IFOS Notes:
Expanding Membership, Elections and Revised Statutes

Dear IFOS Members and Potential Members,

Following up on our recent e-mailings to members of the International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies (IFOS), below are more “IFOS Notes.” These cover expansion of IFOS Membership, election of the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) and proposed changes in the Statutes.

There are also reminders to let us know your IFOS Representative and to update your listing for the Directory of International Ophthalmology.

We are sending this mailing to the leaders of other societies that we have invited to apply for membership in IFOS, in addition to current IFOS members. If you don’t want to receive these “IFOS Notes” or want us to use a different e-mail address, please let me know by replying to this message.

(You can review other recent mailings to IFOS members on our Web site at http://www.icoph.org/news/ifos.html).

1. Subspecialties Apply To Join IFOS
More than a dozen international ophthalmologic subspecialty societies and related organizations have applied or told us they will apply to become members of IFOS.

Societies that file an application by December 1 will be considered for IFOS membership when the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) meets in February 2006. If approved, they can participate in the next IFOS General Assembly on Tuesday, February 21 in São Paulo, Brazil, during the World Ophthalmology Congress.

The President of the Congress has generously offered to provide free registration to the official IFOS Representatives from new society members as well as current IFOS members.

Until recently, IFOS membership was limited to the primary national ophthalmologic society in each country. So IFOS has historically had nearly 100 national societies as members.

But IFOS voted in October 2004 to expand its membership to include international subspecialty societies and other organizations that play a critical role in ophthalmology.

We believe that this expansion of IFOS is critical to maintaining cohesiveness in ophthalmology throughout the world, and we look forward to the contribution that subspecialties societies and others will make to help us enhance ophthalmologic education and preserve vision.

All international subspecialty societies are eligible to join IFOS, but the Council decided at our meeting in May to invite the primary international societies in each subspecialty or related area to join, in order to be sure that the leading organization in each area is represented. We have since invited those societies, and most have responded positively.

The ICOwill consider applications for IFOS membership when it meets on February 19 in São Paulo.

Societies that are approved for membership at that time will be eligible to have a Representative at the IFOS General Assembly, which will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, February 21 at the Transamérica Expo Center & Hotel in São Paulo. So we are asking applicants to name an IFOS Representative ahead of time, pending approval.

New and current IFOS members will also be recognized at the Opening Ceremonies of the World Ophthalmology Congress.

See http://www.icoph.org/apply for more information on membership in IFOS and http://www.ophthalmology2006.com.br for more on the Congress.

2. Reminder to Let Us Know Your IFOS Representative
Thanks to all IFOS members who have let ICO Secretary General Bruce Spivey, MD, know who your Representative will be at the IFOS General Assembly in Brazil.

If you have not already done so, please send the name, e-mail and postal address for your IFOS Representative to Bruce at mailto:spivey@icoph.org. We need to hear from you right away to arrange for free registration at the Congress.

Bruce will send the information to the Congress Secretariat, which will register the Representatives and send a confirmation directly to them.

Representatives should make their own hotel reservations, which they can do at: http://www.ophthalmology2006.com.br/hotel2.php.

Also, please let Bruce Spivey know if you or your IFOS Representative needs a formal invitation to the Congress, in order to have your travel approved.

3. Please Update Your Listing for the International Directory of Ophthalmology
The ICO will publish its Directory of International Ophthalmology, which lists all of the national and international ophthalmologic societies and residency programs in the world, soon. We will have it available at the World Ophthalmology Congress in February in Brazil.

For us to make the Directory accurate, we need to obtain up-to-date information from ophthalmologic societies. Specifically, we need to have accurate information on societies and residencies by October 17 in order to include it in the 2006 Directory.

To check your information, see http://www.icoph.org/soc/ifos.cfm. If the listing is not accurate, see http://www.icoph.org/soc/directory.html for information on how to update it.

To protect the security of the database, we ask that national societies update the information on residency programs in your countries.

4. Election of the Next Council
When the Council met in May in Florence, we elected Secretary General Bruce Spivey to be the next Council President, effective at the end of the World Ophthalmology Congress in February 2006 in Brazil.

I believe Bruce Spivey will provide the continuity that is critical to build on the major contributions to ophthalmic education and the preservation of vision that we have made in recent years. The Presidency has traditionally rotated from Asia/Oceana to Europe/Africa to North/South America, and this election continues that rotation.

The terms of the four current officers and all other members of the Council expire at the end of the World Congress in February, and a new slate of officers and other members of the Council will be approved in São Paulo.

Guidelines adopted in 2004 call for the Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary General to be selected, if at all possible, from different supranational regions than the President and each other. The Council’s Executive Committee is now considering individuals from outside North and South America who might fill these critical roles.

To be frank, this is a major challenge. There are many talented individuals who could provide the leadership, but it is hard to find those who have both the time to commit to the increasing responsibilities of officers and financial resources to pay for their own travel on behalf of the ICO and IFOS, which all Council members do.

The Executive Committee will recommend a Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary General for election by the Council in February. The Council will nominate “Ordinary Members” (Council members who are not officers or ex-officio) to be elected by IFOS at its General Assembly.

5. ICO proposes changes in IFOS Statues
In Florence, the Council also voted to recommend changes in the IFOS Statutes for consideration at the General Assembly on February 21 in São Paulo.

One change is to specify that Officers and Members of the Council serve four-year terms that conclude at the end of every other Congress. Other changes reflect the decision made in 2004 to call the Congress the “World Ophthalmology Congress” as well as the traditional “International Congress of Ophthalmology.”

Since the Congresses are now every two years, the presidents of the next two Congresses will sit on the Council if the recommended changes are approved.

You can review the IFOS Statutes with proposed changes at: http://www.icoph.org/ic/statifosprop.html.

We will send you more “IFOS Notes” next month. In the meantime, please let me know if you have questions about the IFOS membership, the General Assembly or the World Congress.

With best regards,

Fritz Naumann

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Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. G.O.H. Naumann

President of the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) (1998-2002-2006)
http://www.icoph.org
mailto:naumann@icoph.org

Professor Emeritus
Department of Ophthalmology
Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg
Schwabachanlage 6
D-91054 Erlangen
Germany

Telefon +49-91 31 / 85 3-44 77
Telefax +49-91 31 / 85 3-64 35