Academy 2016 Anaheim Educational Program Announced
The American Academy of Optometry is pleased to announce the educational program for its 95th annual meeting,Academy 2016 Anaheim, taking place November 9-12, 2016, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA. The American Academy of Optometry’s annual meeting offers a wide variety of clinically relevant CE courses and cuttingedge research in the clinical and vision sciences.
This year the Academy will welcome world-renowned author and extraordinary speaker Malcolm Gladwell to present thePlenary Session, “Today’s Research, Tomorrow’s Practice®: Current State of Health Care and Research.” Mr. Gladwell’spresentation is pending one hour of CE credit and the Academy is very pleased to thank Essilor for their support of thiseducational program.
Immediately following, Mr. Gladwell will host a separate panel discussion with members of senior management from Alcon,Allergan, and Essilor. The panel discussion is sure to be a dynamic exchange with Mr. Gladwell that addresses issues such as the value of ongoing research and introduction of new products for the future. No CE credit will be given for the panel presentation. The Academy is grateful to Alcon, Essilor, and Allergan for sponsoring this portion of the 2016 program.
Malcolm Gladwell is the author of five New York Times bestsellers — The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants. He has been named one of the 100 mostinfluential people by TIME Magazine and one of the Foreign Policy’s Top Global Thinkers. He has been a staff writer forThe New Yorker since 1996, has won a national magazine award and been honored by the American Psychological Societyand the American Sociological Society. He was previously a science and medicine reporter for The Washington Post.
The Monroe J. Hirsch Symposium, “The Distressed Eye: Ocular Pain,” will focus on several key aspects of ocular pain.Discussions surrounding sensory transduction and signaling in the eye, the psychophysical measurement of ocular surfacepain and thermal sensing, and innovative treatment strategies will be presented. Speakers include Carlos Belmonte, MD,PhD, Trefford Simpson, DipOptom, MS, PhD, and Nancy McNamara, OD, PhD, FAAO.
The topic of the second Joint American Academy of Optometry and American Academy of Ophthalmology Symposium will be keratitis in contact lens care. As medical devices, contact lenses have the potential to cause significant corneal morbidity. Several corneal responses will be examined ranging from corneal inflammatory events to rare non-bacterial corneal infections. Current literature will be shared to help aid in the important differentials and a discussion will highlight strategies to avoid serious sight threatening complications. This symposium is a continuation of the effort by the two Academy organizations to work together to better prepare and support their members in delivering the highest quality eye care.
Ezell Fellows Present 2016 will be titled, “The Future of Optical Interventions is Now.” Three investigators at differentstages of their careers, supported early in their careers by receiving AOF Ezell Fellowships, will focus on how contactlenses can provide value- added benefits beyond vision correction. The exciting topics will include the current state ofwavefront-guided scleral contact lenses for minimizing visual problems in the highly aberrated eye, and the latestdevelopments in lens designs for myopia control and presbyopia. Speakers include Ray Applegate of the University ofHouston, Jeffrey Walline of the Ohio State University, and Ravi Bakaraju of the Brien Holden Vision Institute.
The Academy’s Sections and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) will present symposia on an array of topics from “Myopia Control Utilizing Contact Lenses” to “The Gut-Brain Axis: A Paradigm Shift in Health Care.” In addition, over 250 hours of lectures and workshops have been scheduled, offering attendees up to 36 hours of COPE-approved CE. Attendees can also choose to attend hundreds of Scientific Program papers and posters, as well as several exciting social events.
Registration and housing open on Monday, May 23, 2016 and the early bird registration deadline is September 7, 2016. More detailed meeting information will be posted online at http://www.aaopt.org/regsite.
About the American Academy of Optometry
The American Academy of Optometry (AAO) enhances excellence in optometric practice by fostering research and disseminating knowledge in vision science through its journal, Optometry and Vision Science, and the continuing education presented at its annual meeting. Fellows of the Academy are committed to the premise that learning is a lifelong obligation of a professional, as is the commitment to expand the profession’s knowledge base through ongoing fellowship and exchange. For more information, visit the website: http://www.aaopt.org.