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New initiatives under way for Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology
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Thanks to the generous support from many leading experts in ophthalmology and visual sciences, the Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology has just published its September/October issue, focusing on the latest developments in the field. As a launch journal, the APJO is grateful that it has already had a steady flow of manuscripts. It is the mission of the entire editorial board to bring brand-new reading experiences to our readers, and a couple of initiatives are under way.
First and foremost, a blog has been created for the review article entitled “Encephalotrigeminal Angiomatosis (Sturge-Weber Syndrome, Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome): A Review.” Hosted by Robert Ritch, MD, the blog will provide an excellent platform for readers to post comments and corrections pertaining to the subject matter discussed in the article. Interested parties can also send photos and videos about the subject matter via email. To leave a comment or correction, please go to http://journals.lww.com/apjoo/blog/SturgeWeberSyndrome/pages/default.aspx. It is hoped that the APJO can offer its readers more novel initiatives in order to enhance their reading experience.
Another important initiative of the APJO is to reinstate the concept of publishing annual reviews on selected areas in ophthalmology. Archives of Ophthalmology published such useful reviews in the 1970s; however, it stopped publishing them. Now both the editor in chief and associate editor in chief of APJO are very keen to bring back the reviews and have already invited leading experts in the field who are willing to commit to us their quality work. The first annual review will be published in the November/December issue.
The journal office would also like to remind members of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology’s member societies to sign up at http://www.apaophth.org/eJournal/index.php in order to continue to enjoy free access to the APJO until January 2013. International subscribers can visit our journal website at www.apjo.org for more information about a subscription.
Grand Rounds Around the World
A brand-new initiative of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology is to sponsor the Grand Rounds Around the World program, which will primarily consist of joint grand rounds organized by prestigious eye institutes in the Asia-Pacific region.
Interested eye institutes will work in pairs. They will first decide on what is the best time to organize a joint grand round on a weekly basis and invite a regional or international leading expert or eye institute to be the guest of the week. Every week, the organizing institutes will each be responsible for organizing a 20-minute program at the designated time. The guest institute or speaker of the week will contribute a 20-minute program, either pre-recorded or delivered on the spot. The two organizing institutes will be connected via teleconference so that their doctors, fellows and residents can interact directly for a fruitful exchange of expertise. Responsibilities of the organizing institutes include recording and editing the program before the video clips and/or teaching materials are uploaded onto the APAO online education website. Subscribers of the APAO online education program will be able to view all the grand rounds sponsored by the APAO through live streaming. An archive of Grand Rounds Around the World will also be built at the APAO website to provide streaming videos for doctors and trainees for free over the Internet to help them improve their knowledge at any time they want.
Image: Lam DSC
The other way prestigious eye institutes can support the APAO’s new education initiative is to grant us access to the archives of grand rounds they organize. Some years ago, the grand rounds at some world-renowned eye institutes were freely accessible by all. However, they have evolved to become members only, which is definitely a dear loss from an educationalist’s point of view. The APAO has therefore invited some internationally recognized eye institutes to grant us the privilege to provide our online education program subscribers with access to the archives of grand rounds they organize via referral linking from the APAO online education website. The APAO believes that Grand Rounds Around the World is a highly educational initiative worthy of support and welcomes any prestigious eye institutes from around the world to join us to pursue such a meaningful cause to offer a tremendous resource to facilitate exchange of expertise, which will ultimately increase knowledge in the field and improve patient care.
The program is in its final phase of planning and will be finalized in early 2013. If the eye institute you are affiliated with is interested in organizing APAO’s Grand Rounds Around the World, please feel free to contact us at florencechung@apaophth.org.
Upcoming meetings
There is just 1 more month until the joint AAO-APAO meeting in Chicago, U.S.A. The APAO is pleased to have the opportunity to work with the American Academy of Ophthalmology again to present to you another joint meeting. To get a glimpse at the meeting program, please go to http://www.aao.org/meetings/annual_meeting/program/index.cfm.
In addition, there are a number of subspecialty-based meetings going on in the region, including the International Symposium of Ophthalmology – Hong Kong and the Inaugural Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Society Congress. The APAO Congress will be held from Jan. 17 to 20, 2013, in Hyderabad, India. Please mark your calendar for these important meetings in the region.