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EW INTERNATIONAL 164 April 2017 become available soon in the U.S. Dr. Roman said he found the ESCRS meeting to be similar to other meet- ings he's attended, like ASCRS, with a similar setup and always plenty of talks going on that he was interested in attending. Experiences in the OR Following the ESCRS meeting, Dr. Khandelwal traveled to both the Netherlands and Germany to visit the ORs of Rudy Nuijts, MD, PhD, Maastricht, the Netherlands, and Thomas Kohnen, MD, PhD, Frankfurt, Germany. Dr. Khandelwal said she was able to see a number of procedures particularly tailored to subspecialties that interest her. She was able to see a variety of corneal procedures, as well as premium and standard cataract surgery and new lenses. In addition to observing, Dr. Khandelwal talked to both doctors and patients about their experiences, and she added that she was also able to learn about the curriculum for residents in ophthalmology in the Netherlands and Germany. "I feel like I walked away not only with a great experience of ESCRS and excellent clinical and surgical observership, but I feel like I walked away with some long-lasting connections," Dr. Khandelwal said. Dr. Roman's OR time was spent with Oliver Findl, MD, Vienna, Austria. Vienna is known as one of the birthplaces in ophthalmology, Dr. Roman said, adding that many innovations in the cornea field were discovered there. He described his time as "incredible," noting that Dr. Findl has a wealth of knowledge on a number of topics and is "the epito- me of comprehensive yet specialist." Dr. Roman was able to see a variety of cases from transplants to cataract to vitrectomies to membrane peels. "[Dr. Findl] didn't know a little about everything, he knew every- thing about everything, it seemed like," Dr. Roman added. He was also able to learn a bit about the way that ophthalmology training works in Austria and how it differs from the United States. EW Contact information Khandelwal: Sumitra.Khandelwal@bcm.edu Roman: roman.justin@gmail.com by Ellen Stodola EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer most experienced and well-known corneal specialists in the world as they discussed their good and chal- lenging cases. "I felt like we were all in it together," she said, adding that she was even able to speak to a num- ber of doctors after their sessions who were excited to share how they are doing things. There are so many different vari- ations on how to do what's already there, Dr. Khandelwal said. Though she noted that Europe has a differ- ent approval process and a variety of devices available unlike what is in the U.S., she said "the techniques are still something that you can share regardless of where you are." Dr. Roman also had an exciting and unique time at the ESCRS meet- ing, particularly because it was both his first trip to ESCRS and his first trip to Europe. "As far as sessions, I focused on going to talks that I thought were going to be specific to things we didn't have in the U.S.," he said, adding that he listened to a number of talks on crosslinking to hear about the extended experiences in Europe and on lenses. He said he was blown away by the lens options to choose from and added that some of these lenses are expected to shared some of their overall experi- ences attending the ESCRS meeting and observing abroad. Attending the meeting The ESCRS meeting was very excit- ing, Dr. Khandelwal said. She noted that it was the first time she had attended the meeting. "I had never thought about going to the meeting because it's so far away," she said. "And I always thought that Europe was doing things so differently from the U.S. that it might be hard to relate." However, Dr. Khandelwal found it interesting to hear how surgeons in Europe are approaching things and some of the similarities in techniques. She also found it interesting to attend the variety of courses and to hear during the sessions how, even within Europe, practice patterns are often different from country to country. "It is great to be in training and have somebody next to you showing you how to do things," Dr. Khan- delwal said. "Probably the scariest thing when you're out in practice is to learn a new technique or new surgery." Dr. Khandelwal found it helpful to listen to some of the trials and tribulations of even some of the Young physicians share thoughts about their time at the ESCRS meeting and observing ORs abroad T he ASCRS/ESCRS Young Physician Exchange Pro- gram is a joint program between the two societies to further relations between the international and domestic soci- eties, expose the physicians to each other's meetings, and observe clini- cal practices in other countries. The selected young physicians attend the other society's meeting, and following the meeting, they travel to the host physician's clinical practice where they spend time observing. The exchange physicians are spon- sored by the sending organization and hosted by the current meet- ing organization. During the 2016 ESCRS meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, ASCRS sponsored two physicians who were then hosted by ESCRS member physicians. Sumitra Khandelwal, MD, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and Justin Roman, MD, Carolina Eyecare Phy- sicians, Charleston, South Carolina, ASCRS/ESCRS Young Physician Exchange Program participants discuss their experiences abroad Oliver Findl, MD, and Justin Roman, MD Source: Justin Roman, MD

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