Retina World Congress 2017

The inaugural Retina World Conference in 2017 will bring together the world’s top experts in the field of retina in a first-of-its-kind international event to provide education, promote dialogue and generate consensus about retinal disease, emerging technologies and treatments, best practices and clinical research.

Global community

Rishi P. Singh, MD, a staff surgeon at Cleveland Clinic’s Cole Eye Institute, is President of the Retina World Congress founding Board and Executive Committee. He says the Congress will be a federation of retina societies that will support global scientific and clinical exchange on innovations in retina health, with a focus on improving patient care and outcomes. Delegates from clinical medicine, basic science and industry will unite on common goals of global education.

“The world is a large, continuous healthcare arena, and in an era of dynamic change and rapid innovation in retina, there is a need for an international forum for scientific dialogue and professional education based on innovation,” says Dr. Singh, adding that Retina World Congress grew out of a belief that international societies and industry leaders could collaborate to provide a single focal point of information exchange.

“We can gain great insights from the global retina community and better understand the best approaches and practices,” Dr. Singh says.

Global education

The goal of the Congress, Dr. Singh says, is to provide a platform for open discussion and didactic teaching. A nonprofit professional education initiative, Retina World Congress will highlight current clinical and scientific research, and provide accredited professional education courses, expert panel discussions and industry exhibits.

“We can learn a lot from their experiences as many times they are using cutting-edge surgeries or medicines that we get only after FDA approval,” he says of the international delegates. “This will go down as one of the more historic society meetings.”

Global invitation

Retina World Congress is actively inviting all international societies to join the global initiative, which is already endorsed by 20 retina societies around the world.

Proceedings of the Congress will be published in the International Journal of Retina and Vitreous, becoming a permanent part of the peer-reviewed literature in the field.

The inaugural Retina World Congress will convene in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Feb. 23-26, 2017. Dr. Singh said the international conference will be held in odd-numbered years around the globe to make it accessible to all. For more information, visit www.retinaworldcongress.org.