WHAT’S NEW AT IACLE? 

NEW IACLE to hold Strategic Planning Meeting in autumn

IACLE officers, board members and staff will hold a special meeting in November to discuss the findings of the 2018 Membership Survey and set the association’s agenda for the next five years. The meeting will be held to coincide with Academy 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. IACLE Director of Operations, Bonnie Boshart, pictured with President Dr Shehzad Naroo, commented: ‘With major IACLE events taking place in 2019 and beyond, this year is the ideal time to make plans for our future direction. We look forward to sharing the full results of our survey and to implementing new strategies based on the valuable feedback we have received from our members.’

NEW Research Update among highest rated IACLE resources  

Research Update – our monthly summary of key papers appearing in the peer-reviewed literature – is among the highest rated of IACLE’s resources. In our recent Membership Survey, Research Update was one of four resources rated, on average, at 8 out of 10 or higher for satisfaction. Only the New IACLE Contact Lens Course (New ICLC) and Image Gallery were rated more highly. Research Update was introduced in January 2017 and Issue 18 has just been released. 

Find out more about Research Update here and access the archive via Member Login under Research

RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP NOW TO ENJOY ALL THE BENEFITS OF IACLE MEMBERSHIP…

Membership renewal notices for 2018 have been sent out to all members. Access to our full range of membership benefits – including the New IACLE Contact Lens Course and our latest resource Research Update– is only available to IACLE Members. Membership must be renewed annually and expires when payment is not received. Please renew your status here to continue as an IACLE member in 2018 and make your contribution to Our Mission for worldwide contact lens education.

MEET A MEMBER

When not lecturing at the Instituto Galileo in Pisa, Italy or in practice, optometrist Stefano Tarfano is often to be found in the mountains. ‘I love the mountain in all of its seasons: skiing in winter, and hiking and climbing in spring and summer.’ And Stefano is equally enthusiastic about his job: ‘Although I’m only 27 years old, I love sharing my knowledge and experience with students. It’s a way to improve yourself as a practitioner. I love my job as a teacher and optometrist – IACLE helps me do that as best I can. Teaching for me means expanding the student’s critical thinking. Learning the basics is fundamental, but the difference is when a student starts thinking with his/her own head and asking questions about a problem. Only then will he/she find solutions.’

We’re looking for more members to take part in our monthly feature introducing an IACLE member from around the world. Contact your regional / country coordinator here for details.

IMAGE OF THE MONTH 

Congenital Uveal Ectropion

FIACLE Guillermo Carrillo, IACLE Americas Regional Coordinator based in Lima, Perú, captured this image using slit lamp 16X magnification with a Canon Powershot 180 adapter and low, diffuse illumination. The image shows three conditions: orange peel appearance of the crystalline lens, congenital uveal ectropion and iris nevus. Correctly labelled pic to come

Click here for more information on Image of the Month. Download a submission form to send an image

 RESOURCES

NEW Lectures from 2017 IACLE Congress on Contact Lens Education 

Ten videoed lectures from last year’s IACLE Congress held in Hyderabad, India are now available exclusively to members to view and use in their teaching. The theme for the meeting was ‘Translating knowledge into increased contact lens penetration’. Topics include daily disposable silicone hydrogel lenses, discussed by Professor Desmond Fonn (pictured). 

Access Video Resources via Member Login here. PowerPoints are also available, under Contributed Resources – Presentations/Lectures

NEW IACLE adds Case Report 22 to interactive series

A post-LASIK contact lens fitting is the latest in our interactive IACLE Case Reports Series, available free and exclusively to IACLE members via our website. Our thanks to Dr Jeannie Wang at the Lawndale Christian Health Center at the Illinois Eye Institute in Chicago, USA for contributing this case report to support members’ teaching. 

Access Member Login here to find all 22 IACLE Case Reports

Test your CORE contact lens knowledge

CORE Knowledge – the Ultimate Eye Science Game – is the latest initiative from the Centre for Ocular Research & Education, Canada. Launched at ARVO 2018 to mark CORE’s 30^th anniversary, the game allows you to test your knowledge and challenge your colleagues and friends around the world.

Click here to play the game. Good luck!

Sign up for monthly Readers’ Choice from Contact Lens Spectrum

Want to receive alerts to the most widely read article in each issue of the US publication Contact Lens Spectrum? The June issue of Readers’ Choice highlighted an article by Professor Nathan Efron on ‘Current and future controversies in contact lenses’. Deborah Jones and Jill Woods present an international perspective on prescribing for presbyopia. Hungary, Portugal, France, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and the Philippines all report high penetration of soft multifocal lenses.

Click here to view the June Readers’ Choice and here to add your email address to the mailing list

GLOBAL UPDATE 

Americas 

Ahmed travels to USA for AOCLE Annual Workshop

Educator Ahmed Sherry from the Modern University for Business & Science in Beirut, Lebanon, became the first to benefit from this year’s IACLE Travel Awards, when he joined the AOCLE Annual Workshop at the University of the Incarnate Word Rosenberg School of Optometry in San Antonio, Texas (31 May – 3 June). Ahmed attended lectures, workshops and social events, thanks to IACLE and AOCLE.

Read Ahmed’s comments on his experiences here

FIACLEs score across the Americas in June

With football’s World Cup approaching fever pitch in the region, FIACLEs in Latin America have still found time to deliver contact lens education to around 500 students and eye care practitioners in the past month. Guatemala and Ecuador may not have qualified for the finals in Russia but they have played host to IACLE events.

Read a full report on LA events here

 Asia Pacific

IACLE steps up the pace at events in the AP region

FIACLEs, IACLE members and staff recently presented at educational events in China, the Philippines and Indonesia, reports Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator Dr Cheni Lee. Lectures in Tianjin (pictured) were broadcast to 168 IACLE members using the WeChat real-time social platform. And in the Philippines, IACLE played a central role in an event that attracted close to 1,000 optometrists and optometry students

Read Cheni’s report on AP activities here

IACLE Korea looks to priorities for future   

Korean National Coordinator Professor Kyounghee Park from Kookje University visited two institutions this month to discuss the Student Trial Exam and an IACLE Educators’ Meeting to be held in December. Kyounghee met with Professor Okjin Lee at Dongnam University and Professor Daejong Kim (pictured) at Kyungdong University. Korea is one of our Global Priority Countries and has 55 IACLE members.

Register now for BCLA Asia in Singapore

Early-bird registration is now available for BCLA Asia, to be held at the Singapore Polytechnic Convention Centre in September. The member delegate rate is $80SGD and non-members pay $120SGD. The event is a partnership between the British Contact Lens Association and Singapore Optometric Association. Presenters include Professor Pauline Cho (China), Professor Jennifer Craig (New Zealand), Dr Kate Gifford and Professor Eric Papas (Australia), and FIACLE Professor James Wolffsohn (UK).

Register for BCLA Asia here and download the full program here

 Europe / Africa – Middle East

FIACLE is every educator’s dream, says Mohamad

Mohamad Ali Hamadé of the Lebanese University in Beirut is one of latest intake of FIACLEs following the 2017 Fellowship Exam. ‘After the academic years, there are few available ways to keep graduates upgraded to high levels,’ he says. ‘Although practice is very important, it doesn’t allow us to experience all critical cases, especially in countries where optometry and contact lens fitting are not officially that recognized. FIACLE is a ‘must do’ exam for all contact lens educators, at least in the academic field. I‘m very proud to have finally realized my dream and I would like to encourage all my colleagues to follow my experience. Thank you very much IACLE!’

Find out more about becoming a FIACLE here and access the latest FIACLE Directory here

IACLE Fellows join judging panel for sixth FORCE final

Contact lens educators from four European countries judged the 2018 CooperVision FORCE Student of the Year final in Budapest, Hungary in May. Pictured (left to right) are: FIACLE Dr Eef van der Worp (Netherlands), Elena García Rubio (Spain), chairman FIACLE Professor James Wolffsohn (UK) and Pascale Dauthuile (France). Overall winners were Laura Valencia and Pablo Arlanzón, students from the Universidad de Valladolid, Spain. Bulgarian student Maxim Yanev from Medical University – Varna – supervised by FIACLE Professor Christina Grupcheva –received a special commendation.

Click here for a full report on the 2018 FORCE final

BCLA welcomes new President at London AGM

The new President of the British Contact Lens Association has pledged to ‘push the boundaries’ of modern eye health and lead a new generation of pioneers to revolutionise day-to-day practice. Professor Sunil Shah was installed as the BCLA’s new President at its AGM in London on 10 June. Professor Shah is a consultant ophthalmic surgeon affiliated to Midland Eye in Birmingham and Solihull. He was recently made a full professor at Aston University and has also been named in the top 100 most influential people in world ophthalmology.

Read Professor Shah’s comments on his new role here

BCLA UK hails a tale of two cities  

IACLE President Dr Shehzad Naroo and Vice President Professor Philip Morgan were among the speakers for the BCLA UK events held in Birmingham and London last month (4 and 10 June). Shehzad delivered a lecture on the concept of ‘Ocular surface happy’ to improve retention rates among contact lens patients. And Philip asked delegates ‘Is it time to review contact lens clinical care?’ IACLE member and FIACLE Byki Huntjens from the Netherlands was among new BCLA Fellows receiving their awards at the events.

Click here for all forthcoming BCLA events

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 

• 27 July – International Congress of Scleral Contacts 2018. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. Details here.
• 9-11 August – 29th National Congress of Optometry FEDOPTO, Barranquilla, Colombia. Details here.
• 22-25 August – Nordic Congress of Ophthalmology (NOK 2018), Oslo, Norway. Details here.

A full schedule of IACLE and other events in 2018 is available at Meetings & Conferences. 

Please email dates of 2018 events to s.allen@iacle.org.