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Vijaya Lingam

I have been associated with the World Glaucoma Association for close to two decades. The best benefit that I have derived from this association is the opportunity to interact and work with the stalwarts in the field of glaucoma.

I entered WGA as a member of the WGA global outreach program. Subsequently I was fortunate to have been appointed the chair of the committee. In this capacity I could view the global issues in a broader perspective and could propose some programmes to uplift the quality of glaucoma care in less privileged countries. I was also a member of the nomination committee, which gave me an opportunity to improve my ability to assess individual credentials in an unbiased and logical way.

In 2017, at the Helsinki WGC, I was inducted into the board of governors of WGA. As a part of this supreme body, I was able to appreciate the enormous amount of work done by the association. What impressed me and continues to impress me is the work ethics and clockwork-like precision with which the World Glaucoma Association functions at every level. It has been a pleasure to associate with such an organization.

I would like to highlight here some of my contributions to the association while working in various capacities in the hierarchy of the WGA. The Covid pandemic period was a real challenge to everyone. However, most of us could convert this adversity into advantage by using the spare time at our disposal to disseminate knowledge using online communication tools. I happened to work closely with the WGA education committee and contributed some material for the various programmes. The webinars were a huge success and provided valuable information to all clinicians across the world.

I would like to make a special mention about the consensus series. I participated in the discussion for various consensus modules and was an author for the glaucoma surgery module. The surgery consensus meeting during 2019 WGC at Melbourne is a memorable one. I was amazed at the energy and the commitment shown by Prof Robert N. Weinreb in steering the glaucoma guidelines for all. I am thankful to WGA for bringing out IGR regularly. This one publication gives all that is needed for a glaucoma specialist.

I have been practicing glaucoma in various capacities for 35 years at a premier eye hospital called Sankara Nethralaya, Medical Research Foundation at Chennai, India and contributed to field of glaucoma through our population-based studies (Chennai Glaucoma Study and Chennai Eye Diseases Incidence study). I am a member of the Glaucoma Society of India (GSI) from the inception and also served as its president for two years. The GSI members participate very actively in large numbers in all the world glaucoma congresses. Apart from the Vienna meeting in 2005, I have attended all other congresses. I believe that attending a WGC not only refreshes our scientific knowledge but enables us to build collaborations and crucial networking. This sentiment is echoed by all my colleagues in India. I am happy to share with you that glaucoma specialists across India have adopted ‘the world glaucoma week’ (promoted by WGA) in a big way in order to improve glaucoma awareness among the public at large.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank the World Glaucoma Association and World Glaucoma Congress for the wonderful opportunity given to me to work with them in the last several years. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have received this honour. Long live WGA!

Vijaya Lingam