Glaucoma 360 Symposia: The eye on education

The Glaucoma Symposium serves as the finale of the Glaucoma 360 conference, held at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco at Union Square.

The symposium serves as the educational arm of the event, with the morning program geared toward ophthalmologists, and the afternoon session for optometrists interested in honing their knowledge about glaucoma. All attendees can earn continuing education credits.

“The goal for this program is to provide clinically relevant pieces of information about a topics concerned with glaucoma that range from diagnostics, medications, surgical devices, treatments, and complications to smartphone apps for low-vision patients and drug recalls that clinicians can use in their office and/or surgery during the following weeks to help patients with glaucoma,” said Andrew G. Iwach, MD, co-founder and co-chairman of Glaucoma 360. “We try to provide something for everyone.”

24th Annual Ophthalmology Program

A highlight of the program is the Shaffer-Hetherington-Hoskins Keynote Lecture during the morning session. Dale K. Heuer, MD, will deliver the lecture. He is a retired professor and chairmanof Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. The lecture is titled “Risk Factors for Glaucoma Progression.”

Another highly informative presentation during the morning session will be a talk entitled “Glaucoma: Trends and Challenges,” during which Dr. Iwach will be presenting the latest Medicare utilization data that will provide greater insight into some interesting trends regarding how quickly things can change in glaucoma.

“For example, the data now appear to indicate that the number of trabeculectomies being performed is now similar to the number of implantations of glaucoma drainage devices, which was not the case 10 years ago,” he said. “The intention is to provide as much real-time data as possible, so that clinicians can benefit from our mutual experiences.”

The other speakers and presentations scheduled for Saturday’s Ophthalmology Symposium are:

• Shan C. Lin, MD, “Alternative Therapies for Glaucoma”

• Thomas W. Samuelson, MD, “Stents, Trabs, and Tubes: Decision Making in Surgical Glaucoma”

• Kuldev Singh, MD, MPH, “Traditional Glaucoma Surgery in the Era of MIGS”

• L. Jay Katz, MD, “Electrophysiology: Role in Glaucoma”

• Yvonne Ou, MD, “Apps for the Visually Challenged”

• Sunita Radhakrishnan, MD, “Tips for Angle Assessment”

• Dale K. Heuer, MD, Shaffer‐Hetherington‐Hoskins Lecture: “Risk Factors for Glaucoma Progression”

• Terri Pickering, MD, “Artificial Intelligence in Glaucoma”

• Ruth D. Williams, MD, “Burnout or Moral Injury? The Insidious Attack”

• Judy J. Chen, MD, “Meet You at the Pars Plana”

• Robert L. Stamper, MD, “Update on OCT‐A in Glaucoma”

• James C. Tsai, MD, MBA, “Is Normal Tension Glaucoma the Diagnosis?”

• Andrew G. Iwach, MD, “Glaucoma: Trends and Challenges”

A panel discussion is scheduled to follow these talks.

Optometric Program

Dr. Iwach will again open the session in the afternoon and will include the following speakers and their topics:

• James C. Tsai, MD, MBA, “Medication Adherence in Glaucoma Care”

• Ruth D. Williams, MD, “Burnout or Moral Injury? The Insidious Attack”

• Sunita Radhakrishnan, MD, “Tips for Angle Assessment”

• L. Jay Katz, MD, “Steroid Induced Glaucoma”

• Murray Fingeret, OD, FAAO, “Glaucoma Test Results: Facts vs. Fiction”

• Terri Pickering, MD, “Artificial Intelligence in Glaucoma” • Judy J. Chen, MD, “Glaucoma: Meet You at the Pars Plana”

• John G. Flanagan, PhD, FCOptom, “SITA Faster and 24‐2C: Perimetry Update”

• Robert L. Stamper, MD, “Update on OCT‐A in Glaucoma”

• Shan C. Lin, MD, “Alternative Therapies for Glaucoma”

• Andrew G. Iwach, MD, “Glaucoma: Managing the Odds in 2020”

A panel discussion will follow the talks.

“Our hope at the end of the day is that all individuals involved in the care of patients with glaucoma will walk away with additional pieces of information that will help them help their patients,” Dr. Iwach said.

Planning for the 2021 Glaucoma 360 meeting is already underway. The conference is scheduled for Jan. 28-30, 2021, at the Grand Hyatt Union Square in San Francisco.