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World Ophthalmology Congress 2014: A milestone in ophthalmic history
With the cherry blossoms in bloom, the 29th Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Congress held in conjunction with the World Ophthalmology Congress 2014 and the 118th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Ophthalmological Society brought together more than 19,000 delegates from 129 countries earlier this month in Tokyo.
The attendance figure at WOC 2014 was a record high, and it was the best attended WOC and APAO Congress. Thanks to the dedication of Tetsuro Oshika, MD, Congress President of WOC 2014, Makoto Araie, MD, Congress President of APAO Congress 2014, and Peter Wiedemann, MD, Chair of the Scientific Program Committee, both the scientific and social programs were very well-received. The inaugural APJO Annual Review Day also received a lot of positive feedback. Leading experts in various subspecialties presented the most important and cutting-edge research based on the annual review series published in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology. As the APAO attempts to remove barriers to education opportunities, all the annual review articles are now freely accessible at www.apjo.org. The entire collection of articles can be accessed at journals.lww.com/apjoo/pages/collectiondetails.aspx?TopicalCollectionID=2.
The next APAO Congress will be held in conjunction with the 20th Congress of the Chinese Ophthalmological Society in Guangzhou, China, from April 1 to 4, 2015. The APJO Annual Review Day will continue to be a major highlight of the APAO Congress. Also, the APAO is pleased to announce that the 30th APAO Congress in Guangzhou is not only co-sponsored by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, but also supported by more than 20 international and regional subspecialty organizations, including the American Society of Retina Specialists, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, the International Society of Refractive Surgery, the Macular Society and the World Glaucoma Society, to name but a few. Each of these organizations will organize at least one symposium during the 30th APAO Congress. To learn more about the 30th APAO Congress, please visit www.apaophth.org/2015.
Images: Lam DSC
APAO International Fellowship Program
Launched in January, the APAO International Fellowship Program is aimed to provide quality training to young and promising ophthalmologists in the Asia-Pacific region. The APAO is proactively inviting internationally recognized eye institutes to join us as our training centers, and we are pleased to share that UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute is now one of the APAO training centers. For those interested in applying for the APAO International Fellowship Program, please note that May 31 is the application deadline. Applications should be submitted online at www.apaophth.org/fellowship_program/. Please make sure you have prepared all the necessary documents to complete your application.
Information on AAO resources
As one of the major partners of the APAO, the AAO has the following resources for trainees and ophthalmologists. Check them out to stay abreast of the latest developments in ophthalmology.
OKAP International: Standardized in-service exam for trainees now available worldwide
Training programs around the world have begun to administer the Ophthalmic Knowledge Assessment Program (OKAP) International as a standardized, objective test to evaluate trainees’ knowledge each year.
In its first year of availability, the OKAP International exam was taken by more than 130 residents representing nine training programs.
The OKAP International is a 250-item multiple-choice in-service exam. It is the same test given to U.S. trainees in a previous year. Most questions are based on information derived from the AAO’s Basic and Clinical Science Course books.
In addition to allowing trainees to accurately assess their amount of ophthalmic knowledge, OKAP International allows program directors to:
- Give a standardized, objective test to evaluate trainees’ knowledge each year
- Evaluate how trainees are performing relative to one another
- Look at which subspecialties need more attention
- Determine how trainees compare with U.S. trainees who take the OKAP exam
If your program is interested in having its trainees take the OKAP International exam, please visit www.aao.org/okapinternational to download the OKAP International application. Also, check the list of countries that have testing centers that will administer the OKAP International. Programs are encouraged to take the exam in June or July.
For more information, contact okapint@aao.org.
ONE Network: New content available on AAO’s ONE Network, version 2.0
Based on member and subscriber feedback, AAO’s Ophthalmic News and Education (ONE) Network has been completely redesigned to better meet readers’ needs. New high-quality content, available only on the ONE Network, includes:
- An in-depth education on lasers with articles, animations, surgical videos and presentations at the Munnerlyn Laser Surgery Education Center
- A library of 3,300 clinical images, available for download at no cost to ONE Network subscribers
- Basic skills courses (surgical video instruction by subspecialty)
- New additions to the master class videos series, self-assessment section and more
- Free access to a growing collection of indexed journals from around the world
In addition to featuring new resources, the ONE Network has been optimized for all mobile devices. Content downloads quickly and resizes automatically to fit your screen.
Join the more than 80,000 ophthalmologists worldwide who have visited the ONE Network. Go to www.aao.org/one.
Access to the ONE Network is made available through licensed partnerships with national societies. To learn more, email oneintl@aao.org.
Resident Hub: Powerful online learning tool enhances education of residents
The Resident Hub is improving the learning experience of ophthalmology residents with high-quality resources such as videos, courses and self-assessment exams.
The Resident Hub provides a library of standardized courses that covers all subspecialty areas and special topics such as optics and pathology. It contains more than 4,000 multiple-choice questions that ophthalmic educators can use to create assessments.
The Resident Hub includes resources such as:
- Basic courses in all subspecialties, built by the Committee for Resident Education
- Videos from AAO DVDs and past annual meetings
- Glaucoma modules from Eyemaginations
- Reporting tools, including assessment reports that can help identify gaps in knowledge
For demonstrations and an order form, visit www.aao.org/thehub. For more information, contact international@aao.org.