Ghada Atta has been a corneal, refractive surgeon specialist in Egypt since 2016. Her interests inclue corneal surgeries, femto, and refractive corrections. Ghada is Head of the Committee for Press, Media and Advertising DAOG e.V. and also a doctoral candidate at the Centre for Ophthalmology at the University Hospital of Cologne and the Faculty of Medicine since January 2019 in collaboration with the Institute of Vision and Bone Regeneration at the PMU University in Salzburg, Austria. She completed her doctorate (Dr.med.) on 20 January 2023 with the grade cum laude.

Ghada completed her thesis "The lymphangiogenic and haemangioma factors affecting the human sclera", including the publication of 3 manuscripts, and won the paper award for the best original research paper - Annual Congress of Sicsso - The International Society of Cornea, Stem Cells and Ocular Surface 2022 and participation in ASCRS 2022 - Washington, USA.

Beatrice Cochener-Lamard is the Head of the Ophthalmology Department in Brest University Hospital (France) since 2000, and professor since 2002. She has been president of the French Society of Ophthalmology (SFO) for three years (2009-2011), is deputy president of the National Association of Ophthalmology (SNOF) and past-president of the French Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (SAFIR). Since 2011, she has been head of the French Academy of Ophthalmology, which is the national professional board of ophthalmology.

Beatrice is involved in the international arena as ESCRS committee member and past-president since 2020, current president of Eucornea and Dean of the University of Medicine and Health Sciences. 

Her main fields of interest are anterior segment, refractive surgery and corneal surgery. In 2013, she was awarded the Legion of Honour, a French distinction of high merit. In terms of research activities, she is a member of the Medical Imaging Laboratory (Brest Inserm LATim), involved in IA and Medicine. Invited to many conferences across the world, she has contributed to more than 200 publications and was in charge of the SFO national report dedicated to Presbyopia in 2012 and associated to the one on Ocular Surface in 2016 and 2 books on refractive surgery published in 2016.

H. Burkhard Dick has been Chair of Ophthalmology at the Ruhr University in Bochum and Director of the University Eye Hospital in this German city, otherwise known for its football team, since 2003. He has been President of the German Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (DGII) and is currently its Secretary General.

The author of numerous textbooks including "Femtosecond Later Surgery in Ophthalmology", Burkhard has been active in societies such as the AAO, ISRS and ESCRS for many years; he was the Secretary of the ESCRS from 2003-2024 and is currently president of the ESCRS.

Mor Dickman is an acknowledged anterior segment specialist with expertise in corneal transplantation and complex lens pathologies. His clinical research focuses on improving patient outcomes after corneal transplantation, cataract, and refractive surgery.

He specialises in population-based registry studies and multicentre randomised controlled trials. His fundamental and translational research is in regenerative medicine with a focus on cell therapies to regenerate the cornea.

As Chair of the ESCRS BROSS Working Group, he is committed to promoting inclusion and equity and fostering an environment where everyone feels valued and can realise their full potential. 

Artemis has completed two prestigious Corneal Fellowships in Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge and Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead. She is a Fellow of the European Board of Ophthalmology and a member of the Royal College of Physicians of London. 

Artemis sits at the Education Committee of the ESCRS and the Leadership Business Committee of the ESCRS, with continuous involvement in projects that aim to improve educational opportunities and leadership skills for ophthalmologists around Europe. She is also a Council Member of the MCLOSA and ESASO societies. 

Artemis has authored a number of peer-reviewed publications, including randomised controlled trials on endothelial corneal transplant techniques. She is an invited speaker in national and international ophthalmology conferences and a guest reviewer in leading ophthalmology journals.

Laura Maubon FRCOphth, BMBS, BMedsci, PGCertSurg Ed, is a consultant ophthalmologist specialised in anterior segment surgery, ocular surface disease and surgical education. She is a mother of two and works as a locum consultant at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London.

Recently, she completed teaching and further studies in surgical educational at Imperial College London. She is an active member of the BOSS research group, ESCRS YO and programme committees. Prior to this she led the UK (UKISCRS) young ophthalmologist programme for 4 years whilst completing ophthalmic training.

After undergraduate and foundation medicine in Nottinghamshire she completed ophthalmic training rotating through Guys and St Thomas Hospital, Kings College Hospital, completing fellowships in education, cornea and external diseases at Moorfields.

Sotiria Palioura, MD, MSc, PhD is a US-trained cataract, cornea and ocular surface disease specialist currently based in Athens, Greece.  She is certified by both the American and European Boards of Ophthalmology. She serves as Voluntary Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (Miami, Florida, USA), as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Yale School of Medicine (New Haven, Connecticut, USA), as Visiting Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at University of Cyprus (Nicosia, Cyprus), and as Medical Director of the NAM III Eye Bank at Archbishop’s Makarios III Hospital (Nicosia, Cyprus). Within ESCRS, she is a member of the Cornea and Education Committees and the Diversity & Inclusivity Working Group.

Sarah Schimansky MB BCh BAO MEd FEBO FRCOphth is an ophthalmology trainee in the UK with special interest in adult and paediatric corneal and anterior segment surgery.

- Medical Doctor (MD), Fellow of the European Board of Ophthalmologists (FEBO)

- Lisbon, Portugal

Anterior segment, Cornea and Refractive Surgery consultant since 2019 at Hospital Fernando Fonseca and Hospital da Luz in Lisbon

Member of the ESCRS Young Ophthalmologists for Sustainability and co-chair of Eyesustain’s Global Council leadership committee. Enthusiast by medical training, I coordinate/lecture at resident courses organized locally and by the Portuguese ophthalmic society, and I enjoy taking part in surgical training at Wetlabs whether at national and ESCRS congresses.

AFFILIATION:

Emeritus head and chief of the department of ophthalmology of the

Antwerp University Hospital and University of Antwerp,

appointed as such at both institutions (2017-Current).

CEO of the P.E.D Tassignon company for medical expertise in

Ophthalmology (2017- current)

Coach educator at University Hospital VUBrussel (2023-current)

Coach at Infosan-Romania (2024-current

KEY POSITIONS:

          Treasurer Belgian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery

          President committee Fellow Eur. Board Ophthalmol. Exam on Cataract

and Refr. Surg (FEBOS-CR)

           Immediate past president of Academia Ophthalmology Internationalis (Chair L)

           Chair IV of the European Academy Ophthalmology

            Past Chair program committee WOC 2020-2022

            Chair Anterior Segment section of European Vision Institute Clinical

 Trial-network (EVICR-net)

           Member Education Committee ESCRS

           Member advisory committee European Board of Ophthalmology

           President Belgian Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology

           President Belgian Society Prevention of Blindness

           Co editor of Journal Cataract Refractive Surgery/ section review papers

           Co editor of Ophthalmic Research/ section cataract