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EW MEETING REPORTER 66 January 2015 Reporting from the 4th Asia Cornea Society Scientific Meeting Taipei, Taiwan, Dec. 11–12, 2014 Reporting from the 4th Asia Cornea Society Scientific Meeting, Taipei 2014 ACS launched to the sound of drums The Asia Cornea Society (ACS) launched its 4th Biennial Scientific Meeting (2014 ACS) accompanied by the propulsive beats of the Ten Drum Percussion Art Group. The strength of the group's beating drums represented the "enduring vitality and radiant energy" of the meeting's host country, Taiwan. In her welcome address at the meeting's opening ceremony, Fung-Rong Hu, MD, president of the 2014 ACS, and president of the Ophthalmological Society of Taiwan, said she hoped the meeting "would provide a platform for the exchange of knowledge and for the enhance- ment of vital skills in the rapidly advancing field of cornea." Dr. Hu thanked the meeting's international partners: the Cornea Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), the Interna- tional Society of Refractive Surgery (ISRS), the Association of Eye Banks of Asia (AEBA), and SightLife— described on their website as "the only non-profit global health orga- nization focused solely on eliminat- ing corneal blindness around the world." Apart from participating in the scientific sessions, Dr. Hu encour- aged attendees to take time to enjoy "the rich Chinese culture and hos- pitality" of Taiwan, a country "full of cultural, natural, and high-tech wonders." ACS Vice President Shigeru Kinoshita, MD, Kyoto, Japan— speaking for ACS President Donald Tan, MD, Singapore, who could not be at the meeting due to a family emergency—also welcomed attend- ees. He extended the ACS Council's "immense appreciation" to Dr. Hu for her "superb support and cooper- ation" to make the meeting possible. In addition to allowing important academic exchange, he said that the ACS meeting was established to "promote mutual friendship among Asian corneal specialists and the younger generation of ophthalmolo- gists, researchers, and coworkers." "We feel very fortunate that many of the most distinguished ophthalmologists and scientists in the cornea field worldwide are gathering here in Taipei," he said. "This meeting comes at a point in time when cutting edge advance- ments are being made in the field of ophthalmology and visual science. The state-of-the-art developments are greatly impacting the treatment of corneal diseases. "This meeting succinctly encap- sulates our aim of zooming in on the newly emerging advancements in surgical and laser technologies as well as translational and clinical research," he added. At the time of the opening cer- emony, the ACS counted more than 600 participants from around the world in attendance. The ACS also honored its most distinguished members and partners at the opening ceremony. Receiving the Saiichi Mishi- ma Award, Douglas Coster, MD, Adelaide, Australia—who played an extremely pivotal role in important developments in the treatment of corneal diseases and cofounded the Australian Corneal Graft Registry, the largest collection of data on corneal transplantation—said that Saiichi Mishima was "not just a leader in the Asian region, he was a leader on the world stage." The award, Dr. Coster said, is thus "a great professional honor" for him. The AEBA Eye Banking Award was presented to Monty Montoya, BS, president and CEO of SightLife. Mr. Montoya's work with SightLife has transformed eye banking and corneal transplantation around the world. "I'm honored to receive this recognition and feel that I'm here with family," he said. Regarding the work of Sight- Life, he said, "We look forward to continuing to partner with you, our surgeons … but ultimately our dream is to work ourselves out of a job here in Asia … to see you all providing the corneas that you need for the patients in your countries and maybe even sharing them with countries outside." Dr. Hu had the honor of delivering the Asia Cornea Foundation Lecture (Asia) on PREVIEW PROGRAM CorneaCongress.org Sponsored by NEW IN 2015! SIMULTANEOUS ENGLISH–SPANISH LANGUAGE TRANSLATION TRADUCCIÓN SIMULTÁNEA DE INGLÉS A ESPAÑOL WCC VII Preview Program now online at: digital.CorneaNews.org

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