What to Expect at This Year’s American Academy of Ophthalmology Meeting

In this video, Maria Aaron, MD, of Emory University in Atlanta, previews the various educational programs and networking opportunities at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) annual meeting, taking place from September 30 to October 3 in Chicago.

The following is a transcript of her remarks:

My name is Maria Aaron. I am the secretary for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and I’m excited to tell you a little bit about the annual meeting.

It has been a couple years since we’ve gotten together, and there are all kinds of key issues in ophthalmology that you can hear about … like political and socioeconomic [factors] and research, there are all kinds of topics that will be addressed at the annual meeting

In terms of practice management, a major issue has been finding, training, and retaining allied health personnel. There are actually going to be six AAOE instruction courses that really delve into this topic. The AAOE has a myriad of courses that cover all aspects of practice management, from burnout to revenue cycle management. There’s a session on evolving healthcare systems, and a Q&A with the FDA — both of these provide updates from D.C. And there’s tons of posters and papers that cover all the latest research in all the subspecialties.

The great thing about the annual meeting is that there’s really something for everyone in every possible area of interest. There’s just always something new at the annual meeting. There’s new educational formats, new interactive sessions, new skills transfer courses. For example, one thing we’re doing this year is we’re going to host four Stop the Bleed programs on Sunday, and those are co-sponsored by the American College of Surgeons.

We’ve got some really incredible guest speakers this year. We are excited to have bestselling authors, Scott Turow give the Michael Marmor Lecture in Ophthalmology and the Arts during the opening session, as well as Dr. Gerrit Melles, he is really the father of the endothelial keratoplasty, and he will be presenting the Jackson Memorial Lecture. We also have Dr. Michael Drake, who is the president of the University of California. He’s giving the Shaffer Lecture on elevating glaucoma research through diversity. And, of course, we’re wrapping up the meeting with Pulitzer Prize-winning author and presidential historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, who will speak on her seventh book, Leadership in Turbulent Times. So, we’ve got a lot of exciting key featured speakers.

Of course, at the annual meeting, there are tons of great ongoing studies that will be discussed. Just to highlight a couple of them, we are going to hear about the phase III results of the REFLECT trial, which looks at gene therapy for leber hereditary optic neuropathy, and also some exciting results from the DERBY and OAKS trials looking at the efficacy of treatment in patients with geographic atrophy, and the STAR study to determine if stereotactic radiotherapy can help reduce the number of anti-VEGF injections for those patients with neovascular AMD [age-related macular degeneration]. But that’s just a couple of them. There are plenty of talks in all the different subspecialties on the outcomes of some of these really big clinical trials.

So, the annual meeting has changed over the years, and now there’s just so much content online. It’s changed the way you experience the meeting. You no longer have to run from room to room to try to catch every piece of educational content, because if you miss something, you can just watch it online later. So, we really hope that people will take time for some longer conversations with colleagues and industry leaders, because it’s really these conversations that we feel like spark that next new innovation.

I really do hope that attendees will take some time to network and enjoy a little bit of Chicago as well. Go to a great restaurant or catch a baseball game, but do take some time to be with your friends and your colleagues, and just relax and enjoy the meeting.

Everybody has really missed the community, and people are just so ready to get back together again in person. We started to see that in New Orleans, but I think this year, it’s going to be even more so. Online is really a great way to learn, but it does not make up for that human experience of being face-to-face and it can’t really replace the in-person exhibit hall. You just can’t tell if you’re going to like an instrument until you pick it up and see how it feels.

It’s just so hard to brainstorm, share ideas, and talk about all the tough cases in a virtual platform. I feel like this is our chance to discover new ideas and solutions, reconnect with friends and colleagues from all over the world, and just enjoy being together.

I really look forward to seeing everyone in Chicago at AAO 2022.