As a patient-led organisation, our Board of Directors must consist of a majority of patients or patient representatives. Each director works in a voluntary capacity, donating their time to the organisation.
Breandan Ward, Company Secretary
Prof Alison Reynolds, Director
The operations of the Board of Directors are supported by a subcommittee structure which deals effectively with specific aspects of the business of the company.
The active subcommittees are as follows:
Adrian Grenham trained as a chartered accountant with KPMG and has worked for over 30 years as a financial services consultant, recently with Bank of Ireland. He has extensive experience in financial and risk management and compliance and has been treasurer on the boards and executive committees of several not-for-profit organisations.
Adrian is especially committed to ensuring that Fighting Blindness continues to adopt and comply with strong financial governance and risk management policies and procedures.
Breandan Ward is a partially blind lecturer, leadership coach, consultant and advocate working with institutions and organizations on disability inclusion and leadership development.
Born in County Monaghan, Breandan graduated from University College Dublin in 1999 with a degree in Commerce and French. He started his career at Goldman Sachs and subsequently joined Morgan Stanley, where he held various leadership roles in their London and New York offices, including leading as Executive Director a global department which provided analysis and reporting to the risk management, operations, and compliance functions. Moving from the private sector in 2016, Breandan graduated from New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service with an Executive Masters in Public Administration.
Breandan now develops and teaches curriculum on disability, accessibility, and inclusion, with the goal of bringing these topics into the ‘mainstream’ curriculum in higher education. He teaches a course at NYU each Spring and has delivered related workshops at RCSI and Imperial College London. Breandan also works as a leadership coach, consultant, and advisor to a range of NGO, non-profit and for-profit organisations. He is Board Vice President at Xavier Society for the Blind, supports a number of sight loss charities through pro bono and voluntary work, and established the Working Age Forum which offers peer support to blind and partially sighted people in Ireland on the topic of employment.
An avid runner, Breandan also enjoys foreign languages and travel. He was diagnosed in 2003 with a retinal dystrophy causing progressive sight loss. Breandan’s family has a long relationship with Fighting Blindness through membership and fundraising and he is keen to contribute his skills and experience across different sectors to support and advance the charity’s mission.
Dr John Acton has a PhD in Organic Chemistry and many years of experience in developing and implementing analytical methods in government laboratories. He participated in several EU led projects to develop standard operating procedures and reference materials.
He was manager of the Pesticide Laboratory responsible for the monitoring of pesticide residues in food using state of the art analytical techniques. John was national delegate at the EU standing committees and joint World Health Organisation/Food Agriculture Organisation working parties from 2001 – 2015 responsible for setting policies and regulations for maximum residue levels in food. He was also a member of the European Food Safety Authority networking group, which reported the monitoring results and assessed the potential risks to consumers in the EU.
Now retired, John welcomes the opportunity to bring his experience of the scientific and regulatory fields to the Board of Fighting Blindness. As we are in the era of clinical trials using gene therapy, John is aware of the urgency that such treatments be delivered to those with inherited retinal diseases in Ireland.
Elaine Howley has both personal and professional attributes that the Board of Fighting Blindness benefits from. Elaine lives with low vision herself. She also has experience on the Board of the Disability Federation of Ireland, a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors and is a current Director on the Board of Dublin Bus.
Elaine is a firm believer in people with disabilities being fully engaged in the leadership of organisations that exist for the benefit of disabled people. Elaine brings her experience and integrity to the Board of Fighting Blindness as well as her commitment to those the organization is there to serve directly through services and indirectly through research and other activities.
Elaine continuously works to encourage people with lived experience of impaired vision to influence and lead organisations.
Ms. Emma Duignan Treacy is a consultant ophthalmologist with a deep commitment to improving the lives of individuals affected by vision loss. Ms. Duignan Treacy trained in Ireland before undertaking further subspecialist training at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. She then returned to Dublin as clinical lead of the Genetic Eye Disease service at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital. She is a member of the board of the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Research Foundation.
Throughout her career, Ms. Duignan Treacy has been actively involved in groundbreaking research into inherited retinal degenerations, working closely with the research group at Trinity College Dublin, and clinical research partners in Dublin and Belfast. She was awarded an MD degree from TCD through participation in this work. She has also been working towards the establishment of a gene therapy treatment programme in the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, allowing for increased access for people with sight loss to advanced treatments and clinical trials.
Ms. Duignan Treacy is a passionate advocate for a holistic approach to patient care. She firmly believes that treating vision loss requires more than just medical intervention—it necessitates a comprehensive approach that addresses the emotional, social, and psychological needs of patients and their families. In her role as a director of Fighting Blindness, she is dedicated to advocating for those living with vision loss, striving to raise awareness, support advanced research, and ultimately, help find a cure for blindness.
Dr Alison Reynolds is a biologist with a research background in genetics, pharmacology and toxicology. Under the supervision of Prof Peter Humphries, she completed a PhD in Ocular Genetics in Trinity College Dublin. In 2007, she moved to University College Dublin’s Conway Institute where she worked in the laboratory of Prof Breandan Kennedy, studying inherited retinal degeneration in zebrafish and discovering and developing new drugs with the potential to treat eye disorders.
Since 2016, she has worked in the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine as an Assistant Professor/lecturer in veterinary Biosciences. She currently manages a small research team which is focused on learning more about the pathways involved in different forms of blindness, using zebrafish, cells and retinal organoids (organs grown in a petri dish, from reprogramed adult skin cells) as models. With colleagues in South East Technological University, she is developing new therapies for dry eye disease. She also teaches stage 1 (first year) students of veterinary medicine and veterinary nursing.
Dr Reynolds is currently Associate Dean of Research Innovation and Impact and chairs several animal welfare committees. Previously, she was a National University of Ireland-nominated Board Member on the Veterinary Council of Ireland (2018 – 2021), the statutory board which regulates the veterinary profession in Ireland.
Dr Reynolds has been motivated by patient engagement activities throughout her career. Being involved with the Macular Impairment Support and Togetherness group and the RetinaPublic Engagement Day led to a collaborative study examining Public Patient Involvement (PPI) in vision research. She has several close family members impacted by sight loss. This more personal perspective has inspired her to get more involved in ways to support (i) research and (ii) individuals with sight loss from a wellness perspective.
Fiona moved with her husband from New York to North Yorkshire in December 2020 and subsequently to London in November 2023. Growing up in Dublin, in 1993 she was diagnosed with macular dystrophy (similar to Stargardt’s disease). A Certified Accountant, Fiona spent most of her career in investment management, living and working in New York City for over 20 years.
Fiona and her husband are avid runners, enjoy hiking and Pilates as well as the theatre, travelling and exploring new destinations. Since moving to London, Fiona has returned to playing both tennis and golf with fellow visually impaired players.
Fiona is the President of the New York chapter and co-President of the UK region of Foundation Fighting Blindness which funds research to cure retinal blindness. In addition, she is a member of the South West London Sight Loss Council, an advocacy group for the visually impaired in the area. She is passionate that visually impaired people have access to sports and wellness so that they can benefit from the positive effects of both. She is also a keen advocate of using technology to assist with the challenges of living with a visual impairment.
Following an initial career as a dual qualified nurse at both clinical and management levels, Gerard O’Neill successfully transitioned to senior executive roles with the Health Service Executive. These roles included Assistant Chief Executive in the South-Western Area Health Board; Regional Director of Performance and Integration HSE West; and, Chief Officer in Dublin North City and County. During his career he had several National Assignments in complex matters across strategic and operational domains including both National and Statutory Inquiries. Prior to retirement from the HSE, he was the leader of the National Investigations Unit.
Currently, Gerard provides a range of consultancy services for senior managers in both the public and private sectors, including Workplace Investigations/Inquiries, Investigation Training, Mediation, Strategic Reviews and Corporate Governance.
He is presently a member of the Clinical Services Committee of Dublin Simon and of the Governance and Risk Committee, Christ Church Cathedral. He was previously a member of the Children’s Advisory Board and the Grangegorman Development Board. He is particularly known for his solution focused approach in all aspects of his work.
He is a practising barrister, a CEDR Accredited Mediator and has an in-depth understanding of Corporate and Clinical Governance. Gerard looks forward to serving on the Fighting Blindness board of directors to further their focused goals for the sight loss community.