Time & Location

New England Vision Connection
Presented by the Foundation Fighting Blindness and Hope in Focus
Saturday, October 24, 2026
1:00–3:00 p.m.
Foxwoods Resort Casino

Before our premier fundraiser Dinner in the Dark, we’ve partnered with the Foundation Fighting Blindness to host a free educational event designed to connect our community with the latest information, resources, and opportunities in inherited retinal disease.

The afternoon will include educational presentations, personal perspectives, and time to connect with members of the IRD community and learn about resources available to you and your family.

Learn more & Register

SPEAKERS

• Nicole Ross, OD, MSc, FAAO, DAAO(LV) is an attending optometrist at NECO Center for Eye Care, Commonwealth; the Perkins School for the Blind; and the Carroll Center for the Blind. She teaches Low Vision Rehabilitation and Advanced Ocular Disease classes at NECO and is currently a PhD candidate at Northeastern University. Her research interests include ocular structure-function relationships, epidemiology of vision impairment, evidence-based clinical practice and translational research in vision testing and enhancement technologies.
• Beth Borysewicz
  
• Darya Iranmanesh is a 23-year-old graduate student from Lexington, MA. She is partially blind due to the LCA5 mutation. Darya has been a speaker for Massachusetts-based program Understanding Our Differences, which brings disabled speakers into elementary schools to educate students. She has also participated in other advocacy efforts over the years. Darya completed her bachelor’s degree in public health at UMass Amherst at the age of 19 and holds a master’s in public health from Boston University. She is completing her final year of her master’s in social work at Simmons University.
  
• Jason I. Comander, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. He is also the Ayoub Family Chair in Ophthalmology and Director of the Inherited Retinal Disorders Service at Mass Eye and Ear. Specializing in the diagnosis, treatment, and genetic foundation of inherited retinal disorders (IRDs), Dr. Comander leads clinical operations and research initiatives focused on restoring vision through novel genetic therapies. He has served as a lead investigator and surgeon on landmark trials, including the 2018 administration of LUXTURNA—the first commercial gene therapy procedure for an inherited disease. In 2020, he was also part of the surgical team that delivered the world’s first in vivo CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing therapy to the human body. Dr. Commander holds MD and PhD degrees from Harvard University. He completed his ophthalmology residency, vitreoretinal surgery fellowship, and specialized IRD training at Mass Eye and Ear.