ESCRS BOARD ELECTION 2019

ESCRS Board Election candidates introduce themselves

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ESCRS Board elections are held every two years. Board members serve for a term of four years and can be re-elected for one additional four year term. Board members must have been a full member of the ESCRS for at least the last three consecutive years and in order to stand for election candidates must be nominated by five other full members of the Society. There are five positions open on the Board in this election. Seventeen full members of the ESCRS have been nominated for election to the Board and they are profiled below. Voting opens on 10 June and closes on 2 September. Members entitled to vote will receive a ballot paper in the post by 10 June. The names of the new Board members will be announced at the Annual General Meeting of the ESCRS which will take place during the Annual Congress in Paris in September. Please note that only European full members of the ESCRS are entitled to vote in the Board election.

Meet the candidates

Jorge Alió, Spain
Jorge Alió MD, PhD, FEBO is Professor and Chairman of Ophthalmology, University Miguel Hernandez, Alicante, Spain, founder of Vissum Corporation, Spain and the Jorge Alió Foundation for the Prevention of Blindness. He is a high-volume surgeon in cataract, cornea and refractive surgery with over 50,000 surgeries performed. His main research interests include lens, refractive and corneal surgery. Pioneer in the area of multifocal, accommodative and toric IOLs, excimer laser refractive surgery, phakic IOLs and corneal regeneration surgery, he is author of over 563 peer review papers, 367 chapters, 93 books; extremely active at congresses with lectures and courses; 2018 Hirsch factor (h-factor) of 60 (Scopus); LXIII chair of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis; XLIX chair of the European Academy of Ophthalmology; and has received over 103 international and national awards. He is creator and Director of the online course Scientific Methodology in Refractive, Cataract and Cornea Surgery (University Miguel Hernandez). Fellows from all over the world come to his research facilities to be trained under his supervision. “I believe that the ESCRS has the potential to be a global reference in the specialty with a particular focus on the promotion of evidence-based knowledge in cataract, refractive and corneal surgery”.
Bruce Allan, UK
We all need easy access to information on our treatment outcomes and accurate, up-to-date advice on which lenses, lasers and procedures are performing best. Pooled data from electronic healthcare record (EHR) systems can provide the answers if the right structures are in place. My aim in standing for the ESCRS Board is to promote access to EHR systems for your practices, automated quality systems to keep you in touch with your outcomes, and a framework for using pooled data to answer your clinical research questions. Important foundations have been laid through EUREQUO, but more work is required to widen participation. In particular, data upload should be automated. You, as a busy surgeon, should not have to input data manually. I have been on the staff at Moorfields Eye Hospital since 1998, chair of the UK Refractive Surgery Standards Working Group since 2015, and an EuCornea board member since 2017. I have lectured and published widely and have made many friends in both industry and medicine through teaching and international collaboration. With your support, I believe I have the experience and the energy to contribute strongly as an ESCRS Board member.
Michael Amon, Austria
I am chairman of the Sigmund Freud Private University and of the Academic Teaching Hospital St. John Vienna. In 2009 I was awarded a professorship by the Medical University Vienna. I was Austrian delegate for EBO and UEMS, board member and congress president of DGII, and president of the Viennese Ophthalmological Society. Currently I am board member of the ESCRS, of the Austrian Ophthalmological Society and head of the Austrian Cataract Committee. In a citation analysis in 2008 I was cited as the 5th most influential author in Europe and 20th worldwide. I am a member of several editorial boards and of the IIIC. I have invented intraocular implants and instruments. With introduction of the term ‘uveal and capsular biocompatibility’ I underlined my main scientific interest in IOLs and in cataract surgery in compromised eyes. I have performed over 30,000 intraocular procedures, including paediatric cataract, posterior segment, glaucoma and corneal surgery. I have organised main symposia, instructional courses and wetlabs, chaired sessions, presented for iLearn and performed live surgery for the ESCRS since 1993. Since 2012 I have been a member of the Education Committee. In case of my re-election, I would like to further intensify interactive education and assist in enhancing the leading scientific role of the ESCRS globally.
Navid Ardjomand, Austria
Navid Ardjomand, MD, FEBO was born in Graz, Austria in 1970, lived in Tehran, Iran until 1979 and graduated from high school in Graz in 1988. He graduated from the Medical School in Graz in 1994 and then trained at the Medical University in Graz and Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK. He finished his anterior segment fellowship at Moorfields Eye Hospital in 2004 and was an Associate Professor and consultant ophthalmic surgeon to the Medical University Graz, Austria & University of Saarland until 2017. He is now back at the Medical University and his private practice for anterior segment surgery in Graz, and author of more than 80 peer reviewed papers. He trained more than 15 eye surgeons, had more than 20 national and international MD and PhD students and was a board member of the Austrian Society of Ophthalmology from 2014 until 2016. “In times of political financial cuts, evidence-based medicine is essential and collaboration between universities and private ophthalmologists is essential for the strength and success of the ESCRS and ophthalmologists. As an international eye surgeon with long academic and clinical experience, my strength lies in my ability to bring people together.
Zsolt Biró, Hungary
Zsolt Biró, MD, PhD, DSc, FEBO, has been Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Pécs, Hungary since 2008. Since 1992, he has been a member of the ESCRS, participating in every annual congress, giving lectures and courses. Dr Biró has published a book, written eight book chapters and 180 papers in various peer-reviewed journals. His articles have been cited over 400 times. He has participated in many congresses and given over 230 lectures. He is a member of the Editorial Board and a reviewer for several Hungarian and international journals of ophthalmology. Dr Biró was President of the Hungarian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons for 6 years and President of the Hungarian Ophthalmological Society for 3 years. He is an Honorary Member of Romanian as well as Polish Ophthalmological Societies. From 2006 until 2009, he was a co-opted Board Member of the ESCRS and he has been a member of the International Intraocular Implant Club (IIIC) since 2005. Since 2015 he has been a member of the ESCRS Video Jury.In December 2012 he received the title ‘Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (DSc)’.
Salvador García-Delpech, Spain
I am an anterior segment ophthalmologist from Valencia, Spain, co-Director and co-Founder of Aiken Clinic, as well as faculty at the Hospital La Fe. As Associate Professor of the University, I am very proud teaching residents in ophthalmology every day. I have 74 peer reviewed articles, 100 book chapters, 500 oral presentations in national and international meetings and several patents, such as the fractal diffractive corneal inlay for presbyopia. I am passionate about clinical research and I am very proud of having the Achievement Award of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). I have been strongly involved in the construction of a better Europe, working with our colleagues at the Federation of European Ophthalmology for more than 12 years, and as an international delegate of the French Society of Ophthalmology. I am happy to think we are closer every day. Responsible for the ProSEO, I am working on improving the professional conditions of ophthalmologists, especially intrusiveness. My contribution to the ESCRS would be to improve professional conditions of ophthalmologists, fight against intrusiveness, create rules to use Big Data and new Artificial Intelligence to help us and our patients, promote new educational programmes in anterior segment for Young Ophthalmologists and continue creating Europe.
Andrzej Grzybowski, Poland
Andrzej Grzybowski, MD, PhD, MBA is Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn and Head of Institute for Research in Ophthalmology, Poznan, Poland. His interests are in cataract (lens refractive and anti-presbyopia surgery), vitreoretinal surgery (eye traumas) and endophthalmitis prevention and treatment. He is active in AAO (Global ONE Advisory Board and Museum of Vision’s Program Committee), EVER (chair of lens/cataract section 2018-2023), ISRS (member of the ISRS International Council), ICO (Programme Coordinator for WOC 2011-2018), EURETINA (coopted Board Member 2016-2018), APAO (Programme Coordinator 2017-2019), Polish Presbyopia Club (Chairman). He is deeply interested in ophthalmic history and proposed the ESCRS Archive (present co-curator) and ESCRS Heritage Lecture. He is Editor-in-chief of Historia Ophthalmologica Internationalis, author of more than 450 peer-reviewed publications with over 50 book chapters, a reviewer for over 20 journals and a member of editorial boards, American Journal of Ophthalmology, Acta Ophthalmologica, PLOS One, Graefe’s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology, Translational Vision Science & Technology (ARVO journal), BMC Ophthalmology and Journal of Clinical Medicine. “My priorities for the future development of ESCRS are evidenced-based recommendations, educational programmes in less-developed parts of Europe and ESCRS surveys to better understand trends in clinical practice and educational needs.
Vikentia Katsanevaki, Greece
Vikentia Katsanevaki, MD, PhD has been active within the ESCRS for the past 15 years. She has been, and continues to be, a member of the Programme Committee, faculty of the refractive surgery didactic course, invited lecturer and faculty of various instructional courses and senior instructor of refractive wetlabs. She has been an elected member of the ESCRS Board since 2015. She has been trained at the University of Crete, Greece and completed a fellowship in cornea and external disease at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London UK. After long collaboration with the University of Crete and serving as a refractive consultant in a major group practice in Athens, she currently runs a private practice in Athens for cataract and refractive surgery. If re-elected to the Board, she plans to continue building her teaching and organisational experience with major interest in young ophthalmologists.
Christopher Liu, UK
Professor Christopher Liu trained in ophthalmology in London (Moorfields Eye Hospital), Cambridge, Norwich, and Rome where he learned osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis. He is a Europhile and speaks English, Chinese, some French and Italian. He is strong in research with nearly 250 publications. He is a world opinion leader in artificial cornea. He developed a PCO model which is now used all over the world. He has over a dozen inventions including a number of cataract and DMEK techniques, and two patents. Christopher has tremendous experience in leadership and management. He was President of MCLOSA, BSRS, SOS and Honorary Secretary of UKISCRS. He has been nominated as President Elect of UKISCRS. He is a Council Member, Trustee and Examiner of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and played a key role in the introduction of the CertLRS exam. He has won multiple awards: Department of Health Hospital Doctor of the Year (2005); Membro Merito of Barraquer Institute; UKISCRS Silver Award; and NHS Silver National Clinical Excellence Award. Queen Elizabeth II appointed him Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2018. Christopher will bring skills in organisation, friendly leadership, governance, examining, quality assurance, marketing and PR, social media, and fundraising.
Volodymyr Melnyk
Dr Volodymyr Melnyk, PhD is the Head Doctor, CEO and founder of Ophthalmic Clinic ‘Visiobud-Plus’ in Kyiv, Ukraine from 2011 to present. From 2004-2011 he was an ophthalmologist at Kyiv Hospital Eye Microsurgery Center. He performs more than 2500 surgeries per year. He was educated in 1994 – 2000 at Kyiv National Medical University. In 2000 – 2004, residency at the KNMU and from 2005 – 2008 PhD in ophthalmology at the KNMU. His research topic was ‘Optic neuropathy in multiple sclerosis patients’. He is Head of the Society of Ukrainian Ophthalmic Surgeons and a member of Ukrainian Society of Ophthalmologists, Ukrainian Alliance of Ophthalmologists and the ESCRS. He has over 20 published papers and over 250 presentations. Major surgical interests include phacoemulsification (over 15,000 procedures in the last 10 years) and combined cataract and glaucoma surgery (over 3,000 procedures in the last 7 years). “My main focus is treatment of glaucoma and cataract patients. I consider surgical technique, designed by me, combined phacoemulsification with modified tunnel trabeculopuncture. More than 3,000 patients were operated with the help of my surgical technique. Many Ukrainian eye surgeons make good use of my technique in their practice. I am an organiser of two annual ophthalmologicalcongresses in Ukraine."
Ewa Mrukwa-Kominek, Poland
As Professor of Ophthalmology (MD, PhD) I am Head of the Department of Ophthalmology, Head of the Postgraduate Education College of the Medical University of Silesia, Katowice (Poland), Head of the Department in the University Clinical Center where I was previously Medical Director. In the Polish Society of Ophthalmology I have been a Board Member since 2010, President of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Section, Board Member of the Silesian Division. My research focuses include cataract surgery, presbyopia, IOLs, diagnostics, cornea. I am author/co-author of 210 published scientific papers and of more than 550 presentations at International and Polish Congresses. I am a member of the Editorial Advisory Board in the CRSToday Europe. In ESCRS I have been a member of a Focus Group, co-opted Board Member (2014 – 2015), and since being elected Board member in 2015 I have been active in the Education and Charity Committees, EBO-ESCRS Exam Board, ESCRS Academy speaker and Wetlab instructor during ESCRS Congresses. If re-elected to the Board, I plan to continue these teaching and organisational activities to extend the role of ESCRS in transferring knowledge to ophthalmologists across Europe. I intend to participate in the training of European residents.
Zoltán Nagy, Hungary
I have been working in ophthalmology since 1986. Currently I am Head of the Department of Ophthalmology, Semmelweis University, Budapest and serve also as a Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences. My main interests are cataract and refractive surgery. I started refractive surgery in Hungary in 1992, performing all kind of refractive procedures. In 1997, I discovered the harmful role of ultraviolet-B during corneal avascular wound healing, which was published in Ophthalmology in 1997. In 2008, I was the first in the world to perform femtolaserassisted cataract surgery. I have published more than 22 papers, 1 book and 5 book chapters regarding the clinical results of FLACS. In 2010, I was awarded the Waring Medal. In 2012 I received the Casebeer Award from the ISRS. Within the ESCRS Board I would like to contribute to the scientific programme of the meetings and to the educational programme of the Young Ophthalmologists, being an active teacher of Semmelweis University. ESCRS is a strong society in ophthalmology and I have a strong commitment for education and scientific work. One of the key factors for success is the personal commitment, I would like to work together with the ESCRS Board members.
Nic Reus, The Netherlands
After having completed my residency in 2009, I specialised in cataract surgery at The Rotterdam Eye Hospital (the Netherlands). In 2014, I joined the Department of Ophthalmology at the Amphia Hospital in Breda, the Netherlands. I am currently a member of the ESCRS Programme Committee and act as liaison between the ESCRS and the European Society of Ophthalmic Nurses and Technicians (ESONT). Since 2011, I have been a (senior) course and wetlab instructor at the meetings of the ESCRS. In addition, I am instructor in the Young Ophthalmologists Programme. Furthermore, I have been a board member of the Netherlands Intraocular Implant Club (NIOIC) since 2009. In 2005, I received a PhD (cum laude) from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. I have authored 39 peer-reviewed articles. Recent publications have covered straylight and patient-reported outcome measures. If elected to the Board, I would like to build on my teaching, research and organisational experience to further improve the role of the ESCRS in providing the best in education in cataract and refractive surgery, in supporting clinical research, and in offering a platform for European ophthalmologists to exchange their ideas and experiences.
Filomena Ribeiro, Portugal
I am honoured to be nominated for the ESCRS Board election. I have been involved as an ESCRS Co-Opted Board Member and as a member of the Programme and Young Ophthalmologists Committees. I am pleased and willing to express my wish to continue this participation, to expand the Society’s efforts to offer voice and participation to all those who can contribute, being particularly focused on education and research as leverages to the ESCRS. I am the head of the Hospital da Luz (Lisbon) Ophthalmology Department, Professor of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Lisbon, Board of the Portuguese College of Ophthalmology, and past-president of the Portuguese Group of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (CIRP). I participate as an examiner in the FEBOS-CR (EBO-ESCRS Subspecialty exam), I am a member of the Portuguese National Jury of Ophthalmology and director of UEMS-accredited courses. I developed my research activity at Visual Sciences Research Centre mainly in IOL power calculation and eye computational models. I would be grateful to have your vote support and I invite you to contact me with any questions you might have.
Sathish Srinivasan, UK
I am a consultant corneal surgeon at University Hospital Ayr, Scotland and a Professor at the University of West of Scotland. I have served as a board member of UK and Ireland Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons since 2009. My interests are in lamellar corneal transplants, and refractive cataract surgery. I have published over 100 scientific papers and have presented in over 90 international meetings. I am a recipient of the Senior Achievement and International Scholar awards from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. I serve as the Associate Editor of the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. I have been an active member of ESCRS since 2009 and my current involvement includes: 1. Co-opted board member 2. Member - Publications Committee (EuroTimes) 3. Evaluation panel member - ESCRS Clinical Research Awards 4. Examiner - European Board of Ophthalmology ESCRS Exams 5. Faculty of ESCRS teaching academy I am totally committed to the mission of ESCRS to enhance education and research. My experience provides me with an insight to the work and dedication required to be active, collaborative and to harvest results. It would be a great honor and privilege for me to serve as your elected board member.
Julian Stevens, UK
ESCRS is 37 years old and I have been a member for 28 years. I trained at Oxford and Cambridge Universities and completed Fellowship training at Moorfields Eye Hospital where I have been a Consultant since 1996. I have a special interest in cataract and refractive surgery and I have run the Moorfields’ laser refractive, phaco and femtosecond laser cataract surgery courses over many years. I was previously Cataract Training Director and then the first Refractive Service Director at Moorfields. If elected I would like to see an easily searchable internal ESCRS directory of members, where we can easily then refer patients to fellow ESCRS members. I would like to see further development of the online video library for members, especially for surgical techniques, not just for rare and complex conditions but for “standard” procedures. I would encourage ESCRS members who have ideas to develop or improve the Society to contact me when I can then forward these ideas for continued development. With artificial intelligence and robotics now coming into ophthalmology to change what we do, I want to ensure ESCRS stays as the premier destination for us for the next 37 years.
Jérôme Vryghem, Belgium
I very much enjoyed being an ESCRS Board Member from 2013 – 2017. As the candidate nominated by the Belgian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery I want to continue the tradition of Belgian ophthalmologists being a member of the ESCRS Board. I have written many peer and non-peer reviewed articles, organised several scientific sessions and live surgeries, and have regularly been invited to demonstrate my surgical technique during live surgeries abroad. I very much enjoyed attending several ESCRS Academy meetings abroad in the last 6 years. I have organised an instructional course on the prevention and management of complications in LASIK at ESCRS congresses since 2001. Since 2010 I have been the organiser of an annual worldwide expert meeting on the surgical management of keratoconus. My focus of interest, about which I have given several presentations at ESCRS congresses, is micro-incision cataract surgery, trifocal IOLs, topography-guided laser treatments and nanosecond laser cataract surgery. I would like to put forward the need for more didactic sessions at ESCRS congresses, with clear and useful messages for less experienced surgeons. I am convinced that it is an asset for the ESCRS to count some private practice based surgeons amongst the Board Members.
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