Ophthalmology Updates! is returning bigger and better in 2024 and has secured a powerful speaker line up, including international guests Professor Pearse Keane, an expert on artificial intelligence (AI) in eye health, and “Cataract Coach” Dr Uday Devgan who is ranked the number one eye surgeon in California and second in the US.
Returning to the Fullerton Hotel in Sydney 24-25 August, the popular event will bring together the brightest minds from each ophthalmic subspecialty to update attendees on their field.
Convener Professor Adrian Fung, who founded the event in 2016, said it represented an ideal chance to brush up on common subspecialty topics that ophthalmologists should know more about or may have forgotten.
It’s also an opportunity to hear about advances in ophthalmology and their relevance to daily practise. A key aspect of the event is its friendly atmosphere and ample time left after each presentation for questions and discussion.
Every subspecialty will be covered, including cataract, retina, myopia, uveitis, cornea, glaucoma, ocular oncology, neuro-ophthalmology, oculoplastics and medical retina. Attendees will also be eligible for 12 RANZCO-approved CPD points, and 10 Orthoptics Australia-approved points.
Prof Keane, ranked in the top 10 of The Power List in 2022, and his AI presentation adds a different flavour to this year’s Ophthalmology Updates!.
He is a Professor of Artificial Medical Intelligence at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, and a consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital. In 2016, he initiated a collaboration between Moorfields and Google DeepMind to develop AI algorithms for earlier detection and treatment of retinal disease. In August 2018, the first results of this collaboration were published in the journal, Nature Medicine.
Then, in May 2020 he jointly led work to develop an early warning system for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) before leading the development of RETFound in 2023, the first foundation model in ophthalmology, published in Nature and made available open source.
Prof Keane will give insights into how artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the landscape of ophthalmology and medicine. This is the “next Industrial Revolution”, and will have a profound impact on how we work and live.
Meanwhile, Dr Devgan, who works in private practice in Los Angeles, will deliver the cataract update. He has performed cataract surgery for more than 70 fellow eye surgeons, and patients from all over the US and other countries to have their cataract surgery with him.
A leading eye surgery journal has previously deemed him as one of the top 25 leaders in ophthalmology of the last 25 years, and he has been recognised as one of the world’s top 100 most-influential leaders by The Ophthalmologist magazine.
“Cataract Coach” Devgan will give tips and tricks on how to manage the most challenging of cataract surgery scenarios.
Other key speakers
Retina
A/Prof R. Rishi Gupta – board certified in the U.S and Canada, he is an associate professor and vitreoretinal specialist in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Myopia
A/Prof Loren Rose – she completed her ophthalmic training at the Royal Eye and Ear Hospital in Victoria and a fellowship in paediatric ophthalmology at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. She is a Clinical Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University and has completed her PhD at Macquarie University titled Myopia Progression in Children in 2021. Dr Rose is also the founder of Myopia Australia, a new project helping patients and eye health providers best manage myopia progression in children.
Uveitis
Dr Narme Deva – a key opinion leader for medical retina and uveitis in New Zealand and an expert cataract surgeon, her training includes more than two years at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, where she completed fellowships in these two conditions. She holds a consultant post at Auckland City Hospital, Eye Institute and is an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Auckland.
Cornea
Dr Andrea Ang – she is a corneal and laser refractive specialist at the Lions Eye Institute and Royal Perth Hospital, and is the director of Lions Laser Vision. Dr Ang graduated with the gold medal in medicine from the University of Western Australia and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for which she completed a Masters of Public Health at Harvard. She completed her ophthalmology training in WA, and then trained in her subspecialty of corneal, refractive and anterior segment surgery at the internationally renowned Cincinnati Eye Institute and Singapore National Eye Centre.
Glaucoma
Prof Jamie Craig – As chair and academic head of the Department of Ophthalmology at Flinders University and a consultant ophthalmologist, he specialises in the care of patients with glaucoma. Prof Craig is a clinician-scientist and NHMRC Practitioner-Fellow, who translates laboratory-based research into clinical practice. His pioneering work established the Australian and New Zealand Registry of Advanced Glaucoma which has been critical to Australia leading the world in discovery and translation of glaucoma genetics.
Ocular Oncology
Dr Lindsay McGrath – she is a specialist ocular oncology, oculoplastic and orbital surgeon and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and presented lectures and workshops at international conferences. She has recently been appointed an adjunct Associate Professor with Queensland University of Technology and is a visiting consultant ophthalmologist and supervisor of training at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane.
Neuro-ophthalmology
A/Prof Sudarshini Ramanathan – a neurologist and clinician-scientist with subspecialty expertise in neuroimmunology. She is a staff specialist neurologist at Concord Hospital where she diagnoses and treats patients with autoimmune neurological disorders. She heads a research team, the Translational Neuroimmunology Group, at the University of Sydney and leads a basic science and clinical research program in autoimmune neurological disorders.
Oculoplastics
Dr Lucy Goold – after completing her medical and ophthalmology training, she undertook an oculoplastics and orbit fellowship at the University of British Columbia, Canada. She is the current secretary of ANZSOPS and Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Tasmania. She works in general ophthalmology and oculoplastics in private practice in Launceston, and through the Launceston General Hospital, and conducts regular clinics in regional Tasmania through TazReach.
Medical Retina
A/Prof Hemal Mehta – a medical retina ophthalmologist based in Sydney. He has expertise in retinal clinical trials, tracking real-world treatment outcomes and retinal imaging. A/Prof Mehta is co-director of clinical trials research with Dr James Wong at Strathfield Retina Clinic and has served as PI or sub-PI in more than 50 retinal clinical trials. The clinical research during his previous fellowships at Sydney Eye Hospital and Moorfields contributed to his higher research degree supervised by professors Mark Gillies and Adnan Tufail on ‘Novel endpoints in diabetic retinopathy clinical trials’ registered at Cambridge University. He is Associate Professor at University of Sydney and on the Steering Committee of the Fight Retinal Blindness! (FRB!) project.
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