Eyeworld Daily News

20 | EYEWORLD DAILY NEWS | JULY 25, 2021 ASCRS ANNUAL MEETING DAILY NEWS T his year, the ASCRS Annu- al Meeting will include a new program and lecture as part of the Sunday General Session. The Lindstrom Symposium and the Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, Lecture were de- veloped to recognize the contribu- tions of Richard Lindstrom, MD, to ASCRS and ophthalmology. EyeWorld spoke to Edward Holland, MD, ASCRS Program Committee chair, about the in- ception of this program and Dr. Lindstrom's contributions to the field. Dr. Holland will also be the first ophthalmologist to deliver the Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, Lecture. Dr. Holland noted that the general sessions are some of the cornerstones of ASCRS Annu- al Meeting programming. The Opening General Session has the Binkhorst Lecture, and the Inno- vators General Session has the Charles D. Kelman, MD, Innova- tor's Lecture. There was a gap in the Sunday General Session with no medal lecture. "These medal lectures are to honor leaders in the field, and they're named after giants in ophthalmology," Dr. Holland said. "The Program Committee discussed it and couldn't think of a person more worthy to have the lecture named after than Richard Lindstrom, MD. In his era, I can't think of anyone who has contrib- uted more to ophthalmology." Dr. Holland said it was im- portant to have Dr. Lindstrom involved with the session as well. "He is very active in all aspects of ophthalmology, and he continues to innovate and change ophthal- mology," he said. In addition to Dr. Lindstrom's contributions to the surgical specialties, Dr. Holland said that another major contribution has been Dr. Lindstrom's involvement and relationships with industry. "He was one of the early ophthal- mologists who embraced industry, and he did that when he started at University of Minnesota; it was almost unheard of to have industry collaboration while at a university," he said. "Dick saw the synergy of having physician input and leadership in big ophthalmic companies as well as startups, and he paved the way for the next generation of ophthalmolo- gists. There are many of us who followed in Dick's footsteps and collaborate with industry, and I think industry benefits, ophthal- mologists benefit, and patients benefit." The speakers chosen for the inaugural session have all been impacted by Dr. Lindstrom in their careers and have had long relationships with him. Thomas Samuelson, MD, will present in glaucoma; Stephen Lane, MD, will share the industry presenta- tion; Vance Thompson, MD, will present a refractive talk; Douglas Koch, MD, will present in cata- ract; and Dr. Holland will give the cornea presentation. In addition to the planned presentations, Dr. Lindstrom will be participating in the program, which will be moderated by Eliza- beth Yeu, MD. "I think it's going to be an outstanding program," Dr. Holland said. Inaugural Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, Lecture part of Sunday General Session "The Program Committee discussed it and couldn't think of a person more worthy to have the lecture named after than Richard Lindstrom, MD. In his era, I can't think of anyone who has contributed more to ophthalmology." —Edward Holland, MD

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