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ICO Leader Letter

February 2011, Volume 8, Number 2

1. ICO to Develop Online Center for Ophthalmic Educators

For some time, the ICO has focused on ophthalmic education, recognizing its key role in the preservation and restoration of sight throughout the world.

Among other initiatives, we have organized popular Residency Program Directors’ Courses since 2004, offered participants in those Courses additional learning and support with World Ophthalmic Residency Development (WORD, www.icoword.org), and created the new Conferences for Ophthalmic Educators in cooperation with supranational and national societies.

We will now further support and assist ophthalmic educators with the development of a new ICO Center for Ophthalmic Educators. This new online center will focus on helping educators to enhance their teaching skills with curricula, tips and tools, ways to collaborate, and more.

The ICO Center for Ophthalmic Educators will be designed for residency program directors and faculty; those involved in continuing professional development/continuing medical education; teachers of subspecialists, medical students, and allied eye care personnel; and anyone involved in ophthalmic education.

To learn more about the plans for the Center for Ophthalmic Educators, and to be notified when the center is launched, please send an email to education@icoph.org. I look forward to sharing our progress with you later this year.

– Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO President

2. Remarkable Response to 2011 Conferences for Educators

We have received an overwhelming response for our first regional Conference for Educators in Sydney next month.

We now have many more people interested than we have seats available at the first Conference for Educators this March 18–19 in Sydney (co-sponsored by the APAO and RANZCO). Unfortunately, enrollment is now closed, but we do have a waiting list should there be any cancellations. 

To view the agenda for the Sydney Conference, see www.icoph.org/ConferenceforEducatorsSydneyAgenda.pdf (PDF – 98 KB).

There is still space available in the next Conference for Educators, July 5, 2011, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, though it is filling quickly. This Conference is co-sponsored by the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology (PAAO) and the Argentine Council of Ophthalmology (CAO), and will be held in conjunction with the 19th Pan-American Congress of Ophthalmology (www.paao2011buenosaires.org.ar), July 7–9, 2011.

For more details on the Buenos Aires Conference for Ophthalmic Educators, please see www.icoph.org/events/ConferenceBuenosAires.

To receive a formal invitation to the Buenos Aires Conference, write to us at education@icoph.org.

– Karl Golnik, MD, Chair, Steering Committee on Regional Conferences for Ophthalmic Educators

3. ICO Residency Curriculum Revision Project

Also in support of educators, the ICO Education Committee has begun a process to update the 2006 ICO residency curriculum entitled, Principles and Guidelines of a Curriculum for Education of the Ophthalmic Specialist. The current version can be downloaded from www.icoph.org/icocurricres2006 (PDF – 2.4 MB).

Led by Andrew Lee, MD, the project will update the existing three levels (basic, standard, advanced) and incorporate a new fourth level of training, corresponding to a "subspecialist" or "fellowship" level that the current curriculum does not include. In addition, a section on community eye health will be added.

This fourth level of training will serve as the basis for the future development of subspecialty curricula, with cornea, glaucoma, pediatrics and oculo-plastic surgery as the first to be developed, in conjunction with the relevant ICO subspecialty society members.

The Committee intends to have drafts of the updated residency curriculum for public comment in the coming months, and to complete the first draft of the subspecialty curricula by sometime in 2012. I look forward to sharing news of our progress with you soon.

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

4. WOC 2012 Scientific Program Highlights, Registration March 7

We are already counting down the days until to the World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC), February 16–20, 2012 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), www.woc2012.org.

To match the culture of growth and innovation of the Gulf cities in the UAE, the scientific program committee, coordinators, chairs and participating societies are developing an exceptional scientific program for you to experience at WOC 2012 in Abu Dhabi.

New topics for 2012 include an eye care personnel educational program; an invited video program; ocular imaging; ophthalmic history; and ophthalmic practice models and socioeconomics; and a re-invigorated World Forum for Sight (formerly World Forum of Prevention of Blindness/VISION 2020).

The invited scientific program now has 203 session topics confirmed, with 58 sessions organized by ICO members and other participating societies. It will cover 35 subspecialties and areas, with several new topics for 2012.

For more details on the WOC 2012 scientific program thus far, see www.icoph.org/downloads/WOC2012ScientificProgramFactSheet.pdf (PDF – 88.5 KB).

You may register for WOC 2012 beginning Monday, March 7 at www.woc2012.org/registration.html.

I hope you will make plans to join us in Abu Dhabi next year to enjoy a diverse World Congress scientific program in a unique cultural setting.

– Peter Wiedemann, MD, WOC 2012 Scientific Program Committee Chair

5. Fred Hollows Foundation Supports ICO Fellows from Pakistan

The ICO International Fellowships program has established a new collaboration with the Fred Hollows Foundation (www.hollows.org) to support 16 three-month international fellowships for young Pakistani eye doctors during the next three years. These fellows will train in pediatric and vitreo-retinal ophthalmology and will share their knowledge in their home country of Pakistan upon completion of their training.

In 2010, we were able to sponsor 80 fellows, raising our total number since the program began to 485.

The next ICO International Fellowships application deadline is March 31, 2011. Interested candidates can find information on how to apply at www.icoph.org/refocusing_education/fellowships/how_to_apply.html.

I would appreciate anything you might do to help raise awareness of the ICO Fellowships with your colleagues, particularly in developing countries.

– Peter Gabel, MD, ICO Director for Fellowships

6. World Glaucoma Week, March 6–12, 2011

World Glaucoma Week (WGW) 2011, sponsored by the World Glaucoma Association and the World Glaucoma Patient Association, is March 6-12. This year’s WGW theme is "Don't Lose Sight of Your Family."

The theme is designed to remind glaucoma patients that when they are diagnosed with glaucoma, the risk of other family members also developing glaucoma is increased several times.

The new WGW Web site is available at: www.wgweek.net. The site offers ways to get involved, from creating an event and arranging media coverage, to registering and sharing activity ideas. You will also find examples of past events and other ideas for getting the word out about glaucoma, and for publicizing the importance of early detection.

– Robert Ritch, MD, ICO Advisory Committee Chair

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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