Eyeworld

EW MEETING REPORTER 90 January 2017 Reporting from the 5th Asia Cornea Society Biennial Scientific Meeting T he opening ceremony of the 5th Asia Cornea Society (ACS) Biennial Scientific Meeting in conjunction with the 5th Asia Orthoker- atology and Specialty Lens Confer- ence (AOSLC) and Film Festival 2016 of the Korean External Eye Disease Society began with a cultural performance. Choun-Ki Joo, MD, PhD, Seoul, South Korea, president of the ACS and AOSLC 2016 Organizing Com- mittee, welcomed all attendees to the meeting. "As president, it gives me great personal happiness to see all colleagues [who] have come so far to join us in my beloved native land, Korea," he said. The Organiz- ing Committee prepared a com- prehensive educational scientific program with hundreds of presen- tations covering all areas of cornea disease, Dr. Joo said. The meeting welcomed 1,000 participants from 24 countries. Following Dr. Joo, Donald Tan, MD, Singapore, president of the ACS, gave an address. Dr. Tan expressed his pleasure and honor to welcome attendees to "this fantastic meeting." So many have come from such a long distance, he said. The ACS was established in 2007 and was spurred by a common vision to foster the exchange of knowledge in the cornea subspecialty, with a particular focus and relevance in the Asia-Pacific region. Dr. Tan said that the society has achieved quite remarkable growth over the past 9 years in research and education. The ACS works with a number of regional and internation- al organizations and remains fully committed to constantly providing for knowledge exchange. In the coming year, the society will dedi- cate special efforts to eye banking in Asia, Dr. Tan said. Much still needs to be done to elevate standards of eye banking practices across eye banks in Asia. Dr. Tan expressed his thanks to the many societies that have worked with the ACS since its inception, including the Cornea Society. He recognized those working on this year's Organizing Committee. The opening ceremony featured the presentation of several awards. The Saiichi Mishima Award went to Jae Ho Kim, MD, Seoul, South Ko- rea. Dr. Joo received the Asia Cornea Foundation Lecture (Asia) Award, and Edward Holland, MD, Cincin- nati, received the award for the Asia Cornea Foundation Medalist. Reporting from the 5th Asia Cornea Society Biennial Scientific Meeting, December 9–11, 2016, Seoul, South Korea Sponsored by

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