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From the WGA Executive Office

Dear IGR readers,

The World Glaucoma Association continues to expand our activities for the benefit of our members and our patients. The ICO-World Glaucoma Association Fellowship Program will expand the number of glaucoma fellowships from Sub-Saharan Africa to 10 for 2021, under the leadership of WGA Officer of External Affairs Dr. Neeru Gupta. In addition, the Global Outreach Committee, which is now under the leadership of Dr. Vijaya Lingham, is establishing observer fellowship programs in South Asia for selected fellows to train at sites in India and Nepal.

We are very proud to announce that the World Glaucoma Patient Association has officially joined the WGA and is now called the World Glaucoma Patient Committee. With Drs. Ivan Goldberg, Robert Ritch, and Ki Ho Park as the co-chairs, the WGPC will promote glaucoma awareness through activities including World Glaucoma Week, liaising with regional glaucoma patient associations/groups around the world, digital/ social campaigns, and development of patient materials and symposia including the one held at the World Glaucoma Congress. The patient symposium at WGC-2019 in Melbourne was a very successful meeting with over 300 attendees from around the globe, and featured several prominent WGA members as speakers as well as a glaucoma patient who described how she copes with the disease.

The Program Planning Committee for WGC-2021 in Kyoto is co-chaired by Drs. Tina Wong and Arthur Sit. The PPC co-chairs have already kickstarted their planning with a teleconference reviewing the member feedback about the latest WGC (Melbourne) and using that information for the planning phase of WGC-2021.

Our Education Committee, chaired by Dr. Fabian Lerner, now has launched the Spanish version of the Glaucoma Patient education module, translated by Dr. Irene Copati. Feel free to direct your patients to this website (www.glaucomapatients.org) for patient education materials.
WGA Executive Office

Get to know us

Since February 2018 Marije de Graaf has been involved with the WGA as Operations Manager, working closely together with Irene Koomans, the WGA Executive General Manager.

The past one and a half years have been filled with learning moments about the WGA and our operations, our core purpose, values and goals, as well as the World Glaucoma Congress. As Operations Manager to the WGA, Marije is making sure all operational and administrative tasks related to the daily practices of the WGA run smoothly.

Marije is looking forward to optimizing our operations, and assisting in the elimination of glaucoma- related disability worldwide together with all our stakeholders.