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From the WGA Executive Office
Kuldev Singh, MD MPH, Executive Vice President, World Glaucoma Association
Three thousand two hundred and ninety five participants representing 104 countries attended the World Glaucoma Congress (WGC) in Paris from June 29th through July 2nd 2011, making this the largest glaucoma meeting ever held. Approximately half of the participants came from Europe, a quarter from Asia, 15% from the Americas and the remaining from Africa and Australia. The country providing the greatest number of delegates was the United States, followed closely by Japan, the United Kingdom and several other European countries including Italy, Spain, France, Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany. Brazil rounded out the top-ten, but it is noteworthy that these countries together provided less than 30 percent of the total delegates demonstrating the true global nature of the Congress. Over 300 faculty participated in 110 scientific sessions and 30 corporations exhibited at WGC 2011, making it the largest glaucoma specific trade show ever held. The 740 scientific posters also set a new record high for World Glaucoma Congress meetings. The Program Committee Chairs Dennis Lam, Jeffrey Liebmann, Choka Melamed and Joel Schuman deserve much credit for putting together a program that attracted so many from so far away.
On June 28th, 2011, the day preceding WGC, Bob Weinreb led a group of more than 100 expert participants and many additional observers of the 8th WGC Global Consensus Meeting which focused on Glaucoma Progression. The much anticipated proceedings of this meeting will soon be published in textbook format and should be available in time for the America Academy of Ophthalmology meeting in Orlando later this year.
As has been the tradition at past WGC meetings, the first morning of the Congress was kicked off by national and regional member society meetings. I briefly attended approximately 15 such parallel sessions and was most impressed not only by the content but also the collegiality of the organizers and speakers. It gives one great hope for our world to see such individuals, from countries whose governments do not recognize each other, collaborating to put together outstanding glaucoma sessions. Another WGC tradition is a symposium organized by the host glaucoma society preceding the opening ceremony. In the case of WGC 2011, there were two host glaucoma societies. The Best of the French Glaucoma Society symposium, co-chaired by Society president Eric Sellem along with Francois Valtot and Alain Bron, was followed by the European Glaucoma Society (EGS) Regional Initiative in Glaucoma symposium, chaired by EGS President Carlo Traverso and Past President Roger Hitchings. Later on this first day, representatives of the 77 World Glaucoma Association (WGA) member national and regional glaucoma societies met during the Global Assembly. During this meeting, assembly members heard details about the recently completed WGA Strategic Plan from Arthur Sit, who along with Tarek Shaarawy chaired this planning process. This Stategic Plan was recently approved by the WGA Board of Governors. One of the highlights of the Global Assembly meeting was approval of the revised WGA Statutes, following a several year long process chaired by David Greenfield and Paul Healey.
The opening ceremony of WGC 2011 on June 29th, 2011 included several award ceremonies including the presentation of 17 World Glaucoma Association (WGA) Research Recognition Awards to individuals nominated by their respective regional and national glaucoma societies. Awards were also presented to those submitting the best videos for the WGC Film Festival. To cap off the award ceremonies, two past presidents, Ivan Goldberg and Remo Susanna were honored with WGA Founders Awards recognizing exceptional service to the Association and to the global glaucoma community. The opening ceremony was concluded by an extraordinarily informative and entertaining lecture by Alain Bron entitled 'Wine, Glaucoma and Life'. Day 2 of the Congress was kicked off by a Grand Rounds chaired by Christophe Baudouin and David Epstein and followed by several well-attended symposia and courses. Some of the highlights included a symposium on glaucoma progression, a session entitled 'Innovative Approaches for Protecting Retinal Ganglion Cells' and an after-noon debate format session on 'Hot topics in Glaucoma', which was particularly well attended.
July 1st featured the first WGC Glaucoma Surgery Day chaired by Franz Grehn and Bob Weinreb. Every aspect of present day glaucoma surgery for adults and children as well as a glimpse into the future of surgical therapy was presented and discussed during a series of symposia that lasted throughout the ten-hour Congress day. Glaucoma surgery is in the midst of a Renaissance with significant resources and time being focused in this arena and thus Glaucoma Surgery Day will most likely be repeated at future WGC meetings. The presence of leaders from many companies that are involved in glaucoma surgery innovation was palpable throughout the meeting.
On the final day of the previous WGC held in Boston in 2009, the WGA and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) held a joint symposium on the management of co-existent cataract and glaucoma. The final day of WGC 2011, July 2nd, saw a similar video symposium, organized by Dennis Lam, which focused on combined cataract and glaucoma surgery.
There are many individuals who deserve great thanks for making WGC Paris successful. The Florence-based meeting organizers, OIC, were well represented at the Congress by Chief Executive Roberto Bucciarelli and meeting leader Viviana Vitali. Sandra Celoni did not attend the Congress, but her behind-the-scenes efforts were much appreciated, as were those of all on the OIC team. Two individuals who deserve special thanks are Mariska van der Veen from the WGA Executive Office and Treasurer Keith Martin, both of whom went above and beyond the call of duty on many occasions during the two years leading up to the Congress. The Program, Organizing and Local Organizing Committees were outstanding, and the members of the French glaucoma community, as expected, were exceptional hosts. I want to thank my co-chair of the WGC Organizing Committee, WGA President Makoto Ariae, for his leadership through-out the past two years. This was the last WGC for both of us in our present roles and I will miss working with him.
The reach of the World Glaucoma Association continues to grow throughout the world and there will be other WGC meetings that are bigger and better in years to come. But given the time, the setting, the program and not to mention the weather, it is hard to imagine a more memorable meeting than WGC Paris 2011.
