(For previous issues of the ICO Leader Letter, see www.icoph.org/news/letters.html.)
As Sir Stewart Duke-Elder reported in A Century of International Ophthalmology (written in 1957 for the International Council of Ophthalmology), 150 delegates from 24 countries participated in the first International Congress in Brussels on September 13 to 16, 2007. They presented 34 papers! The World Congress in Hong Kong will be the 31st International Congress of Ophthalmology. We are hoping to have more than 10,000 ophthalmologists from around the world, with literally thousands contributing to the scientific program. This year is also the 80th anniversary of the founding of the ICO. As Sir Duke-Elder reported, "We had to wait till 1927 before the idea of a permanent organizing committee was revived and the International Council was formed, and until 1933 before all the voluntary participating ophthalmological societies of the world were integrated with its activities by the formation of the International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies." As ICO Past President Fritz Naumann, MD, likes to say, "We stand on the shoulders of our predecessors." Looking at the ambitious agenda for the Council meeting at the end of March in Cape Town, I anticipate that 2007 will also be an historic year for international ophthalmology. - Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO President 2. Registration Open for 2008 World Congress in Hong Kong 
Registration is now open at www.woc2008hongkong.org for the 2008 World Ophthalmology Congress, June 28 - July 2 in Hong Kong. This will be the 31st International Congress of Ophthalmology, the 23rd Congress of Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology, the 13th Congress of Chinese Ophthalmological Society and the 20th Hong Kong Ophthalmological Symposium. We are expecting at least 10,000 ophthalmologists to participate. Scientific Program Committee Chair Stephen Ryan, MD, and the organizing committee have invited internationally recognized leaders to act as scientific coordinators in 32 subspecialties and related fields. The coordinators are working with members of IFOS to recruit symposia chairs, moderators and speakers and create an outstanding scientific program. Abstract submission and hotel reservations for speakers will open on July 1. - Dennis Lam, MD, ICO Council Member and President, WOC 2008 3. Professor Arthur Lim Honored with Naumann Award
Dr. Lim was selected by the Naumann Award Committee from individuals nominated by national and supranational ophthalmologic societies. The Founder of the Singapore National Eye Center, Dr. Lim is former Secretary General of the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology and was the President of the XXVIth International Congress of Ophthalmology in Singapore in 1990. He will make a presentation to the ICO at our meeting in Cape Town in March. The award was created by the Council last February in recognition of the leadership that Fritz Naumann, MD, provided as ICO President from 1998 to 2006 and the importance that he placed on ophthalmologists providing leadership for the preservation of vision worldwide. The Naumann Award will be made to one ophthalmologist each year who, acting as a leader of an IFOS member society, has made a significant contribution to global eye care. - Akef El-Maghraby, MD, ICO Vice President 4. March 31 Deadline To Apply for IFOS/ICO Fellowship
"This is the happiest day of my life," was the message we received this week from a young ophthalmologist in response to our notification that she had been awarded an IFOS/ICO Fellowship. The deadline to apply for the next round of IFOS/ICO Fellowships is March 31. A new introduction to the Fellowships, instructions and application forms can be downloaded from www.icoph.org/pdf/ICOFellowship.pdf. The three-month IFOS/ICO Fellowships were organized to help promising young ophthalmologists from developing nations improve their practical skills and broaden their perspectives of ophthalmology. Fellows are expected to bring their acquired knowledge and skills back to their native country and participate in programs to preserve vision and prevent blindness. Since former ICO Treasurer Balder Gloor, MD, created the Fellowships in 2000, we have been able to support 230 Fellows. We will add new hosts for Fellowships in the months ahead. For further information, contact the Fellowships Office at fellowship@icoph.org. - Veit-Peter Gabel, MD, ICO Director for Fellowships 5. Please Answer Questions on Teaching of Ethics
The ICO Ethics Committee and Ethics Committee of the American Academy of Ophthalmology want to assess the extent to which ethics is taught in residency programs around the world. We ask national ophthalmologic society leaders and others involved with residency training to answer the three questions below, either by replying to this Leader Letter or in a separate e-mail to ethics@icoph.org. Here are the questions: 1. Does your residency program (or programs) have a formal ethics curriculum? (Please exclude interactions incidental to clinical education, such as informal guidance and teaching by example.) __ YES __ NO 2. If your answer is YES to question #1, what methods are used? Lectures: __ YES __ NO Seminars: __ YES __ NO Written materials: __ YES __ NO 3. If your answer is NO to question #1, are you interested in information about introducing a formal ethics curriculum? __ YES __ NO Please include your name and position in your response. Thank you. - Pinar Aydin, MD, PhD, Chair, ICO Ethics Committee 6. ICO Roundtable on Leadership at APAO Congress in Lahore Ophthalmologic society leaders who will be at the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology meeting next week in Lahore, Pakistan are invited to participate in an ICO World Ophthalmology Roundtable on Leadership Development (WORLD) on February 25. Members of the Council and APAO and leaders from the region will speak on leadership, development of ophthalmologic societies, new approaches to ophthalmic education and effective advocacy. We will also ask participants about their needs as ophthalmologists and society leaders and how the ICO might help them and their societies. The Forum will be from 8:30 to 11:45 a.m. on February 25th at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Lahore. If you are interested in participating, please contact ICO Executive Director Bill Felch at wfelch@icoph.org right away. There is a limit of 30 participants, and we would like to have as many different countries represented as possible. The APAO Congress is February 24 to 28 in Lahore in conjunction with the Golden Jubilee of the Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan. See www.apao2007.com. - Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO President 7. Next ICO and IFOS Meetings and World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC)
Other future ICO/IFOS Meetings: www.icoph.org/lead/icomeet.html. 8. Coming in the March ICO Leader Letter: Agenda for Council Meeting in Cape Town 9. 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. 10. 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. 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 [contact-Email]. 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. You can read this ICO Leader Letter online at www.icoph.org/news/leader0702.html. For previous issues, go to www.icoph.org/news/letters.html. Copyright © 2007 International Council of Ophthalmology. All rights reserved.  International Council of OphthalmologyHome | News | About ICO/IFOS | ICOFoundation | Contact | Find |
