News

A record number of exhibitors and an estimated 4,800 delegates attended the annual conference of the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) in Anaheim, California last weekend.

After a drop in numbers post 9/11, the conference was easily as big as it had been in the late 1990s and was hailed as a success by AAO president Dr Richard Weisbarth.

One of the main themes was the future of optometry, with the opening plenary session, led by Dr Joseph Barr, discussing the many ways in which optometry is set to change. Obviously new technologies are expected to increasingly influence data gathering and transfer, but presenter Dr Ed Barlow described the increasing numbers of sources of information, such as social networking sites, Wikis, blogging and podcasting. 'Your reputation as a professional will be online,' he predicted.

He also urged all optometrists to become familiar with the Cochrane Project which helps viewers to sift through the vast amount of information available on the net.

A more sombre note about the future was sounded by Dr Michael Bacigalupi who presented a paper which showed how the average optometrist in the US qualifying in 2008 would have incurred debts totalling $152,409. Taking into account interest rates, this was likely to take up to 30 years to fully pay back, meaning that the profession is increasingly less accessible.

Professor Brien Holden announced a major link up between charities Optometry Giving Sight and the US-based Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH), with the former guaranteeing a significant percentage of funds to VOSH as part of the drive towards the 2020 Vision goal of cutting preventable blindness.

Holden himself was presented with one of the many awards at conference, the Carel Koch Memorial Medal Award, in recognition of his contribution to the enhancement and development of relationships between optometry and other professions.

Professor Holden has been attending and delivering research findings at the annual AAO meeting for more than 25 years.

One-time Optician author Konrad Pesudovs was presented with the Irvin and Beatrice Borish Award.

● A detailed report on the exhibition highlights and education and scientific presentations will appear in the coming weeks.

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