5 Days and Counting to Birdshot Day 2024
Five days and counting!
This coming Saturday, April 6th, birdies from 13 states, 3 provinces and the UK will descend upon Philadelphia for Birdshot Uveitis Society of North America’s Birdshot Day 2024! We are so excited to meet the many birdshot patients, friends, and medical professionals who will be attending.
Some of you may have attended a Birdshot Day in Philadelphia in 2019. Christine Griffith, our president, organized the day on her own, and it’s when several current board members met for the first time. Later, during the pandemic, seven of us formed BUSNA in order to support our community and contribute to birdshot research. Here we are, in 2024, making one of our dreams come true – an in-person full-day conference!
BUSNA’s big weekend starts off on Friday evening with a Meet & Greet. Especially considering that many birdies have never actually met anyone else with this rare autoimmune disease, it will surely be an exciting evening!
Saturday promises a full day of presentations at Wills Eye Hospital. Among those speaking will be Dr. Michael Baime of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. James P. Dunn of Wills Eye, Sharon Graham of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Dr. Ranjoo Prasad of Wills Eye Hospital and the Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center, Dr. Jennifer Thorne of Wilmer Eye Institute and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Vanessa Zinke of Reaching Resilience Therapy, and our special guest, Annie Folkard, co-founder of Birdshot Uveitis Society (UK)! To read detailed biographies of these presenters, click here.
In addition to the presentations by these specialists, there’ll be several technology vendors on hand from Vision Link, Eschenbach, ORCAM, Alimera, Enhanced Vision, and Blind Institute of Technology. There may even be a seeing-eye dog or two!
Wills Eye Hospital, which is hosting the event, is providing audio-visual services from one of their employees, so if you can’t make it, you’ll be able to view video recordings of the presentations. We hope to publish the videos on our blog and social media platforms within a week or two of the conference.
Lunch is provided and will be catered by 12th Street Catering, a popular destination in Philly.
Many thanks to everyone who has supported BUSNA and Birdshot Day 2024! Special thanks to our sponsors of the event – Linda K. Berdine, Wawa, Alimera, Meredith Brinegar Cross, George Schweitzer, Sandi Siegel, Vince & Josette Abruzzini, Meg Bontadelli, Environmental Resolutions, Inc. (Chris & Debra Noll), and Wills Eye Hospital. Ms. Berdine, Ms Cross and Mr. Schweitzer serve on BUSNA’s Advisory Board. Thanks also to our Vision Sponsors - Jenny Doyle, Ora Elber, Tracy Grieco, Rebecca Julevich, Carla McCaffrey, Barrie Smith and Nora Sobolov.
Special contributions were also donated by Annie Folkard, Ross & Leslie Farrar, Herkimer Diamond Mines, Rob McPeake, Patricia Clarke and Leanne Oswald. Many thanks to these and all of our generous supporters.
Birdshot Day 2024 will be a special day indeed. Here’s to building our community, to navigating our individual birdshot journeys, and to someday finding the cure we are all hoping for.
‘Hope to see you all in Philly!