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From the WGA Executive Office
Kuldev Singh, MD MPH, Executive Vice President, World Glaucoma Association
The World Glaucoma Congress (WGC) 2009 has come and gone, but memories from this global assembly of glaucoma practitioners, scientists and educators in Boston will undoubtedly be etched in our minds for years to come. The meeting was attended by 2666 participants from over 50 countries. Europe (36%) accounted for the greatest proportion of attendees, followed by Asia (25%), North America (22%) and South America (13%.) There were 46 exhibitors at WGC 2009, approximately twice and four times as many as in Singapore (2007) and Vienna (2005), respectively. This was the largest World Glaucoma Congress to date in terms of both participation and exhibition.
In all, the Congress included one video film festival, 11 symposia, 22 didactic sessions, 39 courses, 30 free papers, and 585 scientific posters. Program Committee co-chairs Dennis Lam, Jeff Liebmann, Choka Melamed and Joel Schuman did an outstanding job in putting together the most comprehensive glaucoma program ever created. One of the highlights of the meeting was the Opening Ceremony where Robert Langer, a noted biomedical inventor at MIT, and Robert Merton, a Nobel Prize winning economist from Harvard Business School, gave extraordinary keynote presentations. The founders of the World Glaucoma Association, Erik Greve, Roger Hitchings and Bob Weinreb, were honored during this opening session. Caroline Greve Geijssen also received a special recognition award for her contributions to the Association. Other highlights included the individual glaucoma society meetings preceding the Opening Ceremony and the surgical video symposium held in partnership with the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.
As with prior Congresses, the social aspects of WGC 2009 were very memorable, particularly the Banquet at the Boston Public Library which included the now traditional glaucoma karaoke celebration. The Local Organizing Committee chaired by Lou Pasquale deserves much credit for the social events, including divine intervention to make certain that the Boston weather was perfect all week long. Lou was joined by co-chairs David Greenfield, Teresa Chen, Paul Cotran, Tom Hutchinson, Cindie Mattox, Doug Rhee, Brad Shingleton and Martin Wand on the Local Organizing Committee. The hospitality displayed by the Local Organizing Committee and the host American Glaucoma Society set a high bar for future meetings.
The months preceding WGC 2009 saw global economic collapse, fears of an expanding influenza epidemic and generalized uncertainty throughout the world. To have weathered this 'perfect storm' is a great testament to the solidarity of the world glaucoma community and to the resilience of the World Glaucoma Association. The next World Glaucoma Congress will be held in a European city in 2011. The venue selection process is already underway. One of the few bright aspects of the current economic climate is that venues previously deemed too expensive to host a World Glaucoma Congress, in terms of meeting room and hotel costs, may now be feasible for 2011. The World Glaucoma Association, along with the host European Glaucoma Society, will do everything possible to make WGC 2011 a resounding success.