23rd annual EURETINA Congress: seeing eye to eye in Amsterdam

Each day’s schedule is replete with symposia sessions, courses, and free paper sessions on all topics related to retina. Image Credit: ©Yasonya – stock.adobe.com

The 23rd annual meeting of the EURETINA Congress, both an online and in-person event, is scheduled for October 5 to 8 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Experts in all aspects of retinal care will gather at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre, located in the Zuidas business district of the city, which is a short distance from historic Amsterdam with is canals, museums, and shops.

Each day’s schedule is replete with numerous symposia sessions, instructional courses, free paper sessions, and surgical skills training courses on all topics related to retina. All times listed are expressed in Central European Summer Time (CEST).

Mr Alistair Laidlaw, EURETINA President, from St Thomas’ Hospital, London, and Maidstone Hospital, Kent, UK, in his welcome letter announced a new feature at the EURETINA Congress, namely, the launch of the EURETINA Innovation Spotlight (EIS). This new meeting is scheduled to convene on Wednesday, October 4, the night before the official kick-off of the Congress. The EIS is a half-day program, running from 13:00 to 19:00 CEST, which will also be held at the RAI Amsterdam.

“The goal of EIS is to foster collaboration, communication, and contact directly between industry, regulators, investors, researchers and physicians involved or interested in the retinal innovation space. It aims to offer a different perspective to the clinically lead, evidence-based medical education which is the core offering of our main Congress,” according to Mr Laidlaw.

Interested parties can use EIS@euretina.org to register and obtain additional information.

The Congress’s Opening Ceremony, will take place on Thursday October 5, from 16:15 to 17:15 CEST. Following opening remarks, Bertil Damato, will deliver the EURETINA Lecture titled “OncoVR – a new subspecialty?” Currently, he is a Consultant Ocular Oncologist at St Erik Eye Hospital, Stockholm, and Moorfields Eye Hospital, London.

This session also will feature the August Deutman Awards and the Retinal Medicine Clinical Research Awards Announcement.

In addition to the Keynote address delivered by Dr Damato during the Opening Ceremony, 3 additional keynote addresses are planned.

These include the following: the Kreissig Award Lecture on Saturday October 7, at 14:00 CEST. Shwu-Jiuan Sheu will deliver the address titled “Uveitis: Management with Vitreoretinal Surgery?” She is the director and professor of ophthalmology at Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan.

The Ophthalmologica Lecture on Saturday October 7 is scheduled for 13:00 CEST. The lecture, titled “Beyond Atrophy: Investigating the Leading Disease Front,” will be delivered by Maximilian Pfau from the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology, Basel, Switzerland.

The Gisbert Richard Lecture on Saturday October 7, will be presented at 14:30 CEST. Cynthia Toth will speak on “OCT at the Point of Care, A Surgeon’s Perspective. She is the director of the surgical instrument prototyping Duke Eye Center Biophysics Laboratory, and Chief Medical Officer (and co-founder) of Theia Imaging, both in Durham, NC.

This year’s Congress will also continue a tradition that began at the previous Congress in Hamburg, Germany, a delegate party to be held at the iconic De Hallen Studios in Amsterdam on the evening of Saturday, October 7. This event provides delegates with a chance to socialize late into the night in a relaxed environment.

Anyone interested in registering for the in-person or virtual EURETINA Congress can do so at: https://euretina.org/amsterdam-2023/registration/

Attendees also will have the opportunity to learn about the latest cutting-edge technologic developments in the Exhibit Hall, which is open each day of the Congress.

A number of Satellite Symposia that address all aspects of retina care are planned.