— San Diego, California – Retina World Congress (RWC), a California Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation, and Retina Rocks, LLC are pleased to jointly announce an agreement making Retina Rocks the official image bank of RWC.

The Retina World Congress is honored to announce that it has partnered with Retina Rocks, the premier image & reference library in the world, to establish Retina Rocks as the official image bank of the RWC.

This collaboration will help each organization expand their common mission of improving retinal education and patient care. Retina Rocks, launched online in 2019 as www.retinarocks.org and on Instagram (@retina.rocks), is among the world’s largest online, open-source retina image teaching resources. Its huge collection currently includes over 31,000 multimodal images and 5,500 annotated references (the top retina articles published on a huge number of retinal conditions and treatments) that are organized alphabetically and by topic. Cases are posted Monday through Friday on the Retina Rocks Instagram account which reaches 80,000-100,000 unique users every month.

“With the rapid acceleration of innovation in retina and the development of many new therapies for retinal disease, the need to promote worldwide top-level retinal education continues to grow exponentially. It is paramount that we expand our global alliances and continue to foster the growing international consensus for cooperative online retina education,” said Tarek S. Hassan, MD, President, Retina World Congress. “This new partnership fits perfectly within the Retina World Congress family and aligns with our goals of promoting and enhancing free global retinal education, of the highest level, to maximally benefit retina specialists and their patients across the world, regardless of country or societal affiliation.”

One hundred percent of the proceeds from Retina Rocks’ corporate sponsors, Topcon Healthcare and Optos, directly support a wonderful non-profit organization, the Adarsh Charitable Foundation (www.letshelptheworldsee.com), which aims to provide a permanent solution to the problem of limited eye care in third world countries (currently Belize). Although it still regularly provides eye care with mission trips, it hopes to train local providers such that individual communities have actual “feet on the ground” to provide sustainable treatment of eye disease. It is therefore recruiting local students and offering them scholarships to train in optometry and ophthalmology programs. These doctors then come back to serve their respective communities. Retina Rocks is now one year into its first three scholarships.

Retina Rocks will continue to evolve and be an ongoing educational resource for the Retina World Congress, and the world’s eyecare and retinal communities. Anyone interested in helping contribute to, and grow, the image bank and educational platform or the Adarsh Charitable Foundation should send an email directly to Steven Bloom, MD and Inder Singal, MD, MBA at contactus@retinarocks.org.

Contact:
Debra Espe, Executive Director
Retina World Congress
Debbie.Espe@retinaworldcongress.org
Phone: (619) 733-4156

Steven Bloom, MD, Image Bank Manager
contactus@retinarocks.org

— Thorofare, NJ – Healio, a Wyanoke Group company, and Retina World Congress (RWC) are pleased to jointly announce an agreement making OSLI Retina the official journal of RWC beginning with the January 2021 issue.

“We are excited to welcome RWC and look forward to their contributions to the success of OSLI Retina. Their commitment to education and communicating scientific advances in retinal health align perfectly with the mission of the publication,” said John C. Carter, Chief Operating Officer, Wyanoke Group.

In 2019, RWC selected Healio LIVE (formerly Association & Meeting Solutions) to produce its biennial Retina World Congress meeting where it brings together a host of international retina societies in support of scientific and clinical exchange related to retina health.

“We are excited, honored, and eager to move forward,” said Tarek S. Hassan, MD, President, Retina World Congress. “This partnership fits remarkably well into the Retina World Congress family and aligns perfectly with our goals of promoting and enhancing global education, research, and scientific communication in retina. It will be a great benefit to retina specialists across the globe.”

“On behalf of the entire editorial board, we are honored that Retina World Congress chose OSLI Retina as its official journal,” said Darius M. Moshfeghi, MD, Editor-in-Chief, OSLI Retina. RWC brings OSLI Retina extended access to leading clinicians on the forefront of the diagnosis and treatment of retinal disease that will greatly enhance the practical and clinical science presented in the publication.”

OSLI Retina focuses exclusively on retinal diseases, surgery and pharmacotherapy. This MEDLINE/PubMed cited peer-review publication boasts an expedited submission-to-publication process offering clinical science and case report articles.

In consideration of safety and travel restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Retina World Congress biennial meeting has been rescheduled from 2021 to May 12-15, 2022 and will be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the Marriott Harbor Beach hotel.

Contact:
Debra Espe, Executive Director
Retina World Congress
Debbie.Espe@retinaworldcongress.org
Phone: (619) 733-4156

San Diego, CA (July 22, 2020) – Retina World Congress, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating retina specialists on advances in the field, Dr. Benjamin J. Thomas, Retina Specialist in Florida, Club Vit, a non-profit educational vitreoretinal organization, and OCULUS Surgical, the distributor of single-use 100-diopter (100D) surgical lenses, have announced a collaboration agreement for the (re)Purpose Lens Initiative. The (re)Purpose Lens Initiative fosters the distribution of 100D widefield lenses repurposed for non-surgical use as non-contact clinical examination lenses for resource-limited settings as a low-cost means of expanding vitreoretinal diagnostic capacity around the world.

“We are proud to share information on the (re)Purpose Lens Initiative with our over 40 international society partners, and their members,” says Tarek S. Hassan, MD, President of Retina World Congress. “By providing the introduction to the project, our global society partners with diminished resources could have access to repurposed 100D lens.”

If interested in the (re)Purpose Lens Initiative, please provide your name, organization, and email to info@retinaworldcongress.org and your information will be directed to the project organizers.

Healio brings highlights from Retina World Congress Meeting. Refer back to this page often for the latest news from Retina World Congress, perspectives and interviews with leading researchers and clinicians, and to review archives of past meetings.

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San Diego, CA – Retina World Congress (RWC) is pleased to announce it has selected Association & Meeting Solutions, LLC (AMS) to produce its second biennial Retina World Congress meeting, to be held March 21-24, 2019 at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Hotel in Florida…

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– Retina physicians worldwide convened at the inaugural Retina World Congress –

San Diego, CA – February 27 2017 – Organizers of Retina World Congress (RWC) are pleased to announce that the inaugural meeting took place February 23 – 26, 2017, at the Marriott Harbor Beach hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.

A nonprofit-designated international conference, Retina World Congress featured presentations from over 170 international thought leaders from 36 countries. The packed agenda focused on clinical and scientific research, expert panel discussions, lively debate on cases and controversies and first-time presentations including the latest data in anti-PDGF treatment. Proceedings of the congress will be published in Retinal Physician, becoming a permanent part of the peer-reviewed literature in the field.

Retina World Congress attracted members of over 38 international retina societies and over 1000 attendees from 74 countries. “The meeting was a federation of retina societies that brought together delegates from around the world,” said Rishi P. Singh, MD, president of the Retina World Congress founding Board and Executive Committee. “Our non-profit status helped to foster cooperation with other groups, which allowed us to work together toward the common goal of global education.” The members of the Retina World Congress founding Board and Planning Committee included esteemed retina leaders familiar to the global ophthalmic community.

“With rapid innovation in retina, our international forum for scientific dialogue and professional education has never been greater and better received by the retina community,” said Dr. Singh. “Our collaborative efforts with our international and regional retinal society partners, helped build a successful, single focal point of information exchange for the global retina community.”

About the Retina World Congress
Retina World Congress is a 501c6 non-profit professional education initiative that unites international retina specialists in the vanguard of scientific advances and therapeutic innovation in retinal health. The mission of Retina World Congress is to foster ongoing dialogue and to generate consensus about retinal disease, emerging technologies and treatments, best practices, and clinical research. The next Retina World Congress meeting will convene in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on January 17-20, 2019. For more information, please visit www.retinaworldcongress.org.

Contact:
Debbie Espe, Executive Director/Vice-President
Retina World Congress
Debbie.Espe@retinaworldcongress.org
Phone: (619) 733-4156

– Event held in conjunction with ARVO provides a preview of “United Nations” of retina in 2017 –

Seattle, Wash. – April 30, 2016 – With less than a year until the inaugural Retina World Congress (RWC), February 23 to 26, 2017, at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott, Florida, USA, Congress organizers and representatives of participating international retina societies gathered at an informational event during the Association for Research and Vision in Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting to discuss the evolution of global educational exchange in retina.

“With the pace of innovation in retinal medicine quickening and global rates of retinal disease surging, there is a growing international consensus that a new forum for practical, clinically focused retina education, incorporating best practices from around the world, is an absolute necessity,” said Rishi P. Singh, MD, President of the Retina World Congress Founding Board and Executive Committee. “This alignment is reflected in the fact that Retina World Congress has already secured the participation of 22 international retina societies. We anticipate that a number of additional national and regional groups, as well as key industry players, will also join us at the inaugural meeting.”

A nonprofit-designated international conference, RWC will feature presentations from international thought leaders in retina on the most current clinical and scientific research, as well as accredited professional education courses, expert panel discussions on cases and controversies, and industry exhibits. Proceedings of the Congress will be published in The International Journal of Retina and Vitreous, becoming a permanent part of the peer-reviewed literature in the field.

“Recognizing the importance of international educational exchange for elevating the level of patient care around the world, we got involved with Retina World Congress early,” said Andre Gomes, MD, President of the Brazilian Retina and Vitreous Society (BRAVS), which became a Congress partner in 2015. “We look forward to welcoming our colleagues and industry supporters to this first ‘United Nations’ of retina and to working together to create a new model for clinical education and problem solving, one that will take global retina into an exciting future.”

About the Retina World Congress
Retina World Congress is a 501(c)6 nonprofit professional education initiative that will unite international retina specialists in the vanguard of scientific advances and therapeutic innovation in retinal health. The mission of Retina World Congress is to foster ongoing dialogue and to generate consensus about retinal disease, emerging technologies and treatments, best practices, and clinical research. The inaugural Retina World Congress will convene in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on February 23 to 26, 2017. For more information, please visit www.retinaworldcongress.org.

— Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to host the global retina community —
— Retina physicians worldwide invited to mark their calendars —

San Diego, CA – November 30, 2015 – Organizers of Retina World Congress (RWC) announced today that its inaugural meeting will convene February 23 to 26, 2017, at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott, Florida, USA.

A nonprofit-designated international conference, Retina World Congress will feature presentations from international thought leaders in retina on the most current clinical and scientific research, as well as accredited professional education courses, expert panel discussions on cases and controversies, and industry exhibits. Proceedings of the Congress will be published in the International Journal of Retina and Vitreous, becoming a permanent part of the peer-reviewed literature in the field.

“In an era of dynamic change and rapid innovation in retina, the need for an international forum for scientific dialogue and professional education has never been greater,” said Rishi P. Singh, MD, President of the Retina World Congress founding Board and Executive Committee. “Retina World Congress grew out of our belief that we can foster more collaboration between national and regional retinal societies, providing a single focal point of information exchange for the global retina community.”

Retina World Congress is actively inviting all international societies to join this global initiative and has already seen success to date in being recognized by several of the largest retina societies in the world.

“We intend to be inclusive. Retina World Congress will be a federation of retina societies that will bring together delegates from around the world,” said Dr. Singh. “Our non-profit status helps foster cooperation with other groups, which allows us to work together on the common goals of global education.” The members of the Retina World Congress founding Board and League of Advisors include esteemed retina leaders familiar to the ophthalmic global community. “Having a unique opportunity to help shape an international effort that is focused solely on education and research-related to both clinical medicine and basic science in retina-really appealed to me,” said Dr. Ramin Tadayoni, a member of the founding Board. “I look forward to working with my colleagues from around the world to make Retina World Congress a vital platform for the future of our subspecialty.”

About the Retina World Congress
Retina World Congress is a 501c6 non-profit professional education initiative that will unite international retina specialists in the vanguard of scientific advances and therapeutic innovation in retinal health. The mission of Retina World Congress is to foster ongoing dialogue and to generate consensus about retinal disease, emerging technologies and treatments, best practices, and clinical research. The inaugural Retina World Congress will convene in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on February 23-26, 2017. For more information, please visit www.retinaworldcongress.org.

Contact:
Debra Espe, Executive Director/Board Secretary
Retina World Congress
Debbie.Espe@retinaworldcongress.org
Phone: (619) 733-4156