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Combined Brazilian meeting creates ‘family’ feeling
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COSTA DO SAUIPE, Brazil — This year’s Brazilian Congress on Cataract and Refractive Surgery featured a different format from most medical meetings, combining scientific sessions with social gatherings in a relaxed atmosphere.
The event is already unique in that it is a combined meeting of Brazil’s separate societies of refractive surgery and cataract surgery.
Marcelo Ventura, MD, president of the Brazilian cataract society, known here as the SBCII, said that this national meeting was created to consolidate the many smaller regional meetings into one large event.
“Instead of three meetings each year in different parts of the country, we have tried to bring everyone here for one large meeting, so that everyone can share ideas and also have an opportunity to get to know each other,” Dr. Ventura said.
Measuring success in terms of participation, Dr. Ventura told Ocular Surgery News that he feels happy with this meeting, with almost 1,000 doctors in attendance. Dr. Ventura noted that the 2004 international congress, to be held in Recife, is anticipated to be more than twice the size of this year’s meeting.
Dr. Ventura said he and his counterpart from the Brazilian Society of Refractive Surgery (SBCR), Jose Eurotropio Vaz Quieroz, MD, aimed to create a family feel to this year’s congress. Taking advantage of the already relaxed resort atmosphere of Costa do Sauipe, they scheduled sessions from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. and then held social events in the afternoon and evening with a casual dress code. Dr. Ventura said he hoped this would give ophthalmologists from all parts of Brazil and Latin America the opportunity to spend time getting to know one another.