EVER newsletter
August 16, 2007

This year, believe it or not, we celebrate 10 years of EVER. There will be many reminders at the Congress. We have always regarded ourselves as a new society but our 10th Anniversary reinforces that we are now becoming very established and are going from strength to strength! The last ten years have seen considerable evolution in the organisation, sections and meetings. Take a moment during the Congress to raise a glass and toast ”EVER for ever!”

Download the EVER 2007 final programme from the EVER homepage.

All presenting first authors of Free Papers or SIS are respectfully reminded to adhere strictly to allocated timings. Some Free Paper sessions contain a number of Rapid-Fire presentations, which allow the authors to summarise the work presented on their Posters. Poster guidelines and Guidelines for speakers are available on the EVER website.

On the Wednesday prior to the main EVER Congress there will be a European Board of Ophthalmology (EBO) exam Course, which aims to prepare Residents for the European Board of Ophthalmology Examinations. This year the focus of the Course will be on Uveitis. All Residents are encouraged to enrol and take this opportunity for expert teaching!
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Members and all conference delegates are reminded that the early registration deadline is Sept 1st, 2007. Don’t leave the online registration process until the last minute! This is also the time to remind your junior colleagues to register and take advantage of reduced fees!
After login, you can Register.

Transfers from Ljubljana and Trieste airport to Portoroz can be booked: on-line booking form no later than September 15, 2007.
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Dear colleagues,
It has been a great honor and pleasure for me to have served as Secretary General of EVER for the last 5 years. The time has passed by tremendously fast. It has been a continous inspiration to work with the whole EVER Board, and particularly with Madame Marlene Verlaeckt, who has been the true soul of EVER, always thinking ahead of what may come and has to be dealt with.
During these five years, EVER has continued to grow and further to prosper. It has moved from Alicante / Spain to Vilamoura / Portugal and from there to Portoroz / Slovenia in this year. In this period, associations with other European and large national ophthalmological societies have been strengthened, such as with the Societas Ophthalmologica Europea SOE, the Asia ARVO, the ARVO, and the Chineae and Indian Ophthalmological Societies.
I am convinced that EVER as ;European ARVO" will further develop. One may think of a closer relationship and cooperation between EVER, the European Board of Ophthalmolopgy EBO and the European Univeristy Professors Organisation EUPO. The future may show whether even a merger between these organisations may be feasible. Last not least, I would like to thank you for the confidence you had in me; to thank all Board members for the trustful collaboration; to ask you to pay attention to the election of the next Secretary Genberal, for whom you can vote electronically just by visiting the EVER webpage; and to wish all of us "EVERites" continous collegial scientific exchange.
Sincerely Yours,
Jost Jonas
Secretary General 2002 - 2007

We urge all full members to visit the Election page of the web site to cast their votes in ongoing elections! Make your voice heard.

Bahram BODAGHI

Christopher LIU

Constantin POURNARAS

Read more about the three candidates for secretary general
- Bahram BODAGHI, Paris, France
- Christopher LIU, Brighton, UK
- Constantin POURNARAS, Geneva, Switzerland

Jean Jacques GICQUEL

Philippe KESTELYN

Read more about the two candidates for the Cornea section:
- Jean Jacques GICQUEL, Poitiers, France
- Philippe KESTELYN, Ghent, Belgium

Gabor HOLLO

Thierry ZEYEN

Read more about the two candidates for the Glaucoma section:
- Gabor HOLLO, Budapest, Hungary
- Thierry ZEYEN, Leuven, Belgium

EVER 2007 sees a rich offering of Keynote addresses and special lectures. They offer an opportunity to hear internationally recognised speakers. Here we offer some insights into the speakers themselves, some of their motivating influences and their chosen subject matter. These lectures bring all Congress Delegates together and are not to be missed!

Professor Ehlers undertook his clinical training at the second university in Denmark, Aarhus University, and wrote his doctoral thesis (1963-65) on the tear film, which was at that time somewhat unexplored territory! He then studied corneal thickness and its regulation and the importance of histocompatibility in grafting. This led to the development of the eye bank organ culture technique, which is now used widely in Europe. He says that having worked with corneal surgery it was natural to take up refractive surgery. The induced corneal modifications of surgery influence the estimation of intraocular pressure by tonometry, and thus the corneal thickness in a way closes a circle and forms a natural subject for his AER lecture.

The title of the European Heritage lecture to be delivered by Professor de Laey, will be "From Helholtz to the scanning laser ophthalmoscope. 150 years of ophthalmoscopy". Professor de Laey comments that although Helmholtz was not an ophthalmologist he opened a complete new domain and can be considered as one of the founding fathers of modern ophthalmology. Within 10 years of his famous invention of the ophthalmoscope numerous modifications were being produced. The first fundus drawing was published in 1853, 2 years after Helmholtz's publication and the first atlas appeared in 1863.

Professor de Laey says that he had the privilege to start his residency under François and during the second year of his residency, in 1968, he was given the responsibility of fluorescein angiography in the Ghent University Eye Clinic. It was then a new technique and only very few centers in Europe had access to it. He was privileged to have known the then European leaders  of this technique: Achim Wessing, Jendo Oosterhuis and especially Pierre Amalric who became one of his two mentors, the other one being, of course, Jules François. This excited his lifelong interest in medical retina.

This year we are especially happy to have Professor Jager with us, the President of ARVO. Professor Jager started work in the field of corneal transplantation, with a strong background in immunology inspired by Jon van Rood. She says that when she then saw transplants reject she realised that if she could understand this process and modify it she could really help patients. While she was setting up a research plan, the great pathologist, Dirk Ruiter, suggested studying uveal melanoma, and this lead her into a new research line.

Professor Jager is an inspiration to all young and established ophthalmologists and vision scientists alike. She is a particularly passionate teacher, who says that what makes a successful researcher is “To believe in what you do”. She especially likes to help students develop into researchers. She says “Science is a skill, like any surgical skill. You have to learn the ropes, and I like to teach.” Her interests in research and teaching are all motivated by curiosity and a desire to know what is around the corner.

Professor Holz will speak about "New perspectives in retinal imaging: Fundus autofluorescence in age related macular degeneration". Fundus autofluorescence (FAF) imaging using confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy has contributed significantly to our understanding of the pathogenesis of macular and retinal diseases. In particular, it allows for refined phenotypic classification of age-related macular degeneration and other complex as well as monogenic retinal diseases. In patients with geographic atrophy novel prognostic determinants have recently been identified. With the use of FAF-imaging interventional studies in patients with geographic atrophy due to AMD have become possible, as it provides a detectable target, i.e., RPE lipofuscin accumulation and accurate longitudinal quantitation of atrophic patches.

Frank Holz believes that vision research is a highly inspiring scientific area. He was attracted early on in his career to retinal research, both by his residency at the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Heidelberg, and by his subsequent two year fellowship at Moorfields Eye Hospital/ Institute of Ophthalmology, in London. He is enthusiastic about collaboration with esteemed junior and senior researchers in his field and is motivated by how the pace of research is accelerating and how breakthroughs in basic research are being translated into patient care to prevent blindness from retinal diseases.

Professor la Cour’s lecture will give an overview of the physiology and pathophysiology of the RPE, with emphasis on his work over the last decade. He says that he will address the role of the RPE in water homeostasis and show that the epithelium is capable of transporting water against an osmotic gradient, and will explain the role cultured cells in cell physiology, and provide a few caveats about the altered physiology and cellular dynamics in cultured RPE cells. The role of RPE in wound healing will also be discussed and the importance of RPE injury for retinal function will then be addressed. The role of RPE proliferation in PVR and pharmacological strategies for prevention of RPE proliferation will also be discussed.

Professor la Cour started his career in basic science, biostatistics and RPE physiology. His doctoral thesis (1993) was about ion transport in the RPE. He has built a research group around RPE physiology and pathophysiology, and his interests also include retinal stem cell transplantation, retinal ischemia, macular hole surgery and PVR. He is also active as a senior vitreoretinal surgeon. He says that he has always wanted to be a scientist but also wants to treat patients. As a young scientist he was inspired by Thomas Zeuthen, Henrik Lund-Andersen and Jan Ulrik Prause, and spent time with the late Roy Steinberg and with Sheldon Miller. He comments that he finds the most inspiring thing is to develop a theory and then to see it survive experimental testing.

The EVER 2007 General Assembly will be held in Portoroz, on Saturday October 6, 18:05 in room Europa A
Agenda:
1. President's address
2. Minutes of the General Assembly 2006
3. Report of the General Secretary
4. Report of the Programme Secretary
5. Report of the Treasurer, approval of the accounts 2006, discharge to the directors, budget for 2007
6. Newsletters ; EVER Journal
7. Results of the elections
8. Presentation of the BOARD 2007-2008
9. President Elect, Vice President Elect
10. Categories of membership
11. Presentation and Report of the Scientific Sections meetings
12. Future congresses
13. Prize giving
14. Miscellanea

All EVER Scientific Sections will be holding business meetings on Friday, October 5, from 19:00 to 20:00.
Room allocations are:
• Anatomy / Cell Biology, room Europa A
• Cornea / Ocular Surface, room Europa A
• Glaucoma, room Emerald I
• Immunology / Microbiology, room Europa B
• Lens and Cataract, room Emerald II
• Molecular Biology / Genetics / Epidemiology, room Emerald I
• Neuro-ophthalmology / Strabismology / Paediatric ophthalmology / History, room Emerald II
• Pathology / Oncology, room Adria
• Physiology / Biochemistry / Pharmacology, room Mediteranea I
• Retina / Vitreous, room Europa B
• Vision Sciences / Electrophysiology / Physiol. Optics, room Mediteranea I

These meetings are quite informal but do go along to have your ideas represented and to give valuable feedback about the Congress and any other issues you may fell strongly about.

The European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education Institution of the UEMS, EACCME has granted 21 European CME credits (ECMEC) to the EVER 2007 congress on October 3-6 in Portoroz, Slovenia.
After the congress delegates will be able to print CME certificate from the EVER website.

The EVER Board invites proposals for keynote speakers for year 2008.
Each section can propose keynote speakers. Ideally the proposal is based on advice received from the section members at a section business meeting. Please provide ALL the information requested in the on-line form on this page
Proposal deadline is September 30, 2007