Young Ophthalmologists in Belgrade

[caption id="attachment_11049" align="alignleft" width="1024"] Oliver Findl, Secretary of the ESCRS and Chairman of the YO Committee[/caption] The 22nd ESCRS Winter Meeting, which took place in Serbia, Belgrade, played host to another successful Young Ophthalmologists (YO) Programme. Oliver Findl, Secretary of the ESCRS and Chairman of the YO Committee, said that it was a lively and vivid programme. He said one of the highlights of the programme was the “Learning from the Learners” session, where relative beginners presented videos of their cases and answered questions from both the experienced panellists and the assembled audience. “Many of the YOs sent their comments or questions through the conference app, because some are a little hesitant to stand up in front of a crowd of 200-300 people, which is understandable," said Dr Findl. The panel then looked back at the videos and picked out key sequences for special attention. Dr Findl said it is not just younger doctors who attend the YO sessions. “We see quite a few faces of experienced surgeons, people who've been around for a long time, who obviously also find this interesting, or maybe entertaining. It may also be the case that they attend, because they are trainers, and they want to refine their training skills. You can always take something home, even if it is something quite basic.” As well as the video presentations, two experienced surgeons gave talks on the most common advice they give to their trainees. Richard Packard gave a variety of tips for different points of cataract surgery and Khiun Tjia, spoke about how best to approach problems with small pupils. Looking ahead to the YO Programme at the 36th ESCRS Congress in Vienna this September, Dr Findl said he is excited about a new “Learning from the Learners” video session. “We don't want to see good videos, that's not the point. We want to see videos where people have problems, and then we can discuss these problems and how to solve them, and ideally everybody can take that home.”