February is my favourite time of the year. Not only is there beautiful summer weather and warm seawater, but this is the time when the Australian and New Zealand Glaucoma Society (ANZGS) Congress takes place! This year’s meeting was in Sydney CBD’s Masonic Centre. It’s a fabulous venue with beautiful, if rather curious, decor and was entirely suitable for our group of 200-plus people.
The ANZGS meeting started several decades ago as a much smaller collection of glaucoma subspecialists gathering over a weekend to share interesting and challenging cases as a way to cleanse themselves of the harrowing journey some patients' eyes require. The meeting has gradually expanded to include basic science research pertaining to glaucoma, as well as other health professionals involved in caring for patients with glaucoma.
The meeting attracts world-renowned names in glaucoma and this year’s experts did not disappoint. One highlight for me was the Lowe Lecture by Professor Miriam Kolko from the University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark. She presented ‘Targeting blind spots in glaucoma’, taking us back to the basics of diagnosis and management and seamlessly weaving in the latest research and integrating it into everyday practice.
The prestigious Gillies lecture came courtesy of Associate Professor Ashish Agar from the Prince of Wales Hospital, UNSW Sydney, who presented ‘The road less taken: managing intra- and extra-ocular pressure’. He took us on a journey through his own life alongside the growth and maturation of glaucoma research and management in Australia. His presentation was both humbling and inspiring and made me feel tremendously lucky to be his colleague and friend.
Of course, the social part of the ANZGS meeting never fails to deliver and the conference dinner at the Maritime Museum, along with a guided tour through the HMAS Vampire – affectionately known as ‘The Bat’ – was top-notch.
