Joint AAO-SOE meeting highlights international collaboration, honors lifetime achievements

Allan D. Jensen, MD, officially welcomed attendees to this year's American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.

NEW ORLEANS — International collaboration among ophthalmologists is essential in confronting current and emerging challenges to the profession, said speakers at the opening session of the first joint meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the European Society of Ophthalmology.

Because physicians make up just 1% of the general population, and ophthalmologists make up roughly 2% to 3% of physicians, “we need the support of others on both international and local levels,” said Allan D. Jensen, MD, the president of the AAO.

“In light of various challenges that face us, it seems appropriate to have a joint meeting now because the spirit of success … requires coalitions and alliances,” Dr. Jensen said in his opening remarks at the session.

Major challenges for ophthalmology include improving education for postgraduates and practicing professionals, as well as addressing the controversy surrounding optometric scope of practice, he said.

Zdenek Gregor, MD, president of the SOE, agreed that cooperation between the American and European societies is imperative to advancing education and research and to battling political pressures. He said he hopes “this meeting will foster closer collaboration between the two societies, which will ultimately lead to improved care.”

Paul R. Lichter, MD presented the Laureate Awards during this year's opening session of the AAO.

In contrast to this emphasis on collaboration within the profession, Dr. Jensen and others repeatedly urged the audience during the 90-minute opening session to be mindful of attempts on the part of optometric groups to expand the scope of procedures they are legally allowed to perform.

The theme recurred several times, culminating in a speech by Gary S. Schwartz, MD, trustee-at-large of the AAO, who explained the genesis of a decision by the AAO to exclude optometrists from this year’s annual meeting.

Dr. Schwartz’s explanation of the rationale was briefly interrupted by a disgruntled audience member who yelled out that the AAO’s decision “goes against the Hippocratic oath.”

Unfazed by the disruption, Dr. Schwartz emphasized that ophthalmologists should be conscious actions they might take that could inadvertently “blur the line” between ophthalmology and optometry.

Susan H. Day, MD, president-elect of the AAO, also addressed the hot-button issue, explaining that “knowledge is on our side.” She said that ophthalmologists can “reverse the irresistible tide” by maintaining their ties to the rest of medicine, staying current with education, involving themselves in the medical community and helping to train future ophthalmologists.

Culminating the opening session was the presentation of the Jackson Memorial Lecture by Stuart L. Fine, MD. Dr. Fine offered his perspective on how age-related macular degeneration treatment options have evolved over the past 35 years. He said that the fourth era of treatment begins now, with the advent of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapies, as well as photodynamic therapy and a wealth of information on the pathogenesis of the disease.

“During my 35 years in ophthalmology, AMD has moved from the rear balcony to center stage,” he said. Despite “a plethora of trials,” AMD is still the cause of severe and irreversible vision loss, and therefore remains one of ophthalmology’s greatest unsolved problems, Dr. Fine said. His hope for the future is that one highly effective treatment will emerge from the array of options currently on the table.