A high-level delegation from IEF - Board members - Dr. Eliza Barnwell, Dr. Larry Schwab, Dr. Baxter McLendon, Dr. Alan Robin, Dr. Mae Millicent Peterseim; President & CEO, John Barrows; Director, Sustainability Initiatives, Raheem Rahmathullah and Consultant, Victoria Sheffield attended the 2nd Global Ophthalmology Summit held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA from September 7-10, 2023.
“The Summit was comprehensive, including global topics on inequalities in eye care, learning about achievements and common challenges, and successful models of care at home and abroad,” summed up John Barrow.
The Summit was a partnership between the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Emory Eye Center. It attracted delegates from across the world.
“ What an excellent opportunity to meet with friends and colleagues from various organizations working in the area of eye care in different parts of the globe. There was also renewed networking with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and Vision2020/USA,” Barrow noted.
Victoria Sheffield led panel discussions on Leadership Development and Capacity Building; Economic Stability and Social Enterprise and a very engaging session on introduction of young ophthalmologists to NG0s titled attractively ‘The YO Intro to NGOs'. While Raheem Rahmathullah shared his experience as a sustainability expert on ‘The Past/Present/Future of Economic Sustainability Global’.
Our partners, Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital’s CEO, Dr. Umang Mathur, and LV Prasad Eye Institute’s Network Director for Public Health Unit, Dr. Rohit Khanna shared their experiences in community eye health issues and the models developed by them to reach the unreached.
The summit featured a hackathon group. John said, "Its working was inspiring, injecting energy into solving complex problems of training, retaining of professional personnel, and improvement of supply chain logistics for medical and refractive error interventions.”
The next global meet is slated to be held in Portland, Oregon, USA.
Caption: Raheem Rahmathullah, IEF, Dr. Eliza Barnwell, IEF Board member, Dr. Larry Schwab, IEF Board member, Victoria Sheffield, IEF consultant, John Barrows, IEF President and CEO, Dr. Baxter McLendon, IEF Board member, Dr. Alan Robin, IEF Board member not in photo, and Dr. Mae Millicent Peterseim, new colleague!