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Introducing our Senior Manager, Philanthropy, Ryan McCarthy

CERA’s new Senior Manager, Philanthropy, Ryan McCarthy is looking forward to getting to know our supporters and is excited by the transformational potential of eye research.

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After starting off as a volunteer, you’ve now been a professional fundraiser for more than 15 years. What inspired you to take on a career in philanthropy?

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have been surrounded by brilliant and inspiring people throughout my career in philanthropy, both by colleagues working to create a better world, and by individuals whose passion and generosity makes this work a possibility. Above all I am inspired by the good in people and by our ability to make a very real and positive difference in the lives of others.

What do you love most about your job?

I love meeting new people and feel very privileged to have an opportunity to listen to their stories. I love being able to bring people together to help each other and see their ideas and dreams become new realities.

What attracted you to take on your new role at CERA?

I am attracted to the visionary thinking taking place at CERA, and by CERA’s commitment to creating a culture of philanthropy that can achieve transformational change. I am attracted to a role which allows me to play a part in accelerating eye research and facilitating scientific breakthroughs that will have a profound and positive impact on the lives of people all over the world, and generations to come.

What are you most looking forward to in your new role?

It’s a very exciting time to be working at CERA, and ground-breaking developments in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of eye disease and vision loss are on the horizon. It’s a new journey for me and I’m looking forward to sharing in my colleague’s discoveries and connecting CERA’s work to our growing community. I’m particularly excited about seeing the progress of research to develop gene therapies for eye diseases which until very recently have been considered untreatable. And looking forward to working with supporters to increase our capability to bring more of these cutting edge treatments from around the world to Australian patients.

We couldn’t do our research without the generous support of our donors. What have been your early impressions of the CERA community so far?

In the brief time I have worked at CERA I have been deeply impressed by the generosity of our donors and by their commitment to realising a world free from vision loss. It is heartening to see that the CERA community is in such a close and collaborative relationship with our researchers and our work on the ground – they make it all possible.

What’s an interesting fact you’ve learned about eye research that you didn’t know before?

I’m fascinated by the eye’s ability to reflect and communicate such deep and detailed information about the health of the body. The use of novel imaging techniques, such as hyperspectral imaging, and artificial intelligence are being used by CERA researchers to predict health outcomes and changes in the brain that indicate signs of disease before symptoms appear. Eye research is truly at the cutting edge.

More information

For a confidential discussion about opportunities to support CERA’s research, you can contact Ryan on +61 3 9929 8796 or via email at rmccarthy@cera.org.au.

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