Scientific programme CroCRS 2020

WELCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear colleagues,

on behalf of the Board and Organising Committee of the Croatian Organisation for Cataract and Refractive Surgery, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to Vodice at the 15th Virtual Symposium of the CroCRS.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the interest of the health, safety and well-being of everyone, the CroCRS has decided to transfer the 15th Symposium of Cataract and Refractive Surgery to the online platform.

Our scientific programme is aimed at cataract and refractive surgeons of all levels of experience, as well as ophthalmologists and ophthalmology residents interested in improving their knowledge in managing anterior eye segment pathologies. The meeting covers a wide range of topics on the diagnosis and treatment of anterior eye segment diseases and includes numerous expert keynote lectures, as well as a Young Ophthalmologists session, accredited by the esteemed European Board of Ophthalmology.

Being the first of its kind in Croatia, this session, starting on Friday, helps our young ophthalmologists to prepare for the exam of EBO, highlighting the importance of obtaining the title that credits them as specialists in ophthalmology at the European level.

Our Saturday programme is enriched by the opportunity to enjoy the outstanding knowledge and experience of internationally renowned specialists.

I am honoured to invite you to join the virtual event that will offer us the possibility for educational exchange, scientific news and practice updates while protecting the safety, health, and well-being of all symposium participants.

Yours sincerely,

Ivanka Petric Vicković
CroCRS President
President of the Organising Committee

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Rimvydas Stanislovas Ašoklis
Associate Professor at the University Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius, Lithuania
Head of the Centre of Eye Diseases in Vilnius, Lithuania

Rimvydas Stanislovas Ašoklis is an Assoc. Prof. at the Vilnius University, the Faculty of Medicine and Head of the Centre of Eye Diseases in Vilnius. His main areas of practice are anterior segment and corneal diseases, corneal and amniotic membrane transplantation, as well as cataract and glaucoma surgery.
He is a part of many scientific organizations and editorial boards such as “Lietuvos Oftalmologija”, “Okulistyka” and “Theory and Practice in Medicine”, as well as a representative in many regional and European ophthalmology associations such as the Vilnius County Society of Ophthalmologists, the Lithuanian Society of Ophthalmologists, the European Association for Vision and Eye Research, the European Board of Ophthalmology and the UEMS – Section of Ophthalmology.
Prof. Ašoklis is currently Chairman of the Residency Exchange Committee of the European Board of Ophthalmology.

Stefano Barabino
Head of the Ocular Surface Centre at the Sacco Hospital, Milan University, Italy
President of the Italian Society of Ocular Surface

Stefano Barabino is a Professor of Ophthalmology and Head of the Ocular Surface Centre at the Sacco Hospital, Milan University, Italy. He received his medical doctor degree from Genoa University in 1998, completed his residency in Ophthalmology in 2002, and received his PhD degree in Immunology in 2005. Dr. Barabino completed a two-year fellowship at Harvard University, in Boston, USA.
As a specialist in dry eye and ocular surface diseases, he has published more than 100 scientific articles in Italian and international scientific journals. He is an active member of several European and international professional societies, President of the Italian Society of Ocular Surface, board member of Ocular Immunology & Inflammation, Eye & Contact Lens, the Ocular Surface, and BMC Ophthalmology. Dr. Barabino has been an active member of the Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) since its inception in 2000.

Harminder Singh Dua
Chair and Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Nottingham
Head of the Division of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Nottingham, UK
Head of Service, Department of Ophthalmology, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

Professor Harminder Singh Dua, MBBS, DO, DO (London), MS, MNAMS, FRCS (Edinburgh), FRCOphth. (UK), FEBO, MD, PhD, FRCP (Honorary, Edinburgh), FCOptom. (Honorary, UK), FRCOphth. (Honorary, UK), FAICO (Honorary, India), is an Indian-British medical doctor and researcher. He graduated Medicine from the Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur. Prof. Dua was an associate professor at the Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, USA when he was invited to chair in Nottingham in April 1994. Now he is the chair and professor of ophthalmology at the University of Nottingham and is the head of the Division of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.
He was president of EuCornea, the European Society of Cornea and Ocular Surface Disease Specialists. He is also president of the EVERf (European Association for Vision and Eye Research Foundation) and former president of the association itself. He was elected chair of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis and invited to join as member of the American Ophthalmological Society by thesis. In March 2011 he was elected president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. He has over 400 research publications and an H-index of 71. He served as co-Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Ophthalmology and was made Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists in September 2018. He is Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the College of Optometrists UK, the highest accolade conferred by the respective Colleges. Professor Dua was Trustee of Sight Savers International and was a member of the International steering committee of the second Dry Eye Workshop. He also served on the “Definition and Classification committee” (DEWS II 2015-17).
Amongst his over hundred and twenty-five awards and accolades are The Rotary Foundation Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award (2013), The Times Higher Education Award 2014 for “Research project of the year”; Vicechancellor’s medal (2016), as well as several medals and eponymous lectures.
Dua was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by His Royal Highness, the Duke of Cambridge in 2019 for services to eye healthcare, health education and ophthalmology. He was listed by the magazine “Ophthalmologist” in the top 20 most influential individuals in ophthalmology worldwide (2014) and in the top 100 in 2016, 2018 and 2020. He was one of five ophthalmologists on the list of “Britain’s Top Doctors” (2010) published by the Times magazine. He has been endowed with honorary life memberships of four international academic societies.
In 2001, he proposed Dua classification for chemical injuries in the eye. Professor Dua’s most famous contribution to ophthalmology was his research group’s discovery of a previously undetected layer of the human cornea in 2013. His work to develop our understanding of this Pre-Decemet layer – also dubbed Dua’s Layer – has enhanced understanding of lamellar corneal surgery, posterior corneal pathology, and led to the innovation of three novel surgical procedures that have made lamellar corneal transplantation safer. The Dua’s layer has been recently endorsed by the board of the American Association of Ocular Oncologists and Pathologists (AAOOP).

Farhad Hafezi
Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Geneva, Switzerland
Research Group Leader at the University of Zürich, Switzerland
Adjunct Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Southern California (USC) Los Angeles, USA
Visiting Professor at the Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
Chief Medical Officer at the ELZA Institute, Zürich, Switzerland

As a prominent eye surgeon and researcher, professor Farhad Hafezi is considered to be a leading expert and key opinion leader in the development and translation of corneal cross-linking (CXL) and its multiple applications in the field of ophthalmology, including the treatment of corneal ectatic disorders like keratoconus, pellucid marginal degeneration and post-LASIK ectasia. During his successful career to date, prof. Hafezi has made significant advancements in the field; he was part of the Zürich group that developed corneal cross-linking (CXL), has determined multiple ways of safely cross-linking thin corneas, and has led the charge of bringing CXL to the slit lamp, as well as using it as a potentially antibiotic-free method of treating corneal infections. Prof. Hafezi and his colleagues have pioneered the use of CXL for the treatment of corneal infections, calling the technique “photoactivated chromophore for infectious keratitis cross-linking”, or PACK-CXL.
His work in the field of corneal collagen cross-linking has led him to receive a number of international awards. So far, prof. Hafezi has received over 20 national and international awards both for his clinical and scientific work, as well as for his contributions to technology development.
In 2019, prof. Hafezi was appointed FARVO – a fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology – in recognition of his clinical and research contributions over the years, which is a rare and prized badge of honour.
In the year 2020, an internationally recognized magazine The Ophthalmologist named prof. Farhad Hafezi for the fourth consecutive time (in the years 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020) to its biennial Power List, an international celebration and recognition of the top 100 most influential people in the field of ophthalmology, defining its thought leaders and inspirational talents.
His other accomplishments include:

Keratoconus Global Award (2009) for his work on CXL technology;
Carl Camras Award 2014 for translational research (Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology [ARVO]);
The 2014 IIRSI Gold Medal for his efforts in introducing CXL into clinical ophthalmology;
Member of the Ophthalmologist Power List Top 100 (2014, 2016, 2018 – biennial list; ranked every time the Power List has been made);
Casebeer Award (2014) of the International Society for Refractive Surgery;
The 2016 El-Maghraby International Award for his contributions to ophthalmology;
The 2016 Gold Medal of SAMIR for his pioneering work on corneal cross-linking;
Elected as an honorary member of Hungary’s SHIOL (Societas Hungarica Ad Implantandam Oculi Lenticulam) in 2016.

Farhad Hafezi is one of the most cited ophthalmologists of his generation, with an H-index of 46 and a total of more than 8,700 citations in the scientific literature, a co-editor of the Journal of Refractive Surgery and an editorial board member of Translational Vision Research & Technology, Eye and Vision, International Journal of Keratoconus and Ectatic Corneal Disease and Iranian Journal of Ophthalmology. He is a regular speaker and facilitator at the ESCRS (European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery) and the AAO (American Academy of Ophthalmology) annual congresses.

Mirko Jankov
Clinical director of Laserfocus eye microsurgery center
President of the Serbian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons

Mirko Jankov underwent his residency in ophthalmology and subspecialized in cataract and anterior segment surgery in Sao Paulo in Brazil. He became a subspecialist in refractive surgery in Zürich under the mentorship of prof. Theo Seiler.
He worked for years as a research and clinical fellow with prof. Theo Seiler in Zürich (Switzerland) and Ioannis Palikaris in Heraklion (Greece). Up to this day he has been a part of the research team of the Institute for Refractive and Ophthalmic Surgery (IROC) from Zürich and one of the organisers and lecturers of a subspecialist course in refractive surgery in Switzerland. In addition, Jankov is a certified world instructor for Alcon/WaveLight.
He finished his PhD in the field of bioengineering at the Federal University of Sao Paulo. For years, he was the head of the refractive surgery team at the Institute of Ophthalmology in Curitiba in Brazil and Miloš Clinic in Belgrade. He is the author of more than a hundred papers presented in scientific journals, books and professional conferences, and a reviewer of several medical journals, including Archives of Ophthalmology, Arquivos Brasileiros de Ophthalmologia, British Journal of Ophthalmology, Current Eye Research, Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, Journal of Refractive Surgery, Middle East and African Journal of Ophthalmology, and Ophthalmology. He is a member of prestigious American, European, Brazilian and domestic ophthalmology associations and has won several awards, including the Global Ambassador of Ophthalmology Award in 2007.

Vladimir Pfeifer
Specialist in ophthalmology and eye surgery at Dr. Pfeifer Eye Surgery Centre in Ljubljana, Slovenia
ESCRS Education Comity Member
EBO-ESCRS Examination Board Member

Dr. Pfeifer graduated from the Ljubljana Medical Faculty, where he also passed his specialization examination. He earned a Master’s degree in Zagreb and later in Ljubljana as well. As a permanent employee of the Ljubljana Eye Clinic, he is head of the department of the anterior ocular segment surgery and of the dispensary for refractive surgery and corneal disorders, a supervisor of transplantation activities, member of the extended expert team for transplantation activities and senior mentor to trainee specialists. His areas of expertise include cataract and refractive surgery, corneal transplantation (PKP, DALK, DMEK, DSAEK) and glaucoma surgery.
He is a member of numerous international ophthalmologic organizations, such as the ESCRS (European Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery), where he acted as a co-opted member for several years, the ASCRS (American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery), the EVRS (European Society for Vitreoretinal Surgery – board member), the SESCRS (East European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery), the AAO (American Academy of Ophthalmology) and others. In the ESCRS he is a member of the Education Committee.
Dr. Pfeifer is a globally recognized eye surgeon and has received the highest awards for eye surgery in Europe and in the USA. For his innovative techniques in cataract surgery, he was awarded the highest recognitions by the ESCRS and ASCRS, at whose congresses he hosts workshops on eye surgery every year.

Nataša Vidović Valentinčič
Head of the Ophthalmology department, Uveitis service at the Eye Hospital, UMC, Ljubljana, Slovenia
President of the Slovenian Society of Ophthalmology

Dr. Nataša Vidović Valentinčič, MD, PhD, FEBO, specialised in ophthalmology after finishing her medical education. She finished her postdoctoral degree and as a permanent employee of the Eye Hospital, UMC in Ljubljana, she is head of the department of uveitis service and a senior mentor to trainee specialists. Her professional interests include uveitis, surgery of anterior segment, habilitation and rehabilitation of blind and visually impaired, as well as scientific research.
She is a member of numerous international ophthalmologic organizations, such as the ESCRS (European Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery) and the IOIS (International Ocular Inflammation Society).
Dr. Vidović Valentinčič is a globally recognized ophthalmologist and works as President of the Slovenian Society of Ophthalmology.

Speakers

Mirna Belovari
Damir Bosnar
Petra Grubešić
Renata Iveković
Tomislav Kuzman
Suzana Konjevoda
Iva Krolo

Adrijan Lukenda
Aleksej Medić
Igor Petriček
Petra Schollmayer
Siniša Skelin
Ana-Maria Šimundić
Marija Zekušić

GENERAL INFORMATION

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Ivanka Petric Vicković, President
Miro Kalauz, Secretary
Nikola Sušić, Treasurer
Iva Krolo
Renata Iveković

SUPPORTING ORGANISATIONS

Croatian Physicians Association
Croatian Ophthalmological and Optometric Society
Croatian Organisation for Cataract and Refractive Surgery
European Board of Ophthalmology

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

B.T.M. Global d.o.o.
Gradišćanska 32, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia
OIB: 60782317916
IBAN: HR8924020061100879750

Contact information:
Phone: +385 1 7888 371
e-mail: info@btmglobal.hr (Nataša Basta),
bruno@btmglobal.hr (Bruno Ravlić)

Registration fees (Croatian VAT included)

There is no registration fee for all the participants of the online symposium.

Registration at: https://www.hood.com.hr/15simpozijcrocrs-1

CME credits are granted by the Croatian Medical Chamber for attending delegates.

Official languages of the Symposium are Croatian and English.