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Vienna represents past, present, future of ophthalmology at SOE meeting
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VIENNA ― With a rich ophthalmological past, along with a wealth of prominent doctors and scientists today and a promising future, Vienna serves as an ideal setting for the European Society of Ophthalmology meeting, speakers noted during the opening ceremonies of the meeting.
“Two hundred years ago, Vienna was the heart of European ophthalmology,” Stefan Seregard, MD, president of the SOE, remarked in his opening address.
Susanne Binder, MD, local organizer of the SOE meeting, outlined the famous names and innovations to emerge from Vienna.
“Ophthalmology was inaugurated as an academic discipline at the University of Vienna in 1773 under Joseph Barth,” she said. “Georg Joseph Beer, MD, founded the world’s oldest university eye clinic in 1782.”
Ernst Fuchs, widely known for his work in histopathology, founded the second eye clinic in Vienna in 1883. Among other notable ophthalmologists to train or practice in Vienna, she noted, were Friedrich Dimmer and Albrecht von Graefe.
In the present, ophthalmologists such as Günther Grabner, Herbert Reitsamer, Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth, Wolfgang Drexler, Carl Glittenberg and Oliver Findl continue the tradition of innovations from Vienna in ophthalmology.
“The future in medicine is uncertain; however, meetings such as this one, where you can exchange ideas, learn from teachers and interact with colleagues, help to lay the future in ophthalmology,” Binder said.
During the ceremony, Seregard awarded the Helmholtz Medal to Prof. Gabriel van Rij of the Netherlands, and the Mark Tso Golden Apple Award was presented to Zdenek Gregor, MD, of the United Kingdom. – by David W. Mullin
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