This site is run and maintained by Annie Folkard, one of the co-founders of the Birdshot Uveitis Society. It was originally compiled with the help of numerous friends, professionals and interested people.

Without the help of all these people, this site could never have been launched. We have received so much positive feedback from patients who have used the site and found it made a huge difference to their lives and the lives of their families.

We are privileged to be involved in the world of eyes and ophthalmology – the patients and professionals within this field are, without a doubt, the kindest, most caring and generous people we have met. Thank you so much to all our supporters, contributors and helpers.

We would particularly like to thank the following:

Dagmar, who ran a US support group for people with birdshot for many, many years and inspired us to set up a UK support group. She helped shape the website and offered us guidance every step of the way.

Phil Hibbert, founder of the Uveitis Information Group and who encouraged us to affiliate BUS with UIG, enabled us to learn more about uveitis by becoming trustees of UIG and by attending national and international conferences, and who helped us link up with patients. We are so grateful for his energy, enthusiasm and knowledge.

Maxine McCarthy for her valuable input early on in the formation of the site. She provided us with editorial skills and valuable research for the sections on the different types of medication and put together most of the website’s original research section.

Nick Bucknall, who contributed information to the original Self-help section of the website.

Krys Dylewska, who gave us her critical analysis of what we needed to change to make the site viable and useful for patients and professionals.

David Bethell, who designed our fabulous logo that has so impressed the healthcare professionals working in birdshot. He has contributed lots more original birdshot related artwork to BUS and worked on the BUS audio and video recordings collection

Tracey Rickard, who came to our rescue when WordPress needed a rebuild and generously donated her valuable time to us. WordPress custom theme web design and web development Thank you so much.

The national and international specialists we met, who have given so freely of their time to educate and encourage us, allowing us access to their own writings to help us develop the site and never once displaying any impatience at our initial naivety. They are the people who inspired us to develop a patient-focused site.

The UK specialists include: Professor Andrew Dick, Professor Philip Murray, Professor Will Ayliffe, Professor John Forrester, Mr Oliver Backhouse and Mr Carlos Pavesio.

The international specialists include: Dr C. Stephen Foster from Boston, Professor Phuc Le Hoang and Professor Bahram Bodaghi from Paris and Professor Manfred Zierhut from Germany.

We are so grateful to each and every one of them, and cannot thank them enough for their support.

Consultants who treated Rea Mattocks, birdshot patient (and co-founder of BUS with Annie Folkard):  Mr Nigel Hall, Dr Fatima Shawkat and Dr John Armitstead, who showed endless patience with her myriad questions. Their contributions are too numerous to mention but include editing the original factsheets on birdshot, ERG testing and DEXA scans. They encouraged us to keep going when we lost faith.

Miss Narciss Okhravi from Moorfields Eye Hospital who has taken a special interest in the development of BUS. We are truly grateful for her inspirational support of our attempts to get BUS out to a wider audience.

All of these people and many more have given freely of their own time. The feedback we have from users of this site demonstrates how useful it has been in helping people with birdshot to feel less isolated and to understand more clearly how treatment will affect their lives; helping families, friends and relatives understand the disease process and the struggles people with birdshot face; and providing understanding of birdshot to healthcare professionals who do not have specific ophthalmology or eye specialisms but who are involved in the care of people with birdshot. This site would never have been able to achieve all of this without the input of the people mentioned above.  We, and the birdshot world, thank them.

Revised June 2024