AAPOS in Bean Town for 2026 Annual Meeting

The 51^st annual American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) meeting will convene from March 18 to 22 in Boston. Over 1,100 attendees are expected. The venue is the Westin Seaport District hotel, which offers premium access to numerous city attractions.

According to incoming Vice President Pamela Williams, MD, who will assume her office on July 1, “It is my favorite meeting of the year. I always feel reinvigorated when I return home from this meeting. It gives me a push to try new things, view things from a different perspective, and catch up with colleagues,” she stated.

Williams is a clinical assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Ann Arbor, MI.

New conference feature

Yasmin Bradfield, MD, the AAPOS Program Chair, announced the start of an innovation at the conference.

“A highlight will be our first-ever livestreamed joint AAPOS/NANOS [North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society] Sunday Complex Strabismus and Non-Strabismus workshops. We took advantage of both organizations having their national meetings in Boston to create a unique workshop held at two separate locations. Presenters will share complex cases, particularly those with a pediatric neuro-ophthalmology focus, with panelists across town who will discuss diagnostic and management pearls with both audiences,” she commented. Bradfield is the John W. Doolittle Professor of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus, Board of Directors, American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Daily offerings

Wednesday March 18

The first day includes the Board of Directors meeting presided over by AAPOS President David Hunter, MD, PhD; poster viewing; the international attendees reception; and the opening reception

Thursday March 19

The Opening Session includes the President’s remarks and awards, the Advocacy Update, and the Costenbader Lecture, delivered by Michael Brodsky, MD.

This is followed by two sessions focusing on Amblyopia – Neuro-Ophthalmology – Genetics, which includes the Jampolsky Lecture on Childhood Blindness and Musicality: Science and Magic delivered by Bradley C. Black, MD, and Refractive Error – Strabismus – Strabismus Surgery.

Friday March 20

Five workshops are scheduled, the timing and details of which are available here

Saturday March 21

This day begins with the Gunter K. von Noorden Young Investigator award paper delivered by Melinda Chang, MD. Three sessions also are planned on oculoplastics, public health, refractive error, strabismus, strabismus surgery, glaucoma, cataracts, anterior segment, retinopathy of prematurity, and rapid-fire medical student paper presentations.

Sunday March 23

The meeting wraps up with workshops: Difficult Problems Non-Strabismus Workshop: Small Patients, Big Mysteries: Diagnostic & Management Dilemmas that Test the Experts of AAPOS & NANOS and Difficult Problems Strabismus Workshop: AAPOS & NANOS

Two poster sessions are also scheduled on the following schedules:

Poster Session A—The first set of posters will be displayed from 4:00 PM Wednesday, March 18 – 11:30 am Friday, March 20. The author attended a formal poster session is Thursday, March 19, 10:00 am – 11:00 am.

Poster Session B—The second set of posters will be displayed from 4:30 PM Friday, March 20 – 8:00 am Sunday, March 22. The author attended a formal poster session is Saturday, March 21, 10:00 am – 11:00 am.

Both sessions will also include a separate poster authored by medical students.

Focus on young ophthalmologists

Williams also shared that she is very excited for new features that are being and have been introduced to engage with young ophthalmologists, residents, fellows, and medical students.

A new feature that is just being introduced at APPOS this year is the 20/20 Lounge that is specifically for young ophthalmologists, residents, fellows, and medical students. She is interested to see how this new opportunity will be received. The lounge is located in the Carlton Room at the Westin. The resident-run Discord live-streaming channel promotes the lounge. “This should be a great place for the young people to connect. There are more residents and medical students registered for AAPOS this year than ever before,” she said.

She attributed this increase in numbers to the efforts of the Recruitment Task Force that found that medical students were not being introduced to pediatric ophthalmology early enough. Based on the new focus and providing students with opportunities to participate, such as the Rapid Fire Medical Student Paper Presentation session and separate poster sessions that highlight medical student posters, more students are showing interest in pediatric ophthalmology and AAPOS.

Bradfield also expressed enthusiasm about the growth in the specialty.

“I have witnessed the overwhelming advocacy for our subspecialty across AAPOS members in all stages of their careers. So many have reached out to our trainees to invite them to present at our annual meeting, to network with future colleagues, and to demonstrate how rewarding our field is. Due to the generosity of the Knights Templar Foundation, AAPOS has awarded numerous travel grants to medical students and residents to attend our annual meeting. We have a formal Pediatric Ophthalmology Mentoring program with AAPOS members paired up with medical student mentees. Because of these efforts, we have 240 medical students and residents registered for our Boston meeting- an increasing trend over the past 4 years. We actually have new medical student-only poster sessions this year and continue our popular Rapid Fire Medical Student papers,” she commented.

One of Williams’s favorite features at the meeting is the Rapid Fire Medical Student session, a session that was introduced at the meeting a few years ago. “This session is phenomenal. The medical students’ topics are interesting, and they are engaging,” she said, and encouraged anyone who has not been in this session to attend.

“I believe that we are going to have some fantastic upcoming ophthalmology residents and pediatric ophthalmology fellows in the near future,” she commented.