Eyeworld Daily News

17 EW SHOW DAILY ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress, New Orleans 2016 by Vanessa Caceres EyeWorld Contributing Writer Size matters in terms of voice and finance. We must grow our voice and numbers, and our members must get involved. There is so much going on in health care today, and everyone needs to get involved. I'd also like to mention the incredible work Edward Holland, MD, does as program chair, and the work done by the entire ASCRS staff and Planning Committee each and every year to make the annual meet- ing as informational and interactive as possible. They work tirelessly all year and behind the scenes and deserve a great deal of credit for the amazing educational experience we all have at the annual meeting. Another thing that ASCRS has done is improve how we communi- cate outside the meeting. We started with the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, which is highly successful. EyeWorld was next, and it's the most widely distributed publication worldwide for eye news. We have a listserv that is part of eyeCONNECTIONS that's really picked up in the past few years. We're also starting to roll out new initiatives that we'll announce at this meeting. One such initiative is the ASCRS Center for Learning. We're taking our best information— videos from ASCRS, presentations, posters, articles, etc.—and putting it in a digital library where members can search. Now all of this incredi- ble information will be available in one place. For example, if someone wants to know how to do a glued cracks, don't have Medicare, and are younger than 65. The idea is to not only restore vision, but to help these people move forward. There is also work on an initia- tive for LASIK for first responders, who've provided so much to the U.S. This can help improve people's quality of life. This effort has been spearheaded by Eric Donnenfeld, MD. For the ASCRS Foundation work, I want to give Richard Lindstrom, MD, Stephen Lane, MD, David Chang, MD, and Jim Mazzo credit. Dr. Lindstrom was chair of the foundation for many years, and he's handed over the reins to Dr. Lane, Dr. Chang, and Mr. Mazzo. Dr. Lane oversees the domestic efforts, Dr. Chang oversees the international efforts, and Mr. Mazzo manages the industry rela- tions effort. Nancey McCann, ASCRS direc- tor of government relations, and Brock Bakewell, MD, have done a fabulous job with our regulatory needs. One thing we're looking to do is expand the awareness of our regulatory initiatives by sponsoring 5 scholarships to younger ophthal- mologists in their first few years of practice. We will do this by provid- ing an all-expense paid trip to the Alliance of Specialty Medicine Leg- islative Fly-In in Washington D.C. in July. We hope that by exposing younger physicians to regulatory issues, they'll spread the message among peers and find an interest and need to get involved and per- haps return the following year. all-laser LASIK procedures. I think the concept that no idea is a bad idea except the one not presented is the essence of who we are at ASCRS. The other thing that is unique about ASCRS is we represent, at our core, the comprehensive ophthal- mologist as a cataract, refractive, and, nowadays, glaucoma surgeon. That's our focus with education, opportunities to give back, and with regulatory activities. So ophthalmol- ogists can and should support other societies, but they should absolutely support ASCRS, as it is the society truly representing comprehensive surgeons. EyeWorld: What are some of the biggest initiatives from ASCRS? Dr. Solomon: There are several new initiatives. One such area is reaching younger ophthalmologists, which includes supplementing the educa- tional needs of newer residents and some of the educational voids. We also have developed the Young Eye Surgeons (YES) Clinical Committee to respond to the needs of younger ophthalmologists, which may be different from other surgeon groups. This can include addressing needs in practice management, how to begin networking, and how to become more involved in ASCRS. We have developed a wonderful survey to identify educational gaps that may exist. We've developed material to fill those gaps, so our education is becoming more focused based on the needs of senior, estab- lished, and younger members. We've responded to needs from a foundational standpoint (through the ASCRS Foundation) by develop- ing a domestic initiative in addition to our international efforts. We've done a terrific job responding to cataract surgery needs in Ethiopia, but now we're developing initiatives with Operation Sight to provide for patients in the U.S. who have no means and who are visually im- paired. It's a lot more common than you'd think. We hope to roll it out more broadly over the next year. We can screen patients finan- cially or otherwise and provide supplies, base funding, and tools needed to provide care. A lot of these patients fall through the Major goal is to help ASCRS to best serve members and eyecare patients K erry Solomon, MD, partner, Carolina Eyecare Physicians, Charleston, South Carolina, will be- come the new ASCRS pres- ident during today's ASCRS Opening General Session. Dr. Solomon spoke with EyeWorld about his history with ASCRS and the organization's plans in the coming year. EyeWorld: How did you first become involved with ASCRS? Dr. Solomon: I became involved with ASCRS in 1992. I was doing work with David Apple, MD, and we were looking at IOL design, siz- ing, and cataract surgical technique. At that time, I found ASCRS to be breathtaking. It was my first real experience watching ophthalmolo- gists, both younger and more senior, presenting new ideas and debating topics. As a newer and young person in ophthalmology, I found ASCRS to be a wonderful venue; people were open, receptive, critical, and thoughtful. It was a great place to share ideas. I've had a lot of experience over the years with ASCRS and many organizations, but there are some unique things about ASCRS. First, ASCRS still supports and promotes the concept that no idea is a bad idea except the one not present- ed. When you think about it, we wouldn't have IOLs or phacoemul- sification like we have today unless there were societies like ASCRS to embrace them—or in a modern day era, laser-assisted cataract surgery or Kerry Solomon, MD, to become ASCRS president continued on page 20 Kerry Solomon, MD " We must grow our voice and numbers, and our members must get involved. There is so much going on in health care today, and everyone needs to get involved. " –Kerry Solomon, MD

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