|
Formation of EPOS
In the 1960s the term “paediatric ophthalmology” was virtually unknown. All Ophthalmologists were generalists, although some were slowly developing a particular interest in one aspect of ophthalmology. There were really no sub-specialty interests and virtually no sub-specialists. However, in the second half of the 1960s people slowly became more interested in specific parts of ophthalmology. Paediatric ophthalmology was then, as now, a Cinderella specialty with relatively little interest. It was at the end of the 1960s that Brian Harcourt and Albert Franceschetti were lounging around a pool in Acapulco. It was there that they discovered their mutual interest in paediatric problems and decided that it would be right for some of the younger ophthalmologists in Europe to get together and discuss the growing points in the sub- specialty.
Discussions continued, but it was only through the work of Barrie Jay, to whom the Group owes an incomparable debt, that a meeting first took place in 1972 in Oxford. Amongst those that attended were Alan Bird, August Deutmann and Jean-Jacques DeLaey together with one of the greatest paediatric ophthalmologists of our age, Mette Warburg. Since then the Group has prospered and, for many years the tradition was that it met alternately in the United Kingdom and in a European city. The Group was run somewhat autocratically by Barry Jay, who made all of the arrangements and most of the decisions and, in spite of this, was extremely successful.
When Barrie retired from the Chair of Ophthalmology at Moorfields Eye Hospital the organisation passed to Tony Moore who is now Professor of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Genetics. As with all groups, it has expanded and become more formal and, under Professor Birgit Lorenz, is set to become the leading, and the biggest, group of those interested in Paediatric Ophthalmology and Genetics in Europe.
One of the basic principles of the Group has been that discussion of squints should be excluded and left to the strabismological societies and this will be maintained.
Previous meetings:
- 2023 Leuven, Belgium The Eye in Systemic Disease
- 2022 Munich, Germany Vision Problems in School Age
- 2020/2021 Copenhagen, Denmark The Important First Year
- 2019 Riga, Latvia From Common to Rare Diseases: Advances in Paediatric Ophthalmology
- 2018 Budapest, Hungary Imaging in Paediatric Ophthalmology
- 2017 Oxford, United Kingdom Hereditary Retinal Dystrophies: From Genetics to Gene Therapy
- 2016 Zurich, Switzerland Paediatric Neuro-Ophthalmology
- 2015 Saint Petersburg, Russia Innovations in Paediatric Ophthalmology
- 2014 Barcelona, Spain Paediatric Cataracts and Paediatric Glaucoma
- 2013 Leiden, The Netherlands Paediatric Ophthalmic Tumors
- 2012 Uppsala, Sweden
- 2011 Thessaloniki, Greece Visual Impairment in Childhood
- 2010 Bad Nauheim, Germany New Challenges in Paediatric Ophthalmology
- 2009 Paris, France Perinatal Ophthalmology
- 2008 Leuven, Belgium The Eye in Systemic Disease
- 2007 Portoroz, Slowenia Paediatric Electrophysiology and Psychophysics
- 2006 Vilamoura, Portugal Pediatric Neuro-ophthalmology
- 2005 Warszaw, Russia Advances in the surgical treatment of pediatric eye diseases
- 2004 Manchester, United Kingdom Developmental genes and the eye
- 2003 Regensburg, Germany Gene Therapy and Other Modern Therapeutic Approaches in Paediatric Retinal Degenerations
- 2002 Figuera da Foz, Portugal Dysmorphology of the Eye and Orbit
- 2001 Regensburg, Germany Trends in Paediatric Ophthalmology
- 2000 Cambridge, United Kingdom Retinal dystrophies
- 1999 Strasbourg, France Multisystem disease and the eye
- 1998 Dublin, Ireland Metabolic diseases of the eye
- 1997 Cambridge, United Kingdom Neonatal ophthalmology
- 1996 Valencia, Spain Neuro-ophthalmology
- 1995 Cambridge, United Kingdom Dysmorphology and the eye
- 1994 Regensburg, Germany Teratology and the eye
- 1993 Cambridge, United Kingdom Phacomatoses
- 1992 Oxford, United Kingdom Retinal receptor dystrophies
- 1991 Sandjberg, Denmark Multiplyhandicapped and the ophthalmologist
- 1990 Oxford, United Kingdom Anomalies of the anterior segment
- 1989 Bruges, Belgium Retinopathy of prematurity
- 1988 Oxford, United Kingdom Genetic diseases of the cornea
- 1987 Geneva, Switzerland Neuro-ophthalmology
- 1985 Oxford, United Kingdom Hearing and the eye
- 1983 Amsterdam, Netherlands Genetics and ophthalmology
- 1982 Oxford, United Kingdom Ocular and adnexal tumours in childhood
- 1981 Gent, Belgium Genetics and ophthalmology
- 1980 Geneva, Switzerland Retinal disease in childhood
- 1979 Oxford, United Kingdom Visual development in childhood normal and abnormal
- 1978 Freiburg, Germany Genetics and ophthalmology
- 1977 Oxford, United Kingdom Nystagmus
- 1976 Nijmegen, Netherlands Cataract in childhood
- 1975 Copenhagen, Denmark Visually handicapped children the ophthalmologist’s responsibility
- 1974 Oxford, United Kingdom Visual function in childhood
- 1973 Oxford, United Kingdom Retinitis pigmentosa