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ICO Leader Letter

July 2010, Volume 7, Number 7

1. ICO Asks Members About the Future

• What could ophthalmologic societies and leaders around the world do that would contribute most to enhancing eye care and eliminating preventable vision loss?
• Which of the ICO’s current programs and initiatives are most valuable?
• What else could we do to enhance ophthalmic education and elevate the level of eye care worldwide?

These are some of the questions that ICO Trustees asked to Representatives of Member Societies at the 2010 General Assembly in June in Berlin, as we initiated a new strategic planning process for international ophthalmology and the ICO.

The small group discussions at the General Assembly were the first step in a process in which we will ask other leaders, educators and individual ophthalmologists for your ideas on the future of our profession and the ICO. We have scheduled two planning sessions where we will consider what we hear and propose priorities for international ophthalmology and more specific strategies and plans for the ICO.

I look forward to hearing your ideas and sharing our plans with you over the next year.  In the meantime, this ICO Leader Letter, reports on more news from the 2010 World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC) in Berlin.

– Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO President

2. Selected WOC 2010 Presentations Online

It is my pleasure to announce the ICO has made 30 scientific and related presentations from various WOC 2010 symposia available for viewing online. The presentations are available at no cost through support from the ICOFoundation.

The WOC 2010 Scientific Program Committee chose these presentations as highlights from more than 600 talks at this year’s Congress. They are available on the ICO Web site at: www.icoph.org/woc2010webcasts.

Content areas include cataract, glaucoma, cornea, retina, eye trauma, pediatric ophthalmology, gene therapy, contact lenses, uveitis and more, with six presentations from the World Ophthalmic Educational Colloquium.

I encourage you to visit the WOC webcasts page to enjoy a sampling of what WOC 2010 had to offer. Please feel free to share the link to these presentations with members of your society and your colleagues.

– Bradley R. Straatsma, MD, JD, ICOFoundation President

3. New ICO Web Site Now Live

The new ICO Web site is now “live” at www.icoph.org. I hope you like the new ICO logo, “identity,” Web site look, and navigation.

Our new site is designed for leaders, educators, and other ophthalmologists to access international ophthalmology news, helpful educational resources, and event listings via simplified navigation.

Some highlights of the new ICO Web site include a searchable listing of news stories, resources for ophthalmic education (such as the ICO Clinical Guidelines and curricula), and a directory of events to help you find meetings that interest you.

If you have news, resources or events you would like us to post on the ICO site, please contact ICO Communications Manager Monica Slater at mslater@icoph.org.

We will soon be adding features that will allow you to customize (save and store) site content; rate, review, and share resources; and connect online with others who share your interests. In the future we would also like to support more languages on the ICO site.

– Rubens Belfort, MD, ICO Director for Communication

4. WOEC Highlights Lifelong Education

The World Ophthalmic Education Colloquium (WOEC) at WOC 2010 highlighted the importance of lifelong education with eight symposia on topics including residency education, new technologies for teaching and learning, training medical students, and subspecialty education.

Introductory keynote presentations provided inspiration to speakers at the beginning of the two-day program:

• WOEC Welcome and Introduction: The Educational Process
  Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO President

• Refocusing Ophthalmic Education: Innovations, ICO Plans and Possibilities
  Mark Tso, MD, DSc, ICO Director for Education

• New Horizons for Medical Education: From 1857 to the Virtual Patient
  Eduardo Mayorga, MD, ICO Director for E-Learning

The presentations are also available at www.icoph.org/woc2010webcasts. The WOEC and Mark Tso were also featured in the June 6 edition of the WOC 2010 Daily News. The article explained the importance of physician education as a critical part of preserving and restoring vision throughout the world. The full story is available at: www.icoph.org/downloads/WOCDailyNews2010WOECtso.pdf (PDF – 600 KB).

– Jean-Jacques De Laey, MD, ICO Secretary General

5. VISION 2020 at WOC 2010, Countdown to 2020

VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, the global initiative for the elimination of avoidable blindness, has seen considerable progress in the first 10 years. There is a great deal left to do, and we have 10 years left to do it.

Topics of VISION 2020 symposia at WOC 2010 included Vision 2020 at the midpoint, blindness prevention in Africa, the challenges of building comprehensive eye care programs, brain drain, economics of blindness, and many more.

A poignant five-minute video recognizing the midpoint of the VISION 2020 global initiative was shown at the WOC 2010 opening ceremony.  You can view it on the VISION 2020 Web site at: www.youtube.com/user/IAPBVISION2020.

“Countdown to 2020" is the theme of World Sight Day this October 14, 2010. An interactive exhibition at WHO Headquarters in Geneva, a gala event for IAPB members and supporters, and the State of the World’s Sight report on the first 10 years of VISION 2020 are a few of the many activities planned to mark the occasion.

For more information and updates, see the VISION 2020 Web site: www.vision2020.org.

– Hugh Taylor, AC, MD, ICO Treasurer

6. ICO Fellowship Reunion for Hosts and Fellows

For the first time since the ICO Fellowships program began, 64 ICO Fellows, 14 Hosts, seven local experts, and program sponsors gathered to meet and share ideas last month at WOC 2010 in Berlin.

After a brief welcome and introduction by Bruce Spivey, MD and myself, a special warm welcome was given to Professor Balder Gloor, the founder of the ICO Fellowships program. The group heard from Robert Ritch, MD; of New York and Richard Collin, FRCS, DO; two popular program hosts. Former fellows from all over the world shared anecdotes, stories and experiences. Arnab Biwas, FRCS, of India presented his book on Ptosis, which he wrote as a result of his fellowship with Jean-Paul Adenis, MD, in Limoges, France.

Attendees learned from one another and all seemed to enjoy meeting face-to-face with others who had experienced the ICO Fellowships, though each in a unique and different way. The reunion was a wonderful success and we hope to be able to hold a similar gathering at the next WOC in Abu Dhabi in 2012.

I would like to remind you the next application deadline for the ICO Fellowships program is September 30, 2010. The following application deadline is March 31, 2011. For more information on ICO Fellowships, including how to apply, see http://www.icoph.org/fellow.

– Veit-Peter Gabel, MD, ICO Director for Fellowships

More News

For more news of the ICO and international ophthalmology and resources for ophthalmologic leaders, see the ICO’s Web site at www.icoph.org.

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 ophthalmologic leaders? Please let us know at leader@icoph.org.

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