Cherie Hubbell, co-chair of the Affiliates' Advisory Board, is an incurable volunteer. It all began when she handed out campaign buttons for her older brother's successful bid to be President of their elementary school. Since then, she has served on enumerable committees and held offices for various organizations including her high school in Oregon, Married Student Housing at Stanford University, Bay Area Camp Fire Girls, her Palisades Highlands HOA, Karl Kirchgessner Foundation and of course the Affiliates.

Since joining the Affiliates' at its inception in 1990, she has actively participated in all aspects of the community outreach and patient services programs. She has found the most personal reward in teaching the Vision In-School curriculum to 4th-6th grade students in schools from Manhattan Beach to North Hollywood .

Cherie earned her bachelor's degree in Bacteriology from UC Berkeley in 1976. Soon there after, she joined husband Wayne's research program in the Department of Chemistry and served as laboratory manager and research scientist with an expertise in electron microscopy. She also gave much needed assistance to the administration of his first year chemistry courses with enrollments exceeding 700 students.

In 1983, after 13 years at Berkeley, they were lured to UCLA where Wayne became the first Jules Stein Professor of Ophthalmology and in 1994, Associate Director of the JSEI. Cherie continues to serve as his laboratory manager and regularly assists him in administrative and teaching duties. Research in the Hubbell Lab is focused on understanding the molecular details of the chemical processes in the eye that lead to vision.

Cherie, who is a native Oregonian, finds the sunshine of Southern California quite compatible with her passion for bicycling, backpacking, desert exploration, birding and anything else outdoors. But she finds her greatest joy in being Ranch Grandma to Gannon and Marin.