Ophthalmic Education:

Educational Meetings

On this page:

• Upcoming supranational society congresses
  
  
• Other upcoming congresses and meetings
  
  
• 2010 World Congress in Berlin
  
  
• MEACO will host 2012 WOC in Abu Dhabi
  
  
• 2014 WOC will be March 28 – April 4 in Tokyo
  
  
• 2016 WOC in the Americas, Host To Be Selected in 2010
  

• Lists of international ophthalmological meetings
  
  
• Previous International Congresses of Ophthalmology and Congresses of the Societas Ophthalmologica Europea (SOE)

Upcoming supranational society congresses

• November 8 - 11, 2008, Joint meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE), Atlanta, Georgia, USA (www.aao.org/meetings/annual_meeting)
  
  
• March 26 - 30, 2009, X International Congress of the Middle East African Council of Ophthalmology (MEACO), Bahrain (www.meaco.org)
  
  
• May 16 - 19, 2009, 24th Congress of the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology, Bali, Indonesia (www.apao2009bali.org)
  
  
• June 13  - 16, 2009, 17th Congress of the European Society of Ophthalmology, Amsterdam (www.soe2009.org)
  
  
• October 24 - 27, 2009, Joint Meeting of the 29th Pan-American Congress of Ophthalmology and the 113th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, San Francisco, California, USA

Other upcoming congresses and meetings

• August 25 - 28, 2008, 8th General Assembly of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, Buenos Aires, Argentina (8ga.iapb.org)
  
  
• October 1 - 4, 2008, European Association for Vision and Eye Research (EVER), Portoroz, Slovenia (www.ever.be/c_page.php?id=197)
  
  
• January 15 – 18, 2009, Asia ARVO 2009, Hyderabad, India (www.asiaarvo2009.org), co-sponsored by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and the Indian Eye Research Group, abstracts due by August 15, 2008, with early registration until August 31

2010 World Congress in Berlin

The next World Ophthalmology Congress® will be June 5 – 9, 2010, in Berlin, hosted by the German Ophthalmological Society (DOG) and co-hosted by the German Academy of Ophthalmology (AAD).

Congress President Gerhard Lang, MD, reported to the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) in Hong Kong on plans for the 2010 WOC, which will incorporate XXXII World Ophthalmology Congress, the 108th Congress of the DOG  and AAD 2010.

2008 WOC Scientific Program Director Stephen Ryan, MD, will work with Professor Gabriele Lang, MD, on the scientific program for Berlin, with Congress General Secretary Anselm Kampik, MD, organizing the program for the AAD. The 2010 WOC will also offer subspecialty days and instruction courses.

The main social event will be a Bavarian-style Octoberfest, to be called the WOCtoberfest. For more information, see www.woc2010.de.

The World Ophthalmology Congress was previously held in Germany in Heidelberg in 1888 and Munich in 1966.

MEACO will host 2012 WOC in Abu Dhabi

At its meeting in Hong Kong, the ICO approved Abu Dhabi, capital city of the United Arab Emirates, as the site for 2012 World Ophthalmology Congress®, which will be hosted by the Middle East African Council of Ophthalmology (MEACO).

"We are excited to be meeting in Abu Dhabi in 2012," commented ICO President Bruce E. Spivey, MD, who visited Abu Dhabi with ICO Executive Director Bill Felch just prior to the WOC in Hong Kong. "It is an appealing location with excellent facilities and a strong commitment to support the WOC.”

“This is the first time in 150 years that the World Ophthalmology Congress will be held in the Middle East African Region, and MEACO proposed Abu Dhabi as the site,” said MEACO President Abdulaziz AlRajhi, MD. “MEACO will strive to fulfill the trust placed in it by the ICO and the international ophthalmic community and make this a truly historic meeting.”

The 2012 WOC was originally scheduled in Chicago in conjunction with the American Academy of Ophthalmology. But the WOC developed into a major international Congress, and ICO and Academy leaders agreed in 2007 that it would be impossible for the WOC to fit within the framework of the AAO Annual Meeting or for the Academy to fit within a WOC.

The Council invited the Middle East African Council of Ophthalmology (MEACO) to host the 2012 WOC and has now approved Abu Dhabi as the site, with the Congress most likely to be scheduled in February.

2014 WOC will be March 28 – April 4 in Tokyo

In March 2007, the ICO selected the Japanese Ophthalmological Society as the host for the 2014 World Ophthalmology Congress®, in Tokyo. It has been scheduled for March 28 to April 4 at the Tokyo International Forum, during cherry blossom time.

2016 WOC in the Americas, Host To Be Selected in 2010

At its meeting in Hong Kong, the ICO approved a recommendation from its Strategic Planning Committee and Officers that the World Ophthalmology Congress® (WOC), rotate in the future among four regions: Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East/Africa and the Americas. Previously, the Congress rotated among three regions, with Europe, the Middle East and Africa combined into one.

The 2016 WOC will be in the Americas. It will have been 10 years by then since the previous meeting in the Americas, in Sao Paulo in 2006. Proposals for sites for the 2016 WOC will be due early in 2010, for consideration by the ICO Board when it meets in Berlin in June 2010.

The 2018 WOC will be in Europe, and ICO Board will consider proposals for that Congress when it meets in 2012 in Abu Dhabi.

See the new Policy on Future World Ophthalmology Congresses adopted in Hong Kong.

Lists of international ophthalmological meetings:

• Ophthalmological Meetings - Lund University
  
  
• Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology Listing of Events

Previous International Congresses of Ophthalmology and Congresses of the Societas Ophthalmologica Europea (SOE)

A list of past meetings of the World Ophthalmology Congress and the Congresses of the Societas Ophthalmologica Europea (SOE) are available on the ICO Eye Site.

Next: Courses

Also see: ICO Ophthalmic Education Programs