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Pradeep Ramulu

Many of you reading come from great home institutions/departments, with great colleagues such as (for me at Johns Hopkins) Harry Quigley, Henry Jampel, David Friedman and others who have taught us so much about glaucoma and were role models in their dedication to patients and research. And many of us have participated in first-rate national and regional societies, such as the American Glaucoma Society, that have put on first-rate programs, provided grant funding to answer important questions, and fostered a community of scholarship and clinical excellence.

But there is only one WORLD Glaucoma Association that allows us the opportunity to extend our perspective beyond our Institution, country, and region, and redefine our notions of what glaucoma is and how it should be treated in the context of the best experts from around the globe. For me, I have realized many times over that the truth regarding glaucoma is complex, and that what I have thought to be true may not be ‘as true’. Indeed, it has been a singular privilege of my career to tap into the best minds of the world to educate myself, and hopefully to share some of the incredible wisdom we have in our community with others.

I would like to thank the WGA for initially allowing me to participate in the Associate Advisory Board, an organization which has grown in scope and purpose so that we continue to engage the best, most dedicated faculty into our organization and grow them into future leaders. Through the AAB, I was allowed to join the Education Committee under the leadership of then Committee-Chair (and subsequently WGA President) Fabian Lerner, who began the processing of building a first-rate library of educational resources including Basic and Advanced courses to teach the fundamentals of glaucoma. It has been a real joy to continue Fabian’s work as director of this committee, using the committee’s innovative ideas and dedication to build further resources including more courses, a series of short peer-reviewed video lectures on fundamental topics (the Fundamental Questions in Glaucoma series), and (following the brilliance of Dr. Tanuj Dada) the WGA Surgical Grand Round series – which has introduced a video-based approach to challenging surgical situations to world-wide audiences of over 1000 doctors.

Finally, it has been a pleasure to work with the great leaders at the WGA on projects including:

• Dr. Bob Weinreb’s consensus series, particularly the 11th Consensus Meeting focused on Glaucoma Surgery, where I worked with a great group to finalize the ‘Guidelines for surgical trials and outcome measures’ section.
• Drs. Winnie Nolan, Tina Wong, and Arthur Sit/Kaweh Mansouri, who led the 2019, 2021, and 2023 Congresses, and helped me and the terrific Epidemiology/Genetics committees assemble first-rate sessions with amazing speakers.
• Our IGR and Journal of Glaucoma teams that have helped with these incredible resources for article reviews and new glaucoma-related literature, respectively.

Lastly, the WGA has been about forging friendships from around the world, bringing me closer to practitioners of great dedication, ethics, and compassion that inspire me to be better with my patients every day. To all my friends reading, and to those I have yet to meet, I look forward to seeing you again soon..