BrightFocus Foundation Announces Two New Board Members

CLARKSBURG, MD - BrightFocus Foundation, a leading private funder of scientific research and public awareness to end Alzheimer’s, macular degeneration, and glaucoma, today announced Dana Griffin and Edward J. Finley II as new members of its Board of Directors.

“There has never been a more hopeful time for scientific research. Dana and Ed are the right people at the right time to help accelerate our progress toward ending diseases of mind and sight,” said BrightFocus Foundation President and CEO Stacy Pagos Haller. Griffin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Eldera.ai, the global platform for wisdom sharing and intergenerational connection on a mission to tap into the time and wisdom of 1 billion elders around the world as a new natural resource for the next generation. She is a former data and advertising executive.

“If we are fortunate enough to live a long life, we are met with a 50 percent chance of succumbing to Alzheimer’s and the prospect of that is frightening. I am grateful for the opportunity to be in service of the BrightFocus mission to solve some of the most pressing challenges to aging in the 21st century,” Griffin said.

Finley, a faculty member and Assistant Director of the Center for Investors and Financial Markets at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, is also the Principal of Arrow Wealth Advisory LLC. His early career was on Wall Street as a trusts and estates attorney and in private wealth management, primarily at Milbank Tweed and J.P. Morgan Private Bank respectively.

“BrightFocus supports some of the most innovative science in the world to end Alzheimer’s, macular degeneration, and glaucoma – diseases that will only grow in magnitude unless we change their steep trajectory. I am honored to have the opportunity to help advance their mission,” Finley said.

Earlier this year BrightFocus announced $25.3 million in new grants, an amount five times greater than a decade ago and its tenth consecutive year-over-year increase. Eighty percent of the new grants are to scientists early in their careers, jump-starting new approaches to end these diseases. Over the past three years alone BrightFocus has supported over 275 projects, a $60 million research commitment.