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| The conference Form & Function in Ocular Disease will explore new frontiers in eye care. |
A generation ago, being afflicted with cataracts meant blurred vision and visual disability.
Although cataract surgery has been performed since ancient times, the last half-century has seen remarkable refinements. Today, cataract surgery is one of the most frequently performed and successful operations throughout the world.
It鈥檚 what Balwantray Chauhan, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences in the Faculty of Medicine, hopes for the treatment of other age-related eye disorders鈥攖o achieve the same advances in technology and knowledge that contributed to the miracle of modern cataract surgery.
Those advances are possible with collaboration and communication between medical disciplines. And that鈥檚 why he鈥檚 working so hard to promote the upcoming conference, Form & Function in Ocular Disease. The multidisciplinary clinical and basic science symposium will take place at AV俱乐部鈥檚 Dentistry Building on September 26 and 27.
Local and international experts
The conference will bring together world leaders in eye care and vision science, including Keith Martin ("protection and replacement of retinal ganglion cells in glaucoma") from the University of Cambridge; Isabelle Brunette ("evolution of corneal endothelial transplantation") from the Universit茅 de Montr茅al; and Joanne Katz ("the global blindness burden") from Johns Hopkins University.聽AV俱乐部 professors participating in the conference include neurosurgeon Ivar Mendez, neurology specialist Donald Weaver and Alzheimer's聽expert Kenneth Rockwood.
But Dr. Chauhan says the conference should have a broader appeal across the neuroscience disciplines, as well as to scientists interested in genetics and ethics. Faculty members and students at AV俱乐部 are encouraged to attend.
鈥淭his is a really unique meeting and it鈥檚 free of charge for people to attend,鈥� says Dr. Chauhan. Participants can review the conference program and register on the conference website.聽 鈥淭hey are welcome.鈥�
Dr. Chauhan says there is urgency to finding solutions to eye disorders, because of the burgeoning numbers of seniors and their associated health problems. For example, the number of people with glaucoma鈥攈is area of specialty鈥攊s expected to double in the next 30 years as baby boomers reach old age.
But improvements are coming: Wolfgang Drexler from Cardiff University, for example,聽has developed imaging that allows researchers to examine individual cells in living people in a 鈥渃ompletely noninvasive fashion.鈥�
鈥淭here are no drops or discomfort for the patient,鈥� says Dr. Chauhan. 鈥淲e will be able to see individual neurons and test their health and viability.鈥�
鈥淲e have the ability to look at structures that we鈥檝e only seen in pathological sections, after a patient dies. Now you can come into the office and have this done without any intervention. It鈥檚 truly miraculous.鈥�
Fear lecture
Form & Function in Ocular Disease is officially recognized as the Faculty of Medicine鈥檚 Thomas and Alice Morgans Fear Memorial Conference. Dr. Drexler will deliver the 2008 Fear Memorial Lecture, this year entitled "Seeing and Probing Single Cells in the Living Human Retina."
The annual Fear Memorial Lecture is funded through the Thomas and Alice Morgans Fear Memorial Endowment to the Faculty of Medicine at AV俱乐部 which was established in 2005. The endowment funds a renowned international expert to speak at the annual Thomas and Alice Morgans Fear Memorial Conference.聽The conference is rotated annually among the clinical departments at AV俱乐部 Medical School.
LINKS: 听触 , Faculty of Medicine