Getting ready for ARVO 2017: New president, special OCT issue

Meet ARVO’s new president

Members of ARVO welcomed Emily Y. Chew, MD, FARVO, of the National Eye Institute/National Institutes of Health (NEI/NIH) as the association’s new president immediately following the ARVO 2016 Annual Meeting. Dr. Chew serves as the deputy director of the Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications, deputy clinical director, and the chief of the clinical trials branch at NEI/NIH.

Related: 10 things you may have missed at ARVO 2016

“I am looking forward to ARVO leading the way in helping us unite our scientific communities and translate technical advances for meaningful and impactful clinical applications,” she said in the spring 2016 issue of ARVONews.

An ARVO member in the Clinical/Epidemiological Research (CL) Section since 1983, Dr. Chew has served as the CL Section of the Annual Meeting Program Committee, chair of the Awards Committee and a member of editorial board of ARVO’s Investigative Ophthalmology & Vision Science (IOVS) journal.

IOVS releases special issue on OCT

Did you know it has been 25 years since vision researchers developed the innovative OCT? To commemorate this milestone, ARVO has released a special issue of IOVS - publishing more than 70 papers from authors on five continents in the online-only, open access peer-review journal.

Related: How ARVO meeting paves path for personalized medicine

The OCT special issue, released in July, covers a wide range of topics of interest to clinicians, such as OCT technology and methods, cornea/anterior, retina, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma.

“It is now evident that OCT has transformed the practice of retina and glaucoma clinicians,” says OCT co-inventor and guest editor David Huang, MD, PhD, of Oregon Health and Science University. “This is also a time when two new exciting trends in OCT have taken off: OCT angiography and intraoperative OCT.”

Recent: SD-OCT: Enhanced visualization earlier in disease process

Anchoring the issue are seven invited review articles from pioneering research groups in their respective fields. Among those included are:

•         “Clinical Utility of OCT in Glaucoma,” by researchers in the lab of Joel Schuman, MD, of New York University

•        “Optical Coherence Tomography and the Development of Anti-Angiogenic Therapies in Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration,” by Philip J Rosenfeld, MD, PhD, at the University of Miami

•        “Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography,” by researchers in the lab of David Huang, MD, PhD, OHSU

•        “Optical coherence tomography for retinal surgery: perioperative analysis to real-time four-dimensional image-guided surgery,” by researchers in the labs of Joseph Izatt, PhD, and Cynthia Toth, MD, at Duke University
   

To read the IOVS special issue on OCT, visit iovs.arvojournals.org/ss/octissue.aspx.

ARVO-Asia 2017 in Australia

Attend ARVO-Asia 2017 in Brisbane, Australia

More than 1,000 clinicians and researchers will gather next year for the biannual ARVO-Asia meeting, Feb. 5 – 8, under the theme, “Bridging disciplines and disparities: Connecting eye research with health outcomes.” Participants will discuss how collaborations across disciplines, among countries and between the laboratory and the clinic can ensure discoveries translate into effective prevention, diagnosis, and treatments for patients with eye disease across the globe.

The four-day meeting will include plenary lectures, symposia, workshops, papers, and posters, as well as highlight the role of public health issues and infectious diseases in eye related conditions. The program also will feature keynote speakers Malvina B. Eydelman, MD, and Hugh R. Taylor, AC, MD, FRANZCO.

Dr. Eydelman, a board certified ophthalmologist, is director of the U.S FDA Division of Ophthalmic and Ear, Nose, and Throat Devices. As part of FDA, Dr. Eydelman has been actively involved in the standardization of ophthalmic devices for more than 20 years and spearheaded numerous initiatives designed to improve their safety and effectiveness.

Dr. Taylor, a Melbourne Laureate, is the Harold Mitchell Chair of Indigenous Eye Health at the University of Melbourne and president of the International Council of Ophthalmology. His work focuses on the provision of eye care, improving access to services, and the elimination of trachoma in indigenous communities.|

Note these important deadlines:

•        Abstract submission – Sept. 20

•        Early registration (save over $200) – Dec. 12

To learn more or register for ARVO-Asia 2017, visit arvo.org/ARVO-Asia.

Participate in the NEI/FDA Endpoints Workshop: AMD and inherited retinal diseases

NEI and FDA will hold a one-day public workshop on Nov. 9 to review clinical trial design considerations for AMD and inherited retinal diseases. This is an opportunity to partner with your peers in developing strategies for clinically meaningful surrogate or interim endpoints.

The meeting is being managed by ARVO, and it will take place at the NIH Campus in Bethesda, Md.

To register, visit www.arvo.org/Endpoints2016.

Start planning for ARVO 2017: Global Connections in vision research

It’s not too soon to plan for the ARVO 2017 Annual Meeting in Baltimore, May 7 – 11. You can start by booking your hotel through the ARVO 2017 housing website. Will you require a visa to travel to the meeting? ARVO recommends you request a letter of invitation at least six months before the meeting, or by Nov. 1.

Visit the ARVO 2017 website at arvo.org/am.