Orthoptics Australia president A/Prof Amanda French offers her view on the 15th International
Orthoptic Congress that recently took place in Brisbane.
Over 300 orthoptists from across the world met in Brisbane on 27th-29th June for the 15th International Orthoptic Congress.
Orthoptics Australia was proud to host the 2025 congress, and to welcome international orthoptists to share research and innovations for practice.
The local organising committee was convened by Ms Jane Schuller and comprised Dr Felicia Adinanto, Ms Faren Willet and A/Prof Connie Koklanis. The Conference Scientific Program Committee was led by Mr Joel Hyndman from Canada, along with A/Prof Amanda French (Australia), A/Prof Darren Oystreck (Canada) and Ms Kyle Arnoldi (US). The congress was supported by platinum sponsor Vision Eye Institute, along with Tourism and Events Queensland and silver sponsor Bausch + Lomb.
This was the first in-person meeting of international orthoptists in almost a decade since the congress was held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 2016.
The International Orthoptic Congress is typically held four-yearly, however the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 congress planned for Liverpool, United Kingdom, and instead, an online congress was arranged in 2022.
International Orthoptic Association (IOA) president Mr Jan Roelof Polling welcomed delegates to Brisbane and highlighted how important these opportunities are for orthoptists to come together as a community.
The Burian Lecture was delivered by Professor Fiona Rowe from the University of Liverpool, where she is director of the VISION research group.
The award lecture is provided by a distinguished IOA orthoptist to honour their lifetime scientific and evidence-based clinical contributions.
In her lecture, titled A Vision for Vision, Prof Rowe discussed her research into care for those with vision impairment after strokes.
Early on it was identified that there were significant gaps in stroke vision care provision in the UK and a shared vision that orthoptists must be recognised as core members of the multidisciplinary stroke care team to address this.
Through her research, Prof Rowe established evidence for the prevalence and impacts of vision impairment after a stroke and the importance of vision assessment by qualified orthoptists. Based on this, UK stroke guidelines now reflect the need for orthoptic assessment for all patients following a stroke, as do guidelines from the European Stroke Organisation.
Prof Rowe’s vision for orthoptic practice was an inspiring reminder of the importance of developing evidence to drive progress and the immense value of orthoptists to delivery of effective and person-centred eyecare.
The remainder of the congress program explored a variety of topics, from stroke and vision rehabilitation to strabismus and ocular motility, and ophthalmic technologies, demonstrating the diversity of orthoptics.
The opening session discussed orthoptic scope of practice, advanced practice roles and orthoptist-led models of care, highlighting the importance of orthoptists working to the top of scope of practice to alleviate pressure on ophthalmology services and enhance patient care.
Four symposia were highlights. The International Strabismological Association (ISA) presented a symposium on anomalous head postures, with speakers ophthalmologists Dr Andrea Molinari, Prof Jonathan Holmes, Dr Lional Kowal and orthoptists Ms Daisy Godts and Prof Rowe.
Orthoptist Prof Gill Roper-Hall convened a panel of orthoptists (Ms Renee Hernandez and Mr Roelof Polling) and ophthalmologists (Dr Shivanand Sheth and Dr Lional Kowal) to discuss challenging neuro-ophthalmic cases.
The Asia Pacific Strabismus and Paediatric Ophthalmology Society (APSPOS) convened a symposia on the role of imaging in paediatric cases, including orthoptists from Children’s Hospital Westmead (Ms Katie Geering and Ms Stephanie Crofts) and ophthalmology colleagues (Dr Caroline Catt, Dr Rasha Altaie, Dr Deepa Taranath and Dr Susie Luu).
Finally, the myopia symposium provided an overview of the impact of lifestyle factors on myopia development and current evidence for strategies for prevention and management, including researchers at the forefront of this work, Prof Ian Morgan, Prof Jason Yam and orthoptists Prof Kathryn Rose, A/Prof French and Dr Adinanto.
Three presenters received awards for their work. Dr Gareth Lingham (Australia) received the IOA Research Award for his work titled Biometry equivalent refraction as a screening tool for refractive error in children. The IOA Early Career Scientist-Clinician Research Award was presented to Mr Vijay Tailor-Hamblin (UK) for Low concentration atropine affects near point of accommodation, but not near visual acuity, and the Student Research Award was presented to Mr Rani Bahho (Australia) for The Relationship between Motor Fusion and Stereoacuity in Adults with Normal Binocular Single Vision.
The congress emphasised the diversity of orthoptic practice, the important role of orthoptists in person-centred eyecare, stroke and disability, and in emerging advanced orthoptic practice roles such as in ocular emergency, paediatric ophthalmics and advanced ophthalmics.
The strength of orthoptic research and the profession as a whole was evident across the congress program and as president Mr Roelof Polling highlighted in his closing remarks, the orthoptic profession is stronger together and we are very glad to have this opportunity to once again connect as a community.
About the Author: Associate Professor Amanda French is the president of Orthoptics Australia and head of orthoptics at the University of Technology Sydney.
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