Eyeworld

50 by Ellen Stodola EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer by Ellen Stodola EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer As in past years, OIS will feature a glimpse of what's happening on the financial side of innovation and will include presentations from different companies in its popular showcases. There will also be a look into the premium channel and pre- mium channel diagnostics. One of the highlights will be the OIS Lifetime Innovator Award, which is presented at the meeting to someone who has made exceptional contributions to ophthalmic inno- vation and entrepreneurship. "We're very happy to be giving Roger Steinert a Lifetime Innovator Award," Dr. Kliman said. Roger Steinert, MD, Irvine, California, has a reputation worldwide in oph- thalmology for his skills as a great surgeon, researcher, and teacher. The presentation of the award will feature a discussion between Dr. Steinert and Stephen Lane, MD, Expanded program to take place in New Orleans on May 5 T he Ophthalmology Inno- vation Summit (OIS) will again precede the ASCRS• ASOA Symposium & Congress in New Orleans, featuring the addition of expanded programming. "We've been expanding OIS at ASCRS," said Gilbert Kliman, MD, Menlo Park, California, one of the meeting's chairmen. This year's meeting will again feature the breakfast breakout ses- sions, which were introduced last year. Dr. Kliman said these will be a bit more formalized and will cover a range of interesting topics, like refractive correction, MIGS, the FDA, dry eye, and dropless surgery. EW ASCRS•ASOA 2016 ASCRS•ASOA Program Preview • May 6–10, 2016 OIS back at ASCRS Charles D. Kelman Innovator's Lecture preview April 2016 Stillwater, Minnesota, as well as video comments from a number of people. After lunch, there will be a new session that Dr. Kliman and Stephen Slade, MD, Houston, will run called WTF@OIS, What's The Future. "The concept here is to show some com- panies that are doing something un- expected or surprising," Dr. Kliman said. These are companies that aren't the typical cataract or refractive ven- ture-backed companies, Dr. Kliman said, and may be individual entre- preneurs who are doing interesting things either with the company or in financing. With so many big com- panies, the goal of this session is to focus on companies that attendees may not have heard about yet. Also returning to this year's OIS meeting will be the "Spotlight on MIGS" session and the "Masters of the Universe," which will feature a few new panelists. "If you're coming to ASCRS, what better way to kick off the meet- ing than with the broad-ranging, innovative discussion format that we have?" Dr. Kliman said. Attendance at this meeting is generally smaller than OIS@AAO be- cause of the anterior focus, but inter- est is so high this year there may be sold out attendance with 500 seats, Dr. Kliman said. This year's OIS@ASCRS will take place on Thursday, May 5, at the InterContinental New Orleans. For more information, visit the event's website at ois.net/ois-ascrs-2016. EW Contact information Kliman: gkliman@interwest.com Dr. Barrett will focus this distinguished lecture on astigmatism T his year the Charles D. Kelman Innovator's Lecture will be given by Graham Barrett, MD, Perth, Austra- lia. The title of his lecture is "Search for Symmetry: Reducing Astigmatism at the Time of Cataract Surgery." "I was looking for a topic that would be of interest to most people and hopefully leave them with some thoughtful suggestions on how to improve astigmatic outcomes. But I also wanted to explore a parallel theme, which is the essence of inno- vation," he said. Dr. Barrett realized that his interest in issues influencing astig- matic outcomes dates far back in his career. His initial focus related to in- traoperative keratometry and the ef- fect of incisions on astigmatism, and he later became intrigued by finding solutions for toric IOL alignment and prediction. "Almost throughout my entire career, this has been a common thread," he said. Although there have been many other areas of interest to Dr. Barrett over time, he said that astigmatism goes back the longest. It is fascinating to think about the factors that underpin inno- vation, he said, citing curiosity, inspiration, and persistence as 3 key elements. The lecture will look at these elements, with a practical approach to reducing astigmatism at the time of cataract surgery. Reflecting on cataract surgery and implants, he said surgical tech- niques and improved IOL technol- ogy have reduced the incidence of significant surgical complications during cataract surgery. Physicians' ability to accurately predict the refractive outcome has become the remaining factor critical to achiev- ing a perfect outcome after cataract surgery. This encompasses calcula- tions, intraoperative aberrometers, planning, etc., he said, and the lecture will delve into one thread of that—"Search for Symmetry." When Dr. Barrett thinks about the most dramatic change that has occurred in cataract surgery in the last decade or so, he sees the huge impact of toric lenses and how these have evolved. In Australia, toric lens- es are reimbursed by private health insurance and therefore used on a needs basis rather than being pre- sented as a premium procedure. "On that basis, people would probably be using torics more readily," he said. The paradigm has shifted toward the idea that there's no such thing as "an acceptable level of astigmatism," he said. More and more surgeons have come to the realization that everyone benefits from targeting less than a half diopter of residual astig- matism after cataract surgery. Dr. Barrett is a clinical professor at the University of Western Austra- lia and is a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at the Lions Eye Institute as well as Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, one of Australia's leading teaching tertiary hospitals. Trained in ophthalmology in Perth, Western Australia, he undertook specialty training in the U.S. Dr. Barrett is the founding and current president of the Australasian Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons, president of the International Intra-Ocular Implant Club (IIIC), and immediate past president of the Asia-Pacific Association of Cataract & Refrac- tive Surgeons. He is the recipient of several major international awards, including the Ridley Medal (Europe- an Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons), the Binkhorst Medal (American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery), and the Lim Lecture (Asia-Pacific Association of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons). He is a fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Oph- thalmology (FRANZCO). The lecture will take place on Monday, May 9 from 10:00–11:30 a.m. in Great Hall A&D. EW Contact information Barrett: graham.barrett@uwa.edu.au Graham Barrett, MD

• Cover