Voir & Entendre Foundation

Vision diseases: a global public health issue

Out of a global population of approximately 7.8 billion people, it is estimated that 43.3 million are blind. The prevalence of eye diseases - and therefore of blindness - increases with age: most blind people are 50 years of age or older. With the increase in life expectancy, a sharp increase in the number of patients is expected by 2040, with 111.8 million cases of glaucoma and 288 million cases of AMD. Not to mention rare diseases, which are also a major source of visual impairment and blindness, such as retinitis pigmentosa and Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON).

Public and private governance at the service of research

Since its creation in 2007, the Voir & Entendre Foundation has been supported by five founding members: the Quinze-Vingts National Hospital, the Institut Pasteur, Inserm, Sorbonne University and the French Federation of the Blind and Amblyopic. Four other founding members have since joined: the CNRS and the Foundation for Hearing, the AP-HP and the Adolphe de Rothschild Foundation Hospital.

The Steering Committee

President: Mr. José-Alain SAHEL
Treasurer: Mr. François PELEN
Director: Mr. Emmanuel GUTMAN
Scientific Director: Mr. Serge PICAUD
Secretary General: Mrs. Dominique SANTIARD-BARON
Financial Director: Mr. Pierre BEUCHET

The Board of Directors and its composition

The Voir et Entendre Foundation has a Board of Directors composed of the nine founders, qualified personalities, representatives of the economic world, local and regional authorities as well as elected representatives of teachers, researchers, teacher-researchers and other staff. It defines the strategic choices and approves the budgets and accounts of the Institute.

• 15-20 National Hospital
  Nicolas PÉJU, Director General
  Nils AVANTURIER, Deputy Director General
   

• Institut Pasteur
  François ROMANEIX, Deputy Director General for Administration
  Nathalie de PARSEVAL, Scientific Secretary General
   

• Inserm
  Thomas LOMBES, Deputy Director General (Strategy)
  Elli CHATZOPOULOU, Director of Partnerships and External Relations
   

• Sorbonne University
  Nathalie DRACH-TEMAM, President
  José-Alain SAHEL, Emeritus Professor of Hospital Medicine
   

• French Federation of the Blind and Amblyopic
  Julien ZELELA, President of the FAF Sports Commission
   

• CNRS
  Bernard POULAIN, Deputy Scientific Director of CNRS Biologie
   

• Fondation Pour l’Audition
  Armand de BOISSIÈRE, Secretary General of the Bettencourt-Schueller Foundation
   

• Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
  Erik DOMAIN, Director of Relations with Universities and Research Organizations
   

• Adolphe de Rothschild Foundation Hospital
  Julien GOTTSMANN, Director General
   

• Qualified personalities
  Henri CHIBRET
  Alain GAUDRIC
   

• Representative of local and regional authorities
  Pierre DENIZIOT, Regional Councilor of the Ile-de-France region, in charge of disability, universal accessibility and the republican promise
   

• Representative of the economic world
  François PELEN, Founder of Groupe Point Vision
   

• Elected representatives of researchers, teacher-researchers and other staff
  Annabelle REAUX-LE GOAZIGO, Inserm Research fellow, team leader at the Institut de la Vision
  Valentina EMILIANI, CNRS Research Director, team leader at the Institut de la Vision