Real World Ophthalmology 2022: Virtual meeting set for Nov 5

Created by Lisa M. Nijm, MD, JD, the Real World Ophthalmology conference is an educational resource dedicated to helping young ophthalmologists succeed in early practice. Nijm shared a preview of what attendees can expect at this event with Ophthalmology Times®’ Group Editorial Director Sheryl Stevenson.

The virtual event, to be held Saturday, November 5, 2022, from 8 am to 5:30 pm Central, will feature keynote speakers Dimitri Azar, MD, and Carol Karp, MD.

The deadline to nominate a young ophthalmologist for the Real World Ophthalmologist of the Year Award has been extended to Friday, October 28. In addition, those who register this week may be eligible for an early bird giveaway, with over $1,300 in ophthalmic prizes to help young ophthalmologists in early practice.

In addition, recordings of the Real World Ophthalmology program will be available on demand for 60 days after the conference.

To register for or learn more about Real World Ophthalmology, click here.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Sheryl Stevenson: November 5 is coming up here quickly and the next virtual Real World Ophthalmology meeting is in sight. Please take a few minutes here and tell us about this year's meeting.

Lisa M. Nijm, MD, JD: Thanks so much, Sheryl. It is really exciting and hard to believe we started 1 year ago. We have over 2,500 young ophthalmologists who have now joined us for Real World Ophthalmology.

This is going to be our third meeting. It is virtual. It's November 5, and we're going to do what we started, what we do best, which is handling the topics for young ophthalmologists that we wish we knew sooner — things in clinical business and areas of personal and professional development — to try and bring seasoned ophthalmologists together to share the lessons that we wish we knew sooner.

Stevenson: What does the agenda look like for this year?

Nijm: We've got a really exciting agenda. I always like to add new things to the meeting. One of the things that we're really privileged to have, and we started this, we had our first in-person Real World Ophthalmology event at [the American] Academy [of Ophthalmology] in Chicago this past October. One of the things that we did was where we brought ambassadors from the subspecialty societies for our young ophthalmologists to engage and interact with, and have an opportunity to have real-life discussions with them about what it's like to be in that particular specialty, and the advantages of belonging to the subspecialty organizations.

We started those discussions at Real World Ophthalmology After Dark on Friday night of Academy at the Ritz and we're continuing those discussions in the meeting on November 5. So we've got ambassadors from Cornea Society, AGS, ASRS — gosh, I gotta remember all the acronyms — AUS, NANOS, APOS, ASOPRS, [and others].

We have a special featured session with the American Board of Ophthalmology. Dr. Sarah Nehls, who is the chair of the exam committee, is going to come for a special session to demystify the board exam. We're going to have the opportunity to do a live Q&A with her. She'll also be at our lunch-and-learn session so that everyone can ask their burning questions about the boards, understand/demystify the exam, and understand the best ways for them to prepare.

Stevenson: That sounds like a fantastic program lineup so far. Are there keynote addresses as well?

Nijm: Yes. Our keynote speakers, and we're really excited for them, are Dr. Dimitri Azar and Dr. Carol Karp. They're just amazing speakers and leaders in our field. They're going to come and give lectures. Dr. Karp is going to be giving a talk on how to make sure that you identify using OCT to identify tumors on the surface and distinguish between conditions that look like tumors and are really tumors. So to help keep all of our ophthalmologists really taking the best care they can for patients and not missing these key diagnoses.

And Dr. Azar is going to talk about AI and the young ophthalmologists and whether AI is friend, foe, or replacement.

Dr Karp will be sitting down for the Fireside Chat, where she'll take live questions. Dr. Azar will be sitting down at the Real World Ophthalmology 'hot seat,' where we'll do some rapid-fire questions about him and his illustrious career, and then he'll be taking live Q&A as well.

Stevenson: Fantastic. I understand also that there will be posters at this at this particular meeting.

Nijm: Yeah, this is a new feature that we want to showcase. We know it's interview season. We want to showcase our young ophthalmologists' research work and give them an opportunity to present.

It doesn't have to be an original poster. They could have presented it at the Academy or ASCRS, or any other meeting this year. But they'll have the opportunity to upload that with a brief talk explaining their poster in our poster hall. Those will be available on demand.

Head over to our website to register, which registration is free, and we're making sure we keep that free for all young ophthalmologists in-training through the first 10 years of practice. There will also be a link to submit for a poster and to be considered to be accepted.

Stevenson: What awards will be presented at the meeting?

Nijm: One of the things that we really enjoy doing is honoring our young ophthalmologists for their accomplishments. And you still have time because we extended the deadline to this Friday, October 28.

So you can nominate any young ophthalmologist. We're going to be giving the Real World Ophthalmologist of the Year Award.

We have awards in clinical excellence, in innovation in research — we have eight awards in total. The idea is to bring recognition to young ophthalmologists for the incredible work that they're doing already in training. We know we have some incredible mentors, chief residency programs, and as well as early practice, which people might not know about but we want to shed some light on

Stevenson: What else should attendees know about the meeting?

Nijm: Other topics on our agenda. We're going to cover a whole section on cases that will give you gray hairs, and how to manage them. We also have our coding experts from the American Academy of Ophthalmology is going to be there. And they're going to give us some insight into the coding mistakes that young ophthalmologist should be aware of. And also really, really importantly, what they're seeing as far as audits.

We also have sessions on practice management and developing professional development skills, media presentation skills, and improving your communication with patients and staff.

As well as hitting on all the latest technology. The things that you should know about new lenses, about dry eye, about geographic atrophy, and all of the highlights from Academy that people may have not [had] a chance to see or if they didn't go, this is a great place to be able to get your highlights all in one section.

One of the panels we're most looking forward to is related to our jobs section. We talk a lot about getting your first job and trying to identify your first job. But what we don't talk about as much is what to do when you change jobs, or you're thinking about changing jobs. We've got a panel of incredible ophthalmologists, who have all switched paths, who have all gone from either academic to private practice, who have gone from private practice to academics, to private equity to opening their own practice. And we have several different ones who've opened their own practices as comprehensive ophthalmologists or opened their own practice as subspecialists. And they're going to come together and have a rich discussion so that you also have insights into what happens in that stage of your career. And if you're thinking about it, what you should be aware of, and maybe what you should know now so that you choose the right job in the first place and hopefully don't have to make that change.

Stevenson: Thank you for sharing all the highlights of the meeting. It sounds exciting. Where can ophthalmologists go to learn more or to register for the meeting?

Nijm: You can head over to RealWorldOphthalmology.com, which has a easy registration form.

If you register this week, we have our Early Bird giveaway, which has over $1,300 [worth of] ophthalmic prizes to help young ophthalmologists in early practice. And we'll be continuing that tradition in the meeting itself with the opportunity to win lenses, surgical instruments, and scrubs. There's a lot of fun stuff that we do along with the education.