The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) is the largest and most respected eye and vision research organization in the world. Members include nearly 10,000 researchers from over 75 countries. ARVO advances research worldwide into understanding the visual system and preventing, treating and curing its disorders.
In an insightful interview with touchOPHTHALMOLOGY, the President of ARVO, Dr Hans Grossniklaus shared ARVO’s objectives, research priorities and upcoming events.
- What are the objectives of Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)? (0:08)
- What are the major challenges faced by the ophthalmology community at the moment? (0:10)
- What are the ARVO’s research priorities for the coming year? (2:13)
- Could you tell us a little about the upcoming meeting? (2:49)
- Of what achievements are you most proud in your role as President? (5:03)
- What have been the benefits to you of working with touchOPHTHALMOLOGY? (6:13)
Disclosures: Dr Hans Grossniklaus is a consultant for Aura Biosciences, has received grant/research support from NIH and has served on advisory boards for the American Board of Ophthalmology.
Support: Interview and filming supported by Touch Medical Media. Interview conducted by Lisa Glass.
What are the objectives of Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)? (0:08)
ARVO’s s mission is to advance research worldwide into the understanding of the visual system and preventing, treating and curing its disorders. ARVO was founded in 1928 by 73 ophthalmologists, and we now have 10,000 members from 75 countries. And in addition to sponsoring the annual meeting, we also publish three journals, IOVS, TVST and JOV. And we are also involved with the Foundation for Eye Research, which was established in 2001, which funds novel research, education and outreach programmes and initiatives. It also sponsors travel fellowships for students and ophthalmologists around the world from underserved areas.
What are the major challenges faced by the ophthalmology community at the moment? (0:10)
I think we all share the challenge of just coming out of the COVID pandemic, and we’re trying to navigate through the current environment, going from a web based, internet based type of conferences to in-person meetings and even a combination of the two. So that’s one of the challenges. The big challenge for ARVO, it’s been present even before COVID, was advocating for research funding, especially from the NIH and other agencies. Another challenge we have related to ophthalmology is translating our basic science into clinical care, so going from bench to bedside and how to navigate that. So those are really the challenges we’re facing.
What are the ARVO’s research priorities for the coming year? (2:13)
While ARVO per se doesn’t have research priorities, the membership really drives the organization and the research the membership is doing drives the organization. So I can tell you that what currently appears to be emphasized as areas of research include artificial intelligence, imaging, in particular molecular biology and bioinformatics, tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Could you tell us a little about the upcoming meeting? (2:49)
Well, I’m very excited about the upcoming meeting. It’s going to be in New Orleans this April 23rd to 27th. It’s a packed with lots of initiatives and scientific presentations. We have at this time 4,519 posters, 131 platform presentations, and each platform presentation has about six papers that are presented. And we have four symposia, including targeting cell death and its processes, mechanisms of myopia, molecular and bioinformatics methods and eye disease, the role of age and sex in eye disease. And we have, I think it’s eight mini symposia. We also have eight courses that we’re giving the day before ARVO starts on artificial intelligence, diabetic retinopathy, electrophysiology, the electronic health record, and how to do controlled trials, statistics, registries, and interpreting genetic tests. We have two fabulous keynote speakers. Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz is going to deliver our opening keynote address, and she’s from the genetic research campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Then Ivan Schwaab from the University of California Davis is going to deliver the closing keynote talk. We also have four named lectures. I would be remiss not to mention some of the social functions that we’re going to have at our meeting, including the ARVO Foundation Gala on Saturday night, just before the meeting. You don’t want to miss that. That’s a gala in New Orleans. We have a Sunday social. We have a student social. We have a women in ophthalmology luncheon. And then last but not least, a karaoke night. So lots of fun things to do at our annual meeting.
Of what achievements are you most proud in your role as President? (5:03)
As president, I set the tone of the meeting and the theme of the meeting, and I chose the beauty of diversity in science and nature. We have many diverse members of our organization doing different types of research, using different methods, and as such, I’m emphasizing the role of underrepresented groups, getting them involved in science. We have underrepresented groups initiative, a women’s leadership development programme. We had recently a symposium on envisioning health care equity in ophthalmic clinical care, and we also had a symposium on advanced research career development. So this is all to encourage underrepresented groups, diverse groups to participate in visual science. And that’s probably what I’m most proud of, as president.
What have been the benefits to you of working with touchOPHTHALMOLOGY? (6:13)
Well, I think the benefits are being able to have a platform to share with the ophthalmology world what ARVO is all about and putting people in touch with vision research and hopefully helping to connect people in the science community with industry as we talk about translational research and going from bench to bedside. So this is a nice platform for that. And I encourage anyone who is looking at this to think about attending ARVO, as it’s going to be a great meeting in New Orleans.
Subtitles and transcript are autogenerated.
