EURETINA’s success celebrated at 17th Congress in Barcelona

The European Society of Retinal Specialists continues to go from strength to strength, surpassing all expectations both in terms of the attendance at its congresses and the scope of its activities, according to Jan van Meurs, President of EURETINA, at the official opening ceremony of the 17th annual EURETINA Congress. “It is my honour and privilege to welcome so many of you here to the wonderful city of Barcelona for what has become the largest retina congress worldwide,” he said. Dr van Meurs said that he believed that this year’s gathering of retinal experts would build on the high standards set by previous congresses. “This year’s congress presents more scientific modules than ever before, with a bolstered schedule on Sunday, the final day of the meeting. The programme also sees the return of World Retina Day, now in its third year, with contributions from international retina societies and sub-groups. We are also delighted to launch a new initiative dedicated to Young Retina Specialists (YOURS), which underscores the society’s commitment to the future development of our specialty,” he said. Referring to the recent terrorist attacks that struck Barcelona, Dr van Meurs said that the compassion and solidarity of the entire retina community were fully behind the people of Barcelona in these difficult times. He urged delegates to take full advantage of the congress experience and to reach out to their colleagues from all over the world and engage with them directly on topics of interest. “This adds tremendously to the learning experience. I would encourage delegates to approach a speaker if they have any questions or would like to address a specific issue. This is a unique opportunity to interact with colleagues from across the globe in a truly personal way,” he said. As part of the opening ceremony, the EURETINA Lecture 2017 was delivered by Francine Behar-Cohen of France discussing the optimised use of ocular steroids. Prof Behar-Cohen’s lecture was followed by the presentation of the EURETINA video competition awards, with first prize this year shared jointly by Subhendu Kumar Boral of India for his entry on innovative approaches to deal with difficult retained intraocular foreign bodies and Laura Sararols Ramsay of Spain for her video entitled “Posterior Hyaloid Dissection: Let’s make it easy with blue”. Jan van Meurs brought proceedings to a close by wishing delegates a productive and stimulating meeting and said that he looked forward to seeing everyone next February in Budapest for the 8th EURETINA Winter Meeting and Vienna in September 2018 for the 18th EURETINA Congress.