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THE MARY TYLER MOORE VISION INITIATIVE INC

QUOGUE, NY · EIN 884338184 · Form 990 · FY2024 · NTEE T30 · Philanthropy & Grantmaking · Medium ($1M-$10M) · marytylermoore.org
revenue
$1.2M
expenses
$889K
net assets
$464K
employees
0
program ratio
99%
mission · from form 990

GRANTMAKING AND ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE THE PREVENTION AND CURE OF DIABETIC RETINAL DISEASE

profile · synthesized from sources

The Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative is a grantmaking organization dedicated to advancing research that prevents and cures diabetic retinal disease. It was founded by Dr. S. Robert Levine and named in honor of Mary Tyler Moore, who lived with type 1 diabetes and vision complications. The initiative supports scientific collaboration, biorepository development, and clinical research through strategic partnerships with academic and medical institutions.

named programs · 3 · from sources

What they call their work

Consortium Project Management
Coordinates multi-institutional research efforts through project management infrastructure, enabling collaboration between academic, clinical, and industry partners to accelerate therapeutic development.
Ocular Biorepository and Resource Center
A centralized repository at Michigan Medicine that collects, processes, and distributes high-quality human ocular tissues for research into diabetic retinal disease. Supports proteomic, lipidomic, and transcriptomic analyses.
Scientific Advisory Board
Chaired by Dr. Mark Atkinson, this board guides the initiative’s research strategy, prioritizes scientific goals, and fosters collaboration among leading experts in diabetes and ophthalmology.
activities · 4 groups

What they do

  • Biomedical Research and Innovation 4 activities
    • Advancing AI and data-driven approaches for diabetic retinal disease
      Supports research on artificial intelligence methods to improve diagnosis and access to care, including automated detection and severity grading, and is building a large-scale, de-identified database of retinal images and patient data to support AI-driven diagnostics and treatment personalization.
    • Coordinating the MTM Diabetic Retinal Disease Research Consortium
      Coordinates the MTM Diabetic Retinal Disease (DRD) Research Consortium in partnership with the Elizabeth Weiser Caswell Diabetes Institute to advance international research on diabetic retinal disease, including expanding tissue samples and conducting clinical studies.
    • Establishing research infrastructure and resource cores
      Established a Therapeutics Target Identification Core to support precision medicine research and accelerate treatment development for diabetic retinal disease, and supports data harmonization and standardization efforts to build a shareable data lake integrating clinical and ocular 'omics data.
    • Operating the MTM Vision Ocular Biorepository and Resource Center
      Operates the MTM Vision Ocular Biorepository and Resource Center (MTM-BRC) at the Kellogg Eye Center to collect, preserve, and analyze human eye tissue and fluids for research into diabetic retinal disease, supporting studies on pathophysiology and therapeutic targets.
  • Vision Research Funding 4 activities
    • Advancing research on diabetic retinal disease through cross-sector collaboration
      Supports global scientific collaboration and convenes leaders across academia, industry, government, and patient communities to accelerate research on curing vision loss from diabetes, including through the Diabetic Retinal Disease Cure Accelerator initiative.
    • Funding research on diabetic retinal disease
      Conducts grantmaking to support the prevention and cure of diabetic retinal disease, including funding physician-scientists through the RPB | Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative Physician-Scientist Award.
    • Supporting development of novel diagnostics and staging systems
      Supports research to develop an updated diagnostic and staging system for diabetic retinal disease using high-resolution retinal imaging and improved visual function measurements, and leads efforts to identify and validate clinical endpoints and biomarkers.
    • Supporting regenerative and gene therapy research for diabetic retinal disease
      Supports research into regeneration, neuroprotection, and gene therapy strategies to repair, replace, or preserve retinal tissue and correct molecular abnormalities in diabetic retinal disease.
  • Scientific Conference & Symposium Management 1 activity
    • Convening scientific symposia and workshops
      Hosts global symposia and virtual workshops to advance therapies and regulatory pathways for diabetic retinal disease, bringing together international specialists, patients, researchers, clinicians, and regulatory representatives to draft clinical study protocols and build consensus.
  • Healthcare Policy Advocacy 1 activity
    • Engaging patients and advocacy communities
      Hosts Voice of the Patient Meetings and facilitates collaborations with entertainment and corporate partners to incorporate patient perspectives and advance advocacy for curing diabetes-related vision loss.
financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$1.17M
Contributions & grants$1.15M98%
Program service revenue$00%
Investment income$24K2%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$889K
Program expenses99%
Admin / overhead1%
Fundraising0%
Salaries & benefits$0
Grants paid out$635K
Largest expense lineProfessional Fees
balance sheet
Total assets$470K
Cash$459K
Investments$0
Liabilities$6K
Net assets$464K
Liquid reserves6.2 mo
3 years on record · 2022–2024 · YoY revenue +5.2%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024

Who runs it

board members · 3
  • HAROLD MORGAN — TREASURER
  • MICHAEL H LEVINE — SECRETARY
  • S ROBERT LEVINE MD — PRESIDENT/ CEO/ CHAIRMAN
relationships · 39

Who they work with

  • ARVO (Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology) Partner — Collaborated on publishing research in Translational Vision Science & Technology journal
  • Beetham Eye Institute Partner — Founding partner in MTM Vision Initiative's research collaboration.
  • Beetham Eye Institute, Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard Medical School Partner — Partner in diabetic retinal disease research and sight-saving treatment development.
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Partner — Institution where Jennifer Sun serves as Vice Chair for Clinical Research in the Department of Surgery
  • Boehringer Ingelheim Partner — Became the first industry member of MTM Vision’s Consortium to support collaborative research efforts.
  • Boehringer Ingelheim Partner — Founding pharmaceutical member of the MTM Vision Consortium, supporting clinical studies and the development of a Patient Reported Outcomes instrument.
  • Breakthrough T1D Partner — Collaborates with Breakthrough T1D, where Mary Tyler Moore served as International Chairman and helped raise research funding.
  • Breakthrough T1D Partner — Collaborates with Breakthrough T1D, whose staff members are featured in shared personal experiences with diabetic retinal disease.
  • Breakthrough T1D Partner — Founding partner organization in MTM Vision Initiative's collaborative research efforts.
  • Breakthrough T1D Partner — Partner in advancing research to treat and prevent Type 1 diabetes and its complications, including diabetic retinal disease.
  • Collaborative Community on Ophthalmic Innovation Partner — Jointly leads the Diabetic Retinal Disease Cure Accelerator initiative to modernize staging and endpoints for DRD.
  • DRCR Retina Network Partner — Collaborates on two clinical trials to advance research on curing vision loss from diabetes.
  • DRCR Retina Network Partner — Collaborating on planned clinical trials to assess measures of visual function and retinal physiology.
  • DRCR Retina Network Partner — Collaborative network conducting clinical research on diabetic retinal disease, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health
  • DRCR Retina Network Partner — Collaborative research partner in advancing diabetic retinal disease studies, including Protocol AR.
  • Elizabeth Caswell Diabetes Institute Partner — Co-hosted the fourth annual symposium on curing vision loss from diabetes.
  • Elizabeth Weiser Caswell Diabetes Institute Partner — Collaborates with MTM Vision to coordinate the MTM Diabetic Retinal Disease Research Consortium.
  • Entertainment Industry Foundation Government — Fiscally sponsors the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative as a 501(c)(3) public charity.
  • Entertainment Industry Foundation Partner — Founding partner organization in MTM Vision Initiative's collaborative research network.
  • Harvard Medical School Partner — Institution where Scientific Co-Director Jennifer Sun holds a professorship and conducts research
  • Joslin Diabetes Center Partner — Affiliate of Harvard Medical School and partner in the global collaboration to fight vision loss from diabetic retinal disease.
  • Joslin Diabetes Center Partner — Founding partner affiliated with Harvard Medical School in MTM Vision Initiative's research efforts.
  • Joslin Diabetes Center Partner — Institution where Scientific Co-Director Jennifer Sun leads clinical eye research and trials
  • Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan Partner — Co-hosted the fourth annual symposium on curing vision loss from diabetes.
  • National Eye Institute Government — Partnership deemed vital for implementing data harmonization and collaboration initiatives in DRD research.
  • National Institutes of Health Government — Funder and sponsor of the DRCR Retina Network, in which the organization participates
  • Research to Prevent Blindness Funder — Cofunds the RPB | Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative Physician-Scientist Award to support early-career researchers.
  • S Robert Levine Government — Husband of Mary Tyler Moore and founder of The Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative
  • S. Robert Levine, MD Government — Husband of Mary Tyler Moore and supporter of the organization's mission
  • University of Florida Partner — Institution where Mark Atkinson chairs the Scientific Advisory Board and directs nPOD and CaRe-TID
+ 9 more
strategies · 5

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • AI-Enhanced, Data-Driven Research Infrastructure
    methodology: AI-enabled research infrastructure
    By standardizing and integrating multimodal clinical and biological data through federated learning and AI, the organization improves therapeutic discovery because scalable, privacy-preserving computational models enable faster, more accurate insights than traditional research methods.
  • Cross-Sector Collaboration as Research Catalyst
    methodology: cross-sector_collaboration
    By convening scientific, medical, technological, and patient communities across academia, industry, and government, the organization accelerates progress in diabetic retinal disease because interdisciplinary partnerships enable shared problem-solving, data access, and innovation at scale.
  • Human Biology–First Research Approach
    methodology: human-tissue-based research
    By prioritizing research based on human biology and pathology over animal models, the organization increases the likelihood of clinical success because human-tissue-based insights are more directly translatable to effective treatments for diabetic retinal disease.
  • Patient-Centered Research Integration
    methodology: patient-centered_research
    By incorporating patient lived experience into research design and prioritization, the organization ensures that scientific efforts are aligned with real-world patient needs and outcomes because engaging affected individuals as partners increases relevance, adoption, and impact of research.
  • Pre-Competitive Research Consortium
    methodology: pre-competitive_collaboration
    By forming international, cross-sector consortia that share biorepositories, clinical data, and research tools in a pre-competitive space, the organization accelerates therapeutic target validation and drug development because collaborative infrastructure reduces duplication and lowers barriers to innovation.