This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
SOE President receives SOI Honorary Award for research, clinical work on ocular tumors
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
MILAN — The Italian Society of Ophthalmology honored Stefan Seregard, MD, this year with the SOI Honorary Award for his research and clinical work in the field of ocular tumors, primarily malignant melanoma.
Important steps have been made in recent years in the management of melanoma, uveal and conjunctival, according to Seregard.
Stefan Seregard
“We can save now more eyes, but so far we have not been able to improve the prognosis for our patients. This is the real challenge for the next 15 or 20 years,” Seregard, president of the European Society of Ophthalmology, said at the annual joint meeting of Ocular Surgery News and the Italian Society of Ophthalmology. “We need to improve our skills to defeat metastatic disease, developing strategies for earlier detection of metastases and a much more effective therapy.”
Research has identified a number of markers that might be used for detecting patients who are at higher risk for developing metastatic disease.
“We are also studying the molecular mechanism of these diseases to better target potential treatments,” Seregard said.
New drugs on the market for skin melanoma are also currently being evaluated as treatment options for uveal and possibly conjunctival melanoma, which share key features with skin cancer.
Seregard was also praised for his role as President of the European Society of Ophthalmology, a federation of societies totaling 60,000 ophthalmologists — a third of the global number.
“We all work for a common purpose, which is to provide patients with the best of care,” Seregard said.