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ICO Leader Letter

January 2011, Volume 8, Number 1

1. Join Us for the 2011 APAO Congress in Sydney

The Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) and the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) invite you to join us at the 26th APAO Congress in Sydney, Australia, March 20–24 at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Center on the waterfront at Darling Harbor.

The ICO is a co-sponsor of the 2011 APAO Congress, which will feature experts in all specialties in ophthalmology. We have organized a Conference for Educators prior to the Congress (see item #2 below), and the ICO Board and Advisory Committee will meet to continue our strategic planning process.

The APAO's congresses are the premier ophthalmic meetings in the Asia Pacific. We look forward to the participation of ophthalmologists from around the world.

I hope you will join us this March in Sydney. Online registration, housing, and visa application information is available on the Congress Web site at www.apaosydney2011.com.

– Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO President

2. Register Now to Attend the Conference for Educators

If you are planning to be at the APAO Congress in Sydney, you are invited to attend the Conference for Ophthalmic Educators on March 18 and 19, 2011 at the Sheraton on the Park hotel.

The Conference is co-sponsored by the ICO, APAO and The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO), with Karl Golnik, MD, who leads the ICO Courses for Residency Program Directors, chairing an organizing committee.

The Conference will feature:

• Keynotes and plenary sessions on adult learning, trends in medical education, residency training and continuing professional development
• Interactive practical workshops on educational techniques and tools, such as teaching surgery and non-clinical competencies, e-learning, evaluation of trainees and virtual patients
• Special interest group meetings of educators involved in teaching residents, subspecialists, medical students, allied personnel and in CME.

The full agenda is available at www.icoph.org/downloads/ConferenceforEducatorsSydneyAgenda.pdf. 

If you are interested in participating, please register at www.icoph.org/rsvp/Conference_for_Educators_Sydney_2011.html. Very few spots are still available.

There are no registration fees, but participants will need to cover their own travel and personal costs.

More information on the July 5, 2011 Conference for Ophthalmic Educators in Buenos Aires will be forthcoming. If you might like to attend, send an e-mail to education@icoph.org, and we will include you on our list to receive a personal invitation and more details.

– Mark O.M. Tso, MD, DSc, ICO Director for Education

3. Access to Cataract Surgical Services: A Position and Policy Statement

Un-operated cataract remains the major cause of avoidable blindness and severe visual impairment in low and many middle-income countries.

The ICO has spent several years reviewing the status of cataract and the delivery of cataract services worldwide, culminating in an official document: Access to Cataract Surgical Services: A Position and Policy Statement.

I invite you to download the policy from: www.icoph.org/cataractstatement. This policy is meant to call attention to the wide disparities in access to cataract services, particularly for the poor and those living in rural areas. After considerable discussion and numerous iterations, the policy was approved by the ICO Board of Trustees in late 2010.

The ICO will focus our interests and energies on increasing the number of well-trained ophthalmologists, as ultimately that is in the best interests of all patients. We appreciate the thoughtful discussions and suggestions that helped shape this final document, and the collegial approach taken by all.

– Al Sommer, MD, ICO Director for Research

4. New Leadership at the ICOFoundation

I am pleased to announce that Steve Ryan, MD, has assumed the leadership of the ICOFoundation as president of the Board of Directors. Dr. Ryan is President of the Doheny Eye Institute and Grace and Emery Beardsley Chair of Ophthalmology at the University of Southern California, United States. As Scientific Program Director, he shaped the very popular 2006, 2008 and 2010 World Ophthalmology Congress programs, and we are fortunate he will now contribute his talents to the ICOFoundation.

The ICO wouldn’t be what it is today without the vision and determination of Dr. Bradley Straatsma, who founded and has led the ICOFoundation since 2002. Brad’s unique capacity to organize, strategize, and tenaciously pursue funding opportunities has given life to ICO programs on residency education, diabetic retinopathy in China, and ophthalmic training and care in several developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

We are fortunate to have been the beneficiaries of Brad’s time and energy. He has generously agreed to continue to serve on the ICOFoundation Board of Directors and to continue to seek support for the new Magrabi–ICO Cameroon Eye Center along with several other key programs.

Please join me in celebrating the dedication and exceptional service of Dr. Straatsma, and in welcoming Dr. Ryan to his new position. We look forward to continued success. For more on the ICOFoundation, see www.icofoundation.org.

– Jean-Jacques DeLaey, MD, ICO Secretary General

5. 2011 ICO Advanced Examination will be October 13

The first ICO Advanced Examination was offered on October 21, 2010, with 173 candidates participating at 39 exam centers in 22 countries. Successful candidates who had also passed a local face-to-face examination were awarded a “Fellow of the ICO” (FICO) certificate and had their names added to the ICO Examinations Web site: www.icoexams.org/results.

The ICO Advanced Examination is offered to ophthalmologists who have passed the complete Basic Science (including Optics & Refraction) and the Clinical Science Exams or an examination of similar standard recognized by the ICO Examinations Committee. The 2011 Advanced Exam will be held October 13, 2011.

This year’s Standard ICO Examinations are fast approaching and candidates have until January 31 to submit an application form. The Standard Examination will take place April 7, 2011 at more than 103 exam centers in 65 countries, and the results will be available in June.

Applications for the Standard Examination can either be made directly to the ICO office in London or through the local coordinator. For further information please see the ICO Exams Web site, www.icoexams.org, or email the Examinations team at assess@icoph.org.

– David Taylor, FRCOphth, ICO Director for Examinations

6. ICO Surgical Safety Checklist

I would like to remind you the ICO has developed a Surgical Safety Checklist to support doctors in the quest to eliminate “Never Ever Events” in ophthalmic surgery.

The ICO Surgical Safety Checklist is available for download from: www.icoph.org/downloads/ICOSurgicalSafetyCheckList09.pdf. I hope you will use it and share it widely.

 We designed this checklist to be as helpful and easy-to-use as possible. It can be placed in the dressing room of surgeons and nurses, in the scrubbing room, and perhaps also in the operating room as a reminder on avoiding mistakes.

For more educational, eye care and leadership resources, see the ICO’s searchable resource directory at www.icoph.org/resources.html.

– G.O.H. “Fritz” Naumann, MD, ICO Immediate Past President

7. Next ICO Meetings and World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC)

• ICO Board of Trustees: March 17–18, 2011, Sydney, Australia
• ICO General Assembly: February 16, 2012, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
• World Ophthalmology Congress®: February 16–20, 2012, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (www.woc2012.org)

Upcoming ICO Meetings and World Ophthalmology Congresses

Conference for Ophthalmic Educators, Busan, Korea, April 12:
New Techniques to Enhance Teaching and Learning

• Register online to attend: icoph.org/rsvp/Busan

World Ophthalmology Congress Meetings

• WOC2014: Tokyo, Japan, April 2-6, 2014, www.woc2014.org
• WOC2016: Guadalajara, Mexico, February 5–9, 2016
• WOC2018: Barcelona, Spain (provisional selection, dates to be announced)

More News

For more news of the ICO and international ophthalmology and resources for ophthalmologic leaders, see the ICO 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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