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APAO ID: A brand-new way for delegates to keep track of achievement award points and attendance record
Planning continues for the 31st APAO Congress 2016 Taipei.
The 31st APAO Congress is co-hosted by the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology and the Ophthalmological Society of Chinese Taipei, in conjunction with the European Society of Ophthalmology. It will be held from March 24 to 27, 2016, at the Taipei International Convention Center and Taipei World Trade Center. From there, it is a 5-minute walk to Taipei 101, the city’s landmark skyscraper.
The opening ceremony will be on March 24, sandwiched by two plenary sessions. Early-bird registration is open until Nov. 30, and abstract submissions will be accepted through Sept. 15. Free papers, posters, videos and instruction courses are all welcome.
Social program
The Presidential Dinner of the 31st APAO Congress will be held at the Grand Hotel Taipei on March 24, while the Gala Dinner will be held at National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on March 25. Exciting performances featuring the aboriginal culture of the indigenous Taiwanese are being planned at both dinners and the welcome reception, which will be held on March 23. In addition, ‘Run for Nepal’, which is a charity run, is being organized to raise funds for Nepal for the reconstruction work after the earthquakes this spring.
APAO Yasuo Tano travel grants 2016
Up to 10 APAO Yasuo Tano travel grants will be offered to young ophthalmologists from the Asia-Pacific region who attend the congress. A total of US$1,000 will be awarded to each international recipient and US$300 to each local recipient from Chinese Taipei. The congress registration fee will also be waived. More information is available at http://2016.apaophth.org/travel-grant/. The application deadline is Oct. 31, and results will be announced in December.
Images: Lam DSC
APAO Achievement Awards, APAO ID and Congress App
APAO ID is a new system launched by the Academy to help our congress delegates to keep track of their participation in our annual congresses and other APAO initiatives. Previous attendees of the APAO annual congresses will each be assigned a unique ID. Individual login information will be sent to each delegate by the end of September. After logging in, delegates will be able to review their Achievement Award points and Award status, as well as their attendance record. Those who participated in the 30th APAO Congress will also be able to generate an attendance certificate with APAO ID. Starting from APAO 2017, congress registration and application for various APAO initiatives will be facilitated, allowing all APAO congress delegates to use one set of account details to sign up for all APAO activities. While users can manage their subscriptions to APAO’s periodicals with APAO ID, in the future, it will also provide access to other APAO content, such as online education and the Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology, which is now Medline indexed and searchable in PubMed.
Most importantly, users can upload and edit their profile photos and biography with APAO ID. Chairs at the 31st APAO Congress will use the uploaded information for introducing speakers. What’s more, the new APAO Congress app, to be launched in January 2016, will allow APAO ID users to sign in with their unique APAO ID. After signing in, users can make friends and send inbox messages with the APAO Congress app, providing ample networking opportunities even after the conclusion of the 31st APAO Congress.
APAO International Fellowship Program
The APAO International Fellowship Program was launched in 2014. Its purpose is to help young and promising ophthalmologists from member nations improve their clinical skills, surgical experience and research skills, and then take what they learn back to their home countries. Fellowships of either 3 months or 12 months in duration are conducted at one of 13 approved internationally renowned APAO International Fellowship Training Centers. Applications for the 2016 APAO International Fellowship Program are now open until Sept. 30. Interested candidates can submit an application at http://www.apaophth.org/fellowship_program/. More information is available at http://www.apaophth.org/fellowship_program_about.php.
APAO Leadership Development Program
The 2015-2016 class of the APAO Leadership Development Program (LDP) will participate in a Leadership MasterClass hosted by the Indonesian Ophthalmologists Association from Oct. 1 to 3 in Bali. The Academy thanks Catherine Green, MBChB, FRANZCO, MMedSC, for her leadership and all the faculty members who share APAO’s vision to nurture and groom future leaders in ophthalmology. The mid-year MasterClass is an integral part of the APAO LDP, providing participants and faculty with a unique opportunity to interact.
Participants in the LDP are chosen by the APAO LDP Selection Committee based on nominations from APAO’s member societies. Nominees should be qualified eye doctors with leadership potential who are highly proficient in English and preferably younger than age 50 years. Interested candidates can contact their member society to nominate them for the 2016-2017 class, which will be inducted at the 31st APAO Congress.
All LDP participants must plan and execute a self-initiated project. After presenting their projects at the 31st APAO Congress in Chinese Taipei, participants will complete the program and be recognized in a graduation ceremony.
APAO specifically thanks RANZCO, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, for pledging its support to the APAO LDP. A signing ceremony was arranged at the APAO Alumni Reception during the 30th APAO Congress in Guangzhou, China.