is also serves on Board of Directors at Visionlink in Philadelphia, PA and in an advisory board member of Bestworks Industry in Cherry Hill, NJ Prior to her current positions, she was the former Director of the Penn Center for Low Vision in the Department of Ophthalmology, Penn Medicine.

Jennifer Thorne, M.D., Ph.D

Jennifer Thorne, M.D., Ph.D., is the Cross Family Professor of Ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute, where she is also chief of the Division of Ocular Immunology and Uveitis. Prof. Thorne holds a joint appointment as professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

An internationally recognized and board-certified ophthalmologist, Prof. Thorne is an expert in the evaluation and management of patients with uveitis and other related immune-mediated disorders. She has published over 300 articles and book chapters on uveitis and ocular immunology, won approximately 30 scientific and clinical awards, and has participated in numerous uveitis clinical trials.

Prof. Thorne's research interests include white dot syndromes including birdshot chorioretinitis, multifocal choroiditis and punctate inner choroiditis. She also studies juvenile idiopathic arthritis-related uveitis and treatment outcomes of immunosuppressive drug therapy.

Dr. Thorne is active in national and international ophthalmology and uveitis-related forums, for example, she was President of the American Uveitis Society and remains part of its leadership team, was a member of the Executive and Steering Committees of the Standardization of Uveitis Nomenclature (SUN) Working Group and played advisory and editorial roles in the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Ocular Immunology and Inflammation journal, and more. She has also served as an advisor and consultant for ophthalmic pharma companies, such as Allergan, AbbVie, Gilead, and more.

Prof. Thorne received her M.D. degree from the University of Virginia and completed her ophthalmology residency at the University of Pennsylvania's Scheie Eye Institute. She completed her uveitis fellowship at Wilmer and completed her Ph.D. in epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Vanessa Zinke

Vanessa Zinke is a licensed clinical social worker based in New York City. She is a co-founder and psychotherapist at Reaching Resilience Therapy. She was trained as a medical social worker and worked in the hospital setting for several years. In addition to psychotherapy, she also provides mental health consulting services, with the goal to aid organizations in their expansion of support programming and delivery of trauma informed practices. Vanessa is passionate about collaborating with individuals experiencing medical trauma, teens, college students, young adults, and those going through life transitions.