BUSNA Reaches Fundraising Goal for AI Study

Birdshot Uveitis Society of North America announces that its 5th Anniversary Fundraising Campaign has been fully funded, thanks to generous contributions from members of its Birdshot community.

BUSNA’s efforts to raise $45,000 began in early May. Just eight weeks later, that goal was met. The final amount of $45,094 includes a portion of prior BUSNA contributions. 85 supporters from 4 countries donated to the study. Phase one of the study is fully funded.

Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute is spearheading the project. Dr. Jennifer E. Thorne, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Ocular Immunology at Johns Hopkins, is leading the study in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Data Science and AI Institute. They recently reported that work on the study has already begun.

The goal of the researchers is to develop a foundational AI model of birdshot uveitis. They are using artificial intelligence to collect and assess countless characteristics of Birdshot scans. Read BUSNA’s May 8th blog post, Urgent Fundraising Campaign until June 30, 2025, to learn more about this exciting project.

BUSNA thanks each of its donors. Certainly, this project would not have been possible without such generosity. The culmination of this campaign represents a major step in our efforts to support critical Birdshot research.

Dr. Thorne writes that she is very grateful and thanks BUSNA and the Birdshot community. She plans to give us an update later this fall. Stay tuned!