Macular Disease Foundation CEO departs

Heraghty outlined a range of challenges and the work she was most proud of to Insight following the decision to leave the Foundation.Much has changed in the more than a decade Heraghty spent at the helm of the Foundation. While raising public awareness for AMD and supporting those who already had the disease was a constant focus, a dramatic shift occurred just a few years into her tenure – the use of anti-VEGF injections.{{quote-a:r-w:400-I:2-Q:“I am absolutely optimistic that one day there will be a cure for age-related macular degeneration.”-WHO:Julie Heraghty, MDFA}}“It was such an exciting time because when the anti-VEGF came, we got it onto the PBS in 2007, the landscape of ophthalmology changed dramatically. I still get goose pimples when I talk about it – all of a sudden, we could save sight,” she says.“One of my ophthalmologists said ‘never in my lifetime did I dream that I would be able to save sight like I could once we had those amazing drugs’. Now, there was a very strong reason to actually raise that awareness.”However, as exciting as that development was for people with wet-AMD, Heraghty is still acutely aware that for the vast majority of sufferers there is still no known cure. Because of this, she says it is still vitally important to raise awareness and lobby government to help AMD researchers receive the amount of support she says they deserve.“If we were to do an audit of where macular degeneration research lies, you’d probably find that when we clustered it all together and we looked at the prevalence of AMD and the impact of it, that it’s not getting its due attention in funding,” she says.“You really can understand how important research is if you or your family has a chronic disease. You are banking on the fact that someone, some brilliant researcher, is going to come up with that moment when they go ‘I think I’ve cracked it’. For me, that’s just an intricate part of who and what the Foundation does.”It is also the reason why, since 2011, the Foundation has raised in excess of $3.6 million to support AMD research and, hopefully, find a cure.“It’s a challenge because of the disease and its characteristics, but this is about hope and if you don’t have hope, you don’t have a goal, and then you can never achieve it. So you have to aspire to that,” Heraghty says.“I am absolutely optimistic that one day there will be a cure for age-related macular degeneration.”According to Foundation patron Ms Ita Buttrose, it is this drive and determination that have been defining aspects of her leadership as CEO.“What I particularly like about Julie is that she never hesitates in the pursuit of her goals. She can be very persuasive,” Buttrose wrote in a dedication to the outgoing CEO in the Foundation’s summer newsletter.“Under Julie’s watch community awareness of macular disease has risen greatly and resulted in a significant increase in the number of Australians having eye tests and macula checks that have helped save people’s sight.”Indeed, the increased profile of macular disease in Australia is one of the achievents that Heraghty is most proud of.{{quote-a:r-w:400-I:3-Q:“What I particularly like about Julie is that she never hesitates in the pursuit of her goals. She can be very persuasive. -WHO:Ita Buttrose, MDFA}}“It’s hard to pinpoint one thing but I am really very proud of the fact that we have built awareness of macular degeneration, that was so important. The second thing is that we were able to get registered treatments onto the PBS quickly, because you can have the drugs but if you don’t have affordability, people won’t get access to th,” she explains.“To have developed the brand and the reputation of the Foundation as a place where people could go to get support, guidance and the information that they needed (was also important).”While the Foundation has not yet announced a successor to the position, Heraghty says she is confident business will continue as usual due to the strength of the board, staff and all the other stakeholders involved.“The Foundation is made up of so many people that help and are committed and dedicated. While I’m talking to you right now the phones are ringing and while often you get someone that just needs to talk about a probl they’ve got, if you can solve it, or provide clarification on something, it just makes such a difference,” she says.“You’re only as good as your team, and I have had the most amazing support, trust, guidance and assistance.”Having relinquished her position, Heraghty says she will focus on her consultancy business, but that doesn’t mean she will stop being an advocate for the Foundation and those with macular disease to whoever will listen.“The cost of blindness is huge. It’s not just the economic cost, it’s the otional and social cost. You get to 80 and what you wanted to do was see your grandkids’ faces, play bowls, and read and drive and be independent,” she says.“There are so many people who need our help. The biggest challenge is getting that message out there.”