ICO Leader Letter:
Feedback Requested on Curriculum Guidelines for Educating Medical Students

June 2004, Volume 1, Number 3

In This Issue:

1. Ophthalmology Should Be Included in the Core Curriculum for Medical Students (Fritz Naumann, MD)

2. Feedback Requested on Curriculum Guidelines for Medical Student Education (Mark Tso, MD)

3. ICO Celebrates 100th Congress of Hungarian Ophthalmology Society (Bruce Spivey, MD)

4. IFOS/ICO Fellowships Awarded to 19 Young Ophthalmologists (Balder Gloor, MD)

5. Community Eye Health Journal Focuses on Low Vision Care

6. Reminder: IFOS Meeting October 23, 2004 in New Orleans (Bruce Spivey, MD)

7. More News from the ICO Eye Site

8. Request for other News and Resources

9. Forward the ICO Leader Letter to your Colleagues

10. Coming in the July ICO Leader Letter

11. Comments, Change of Address, Privacy Policy, Subscribe and Unsubscribe

1. Ophthalmology Should Be Included in the Core Curriculum for Medical Students

Dear Colleagues:

Fritz Naumann, MD

We believe that education of other physicians in ophthalmology is critical to preserving and restoring vision for people around the world.

To help national ophthalmologic societies work toward this goal in their countries, an ICO international task force has drafted Curriculum Guidelines for medical student education in ophthalmology.

In this issue of the ICO Leader Letter, we ask for your feedback on the draft Curriculum Guidelines and report other news of international ophthalmology and resources for leaders.

– Fritz Naumann, MD, ICO President

2. Feedback Requested on Curriculum Guidelines for Medical Student Education

Mark Tso, MD

The current draft of "International Curriculum Guidelines on Medical Student Education in Ophthalmology" is available on the ICO Eye Site, starting at: www.icoph.org/med/index.html and can be downloaded as a PDF file at: www.icoph.org/pdf/icocurricmed.pdf.

Chaired by Richard Parrish, MD, the Task Force defined the Curriculum Guidelines based on review of sample curricula and responses to a survey of ophthalmologic societies around the world.

The Guidelines are intended to help each country and medical school define their own curriculum reflecting the time available to teach ophthalmology and local disease patterns.

We would appreciate your comments on two questions:

1. Do you agree that those areas of ophthalmic knowledge and skills designated as essential (with a single "*") in the draft Guidelines are important to teach to all medical students?

2. Do you believe it would be useful for the ICO to provide links on its Web site to images that illustrate aspects of the curriculum (e.g., different stages of diabetic retinopathy) for medical students who do not have ready access to printed material? 

Please send your comments to Task Force Chair Richard Parrish, MD, at medical@icoph.org. Thank you in advance for your feedback.

– Mark Tso, MD, ICO Vice President and Education Coordinator

3. ICO Celebrates 100th Congress of Hungarian Ophthalmological Society

Bruce Spivey, MD

We congratulate the Hungarian Society and its members for their contributions to ophthalmology and eye care, not only in Hungary but for their rich tradition throughout the world.

– Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO Secretary General

4. IFOS/ICO Fellowships Awarded to 19 Young Ophthalmologists

Balder Gloor, MD

The IFOS/ICO Fellowships were organized to help young ophthalmologists, especially those from developing nations, improve their practical skills and broaden their perspectives of ophthalmology.

Fellows are expected to bring the acquired knowledge and skills back to their country of origin and take part in programs to preserve and restore vision in their country.

The Fellowships generally last three months and are now available from 45 ophthalmology departments and programs around the world. Deadlines to apply are March 31 and September 30 of each year.

For more information on Fellowship policies and the application process, see www.icoph.org/fellow or contact me at bgloor@access.unizh.ch.

- Balder Gloor, MD ICO Treasurer and Fellowship Coordinator

5. Community Eye Health Journal Focuses on Low Vision Care

The latest issue of the Journal of Community Eye Health, which focuses on low vision, is available online at www.jceh.co.uk/.

Included in the issue are:

- An editorial on "Low Vision Care: The Need to Maximise Visual Potential" by ICO Advisory Committee Member Ramachandra Pararajasegaram, FRCS, FRCP, FRCOphth (www.jceh.co.uk/journal/49_01.asp)

- "Vision Assessment and Prescription of Low Vision Devices" by Jill Keeffe, PhD (www.jceh.co.uk/journal/49_02.asp)

- The Vision 2020 "Standard List for Low Vision Services," defined by the WHO/IAPB Low Vision Working Group (www.jceh.co.uk/journal/49_05.asp)

The next issue of the Journal will focus on childhood cataract.

6. Reminder: IFOS Meeting October 23, 2004 in New Orleans

The International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies (IFOS), for which the ICO is the executive body, will meet from 2:30 to 5:00 p.m. on October 23, 2004 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, just prior to the joint meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and European Ophthalmological Society (SOE). There will be a reception following the meeting.

See www.aao.org/aao/annual_meeting/ for more on the Academy/SOE meeting and www.aao.org/aao/annual_meeting/hotels/index.cfm for hotel accommodations. Housing reservations can be made starting June 23 for AAO/SOE members and July 7 for non-members.

Leaders of all ophthalmologic societies are invited to attend the IFOS General Assembly and reception, but only official IFOS Representatives from member societies that have paid their dues will be eligible to vote.

IFOS is currently composed of national ophthalmologic societies, but the ICO will recommend expanding IFOS to include subspecialty and other international societies, each with voting rights.

If you have questions about the IFOS meeting, contact me at spivey@icoph.org.

- Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO Secretary-General

7. More News

For more news of the ICO and international ophthalmology and resources for ophthalmologic leaders, see the ICO's Eye Site at www.icoph.org.

8. Request for Other News and Resources

Do you have other news of international ophthalmology or know resources (particularly on the Web) that would be valuable to society leaders? Please let us know at leader@icoph.org.

9. Forward the ICO Leader Letter to your Colleagues:

If there are other ophthalmologic leaders you think might be interested in seeing this ICO Leader Letter, please forward this issue to them by clicking on this link:

10. Coming in the July ICO Leader Letter:

XXX International Congress of Ophthalmology, February 19 - 24, 2006 in São Paulo, Brazil

11. Comments, Change of Address, Privacy Policy, Subscribe and Unsubscribe

Send comments and suggestions for the Leader Letter to leader@icoph.org.

You are subscribed as recipient@youraddress.com. Change your address by sending e-mail to: leader@icoph.org.

We do not share e-mail addresses with anyone else. Check our privacy policy at: www.icoph.org/ic/privacy.html.

To subscribe to the Leader Letter, visit www.icoph.org/news/subscribe.html.

To unsubscribe, reply to this e-mail and type “unsubscribe” (without the quotes) as the subject, click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page, or send an e-mail to leader@icoph.org.

For other issues of the ICO Leader Letter, go to www.icoph.org/news/letters.html#archive.

Back to the top

Copyright © 2004 International Council of Ophthalmology. All rights reserved.
945 Green Street, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA