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42 | EYEWORLD DAILY NEWS | APRIL 24, 2022 ASCRS ANNUAL MEETING DAILY NEWS A ttendees of the Annual Meet- ing will have the opportunity to attend a new ASCRS Satel- lite CME Program, "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: When Identifying the Problem Is Not Enough, Leadership Must Take Action," on Monday from 8:00–9:30 a.m. Moderators Ann Caro- line Fisher, MD, and Leon Herndon Jr., MD, spoke to EyeWorld about what to expect at the program that focuses on a social justice issue. Dr. Fisher said she thinks this is an issue that many academic centers and others are paying more attention to. She has experience at Stanford Univer- sity with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) being an ongoing endeavor. "One of the things we stress at academic centers is the work needs to start at the leadership level, then everyone else follows suit," she said, adding that the topic is being incorporated into train- ing as well. Dr. Fisher said she has worked with Dr. Herndon before on DEI efforts at other meetings and webinars, and she's excited to bring this session back to the ASCRS Annual Meeting for the second year. She also said she's looking forward to the leadership representa- tion on this year's panel. "I applaud the faculty on this panel because I think leaders have to lead by example and be ready and willing to have uncomfort- able conversations," she said. Members from both ASCRS and ASOA can attend the program, and Dr. Herndon said he's excited to be partnering with ASOA. "We have the leaders of both ASCRS and ASOA at the table to discuss these important topics of social justice," he said. The program will feature keynote speaker Artika Tyner, JD, EdD. Dr. Fish- er noted her previous work has focused on solving problems. "She's looking at the data. While there is a lot of emo- tion when discussing DEI topics, there's also a lot of data," Dr. Fisher said. Dr. Herndon said he is also excited for Dr. Tyner's talk on implicit bias and micro and macro aggressions in the workplace. "There are many day-to-day factors and forces that shape us when it comes to implicit bias, and sometimes we're just not aware of these factors. This session is going to shed light on this," he said. "When you gather people from different institutions, [you see that] everyone has a different way of ap- proaching a problem," Dr. Fisher said. "That's part of the whole diversity mission, and I think by sharing best practices across institutions, we realize there are things we can do better." Implicit and unconscious bias can affect everyone, and though Dr. Fisher has experience in an academic center, she noted that it can also come up in private practices. "It could impact things like quality of care and attitude toward patients, colleagues, and staff, so it's important to start a discussion," she said. Dr. Fisher expects a good conversa- tion among participants at the session. "I think everyone has different out- looks, not just based on background, but also physical location and what they've been dealing with," she said. She thinks the program will offer a candid conversation and be very thought-provoking for those in leader- ship positions. "While we might not have all the right answers, I think acknowledging where blind spots are and how we could have done better is already help- ing things move in the right direction," Dr. Fisher said. In addition to the keynote speak- er and panel discussion, the program will include audience questions and feedback. CME program to highlight 'Diversity, Equity and Inclusion' A mendments to the original bylaws of ASCRS were approved by a majority vote at the Opening General Session. The bylaws cover a host of topics, from membership categories and communication to the makeup and election process for committee appointments. The most significant amendments affected methods of member communications and ad- justments to leadership titles, terms, and roles. This included creation of a nominating committee. The committee, chaired by a past presi- dent, will widen the scope of nomi- nees for the ASCRS Executive Board. The makeup of the committee will be a broad and diverse group of existing ASCRS members. "A lot of thoughtful work was put in by our Executive Commit- tee to evaluate where we were and where we wanted to go as an organization," said ASCRS Execu- tive Director Steve Speares. "The creation of a nominating commit- tee is a great way to broaden the scope of leadership evaluation while maintaining the mandate that mer- itocracy is the first requirement for leadership. These are the building blocks to ensure ASCRS continues to flourish as a medical society." Best practices from other subspecialty medical societies were examined and considered, and outside counsel and an independent advisory group helped inform the amendments. Read the full bylaws at ascrs. org/about-us/bylaws. ASCRS bylaws amended

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