This year, both the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS) and the Retina Society held their annual meetings across the pond. This is not surprising, because all the societies move their annual meeting to an international location every few years. However, on the rare occasions that the international meetings overlap, as they did this year, most US retina specialists will have to choose which one to attend.
The 2024 ASRS annual meeting took place in Stockholm, Sweden, while the 2024 Retina Society annual meeting was in Lisbon, Portugal, a week before the EURETINA meeting in Barcelona, Spain. Unfortunately, the proximity of the meetings forced most retina specialists to choose one or the other, which is regrettable for our profession. I cannot remember the last time I missed a Retina Society meeting, a highlight of my annual calendar.
As a former board member of ASRS and meeting planning chair of the Macula Society, I am aware of the reasons around choosing international locations for the annual meetings. In short, the societies like international meetings to grow their international membership. When there were only a few regional international retinal societies, this thinking was appropriate. While this still holds true today, it is becoming less important with the tremendous growth of international retina organizations.
EURETINA started as the European Retina, Macula, and Vitreous Society in June 2000. Currently boasting a membership over 6,000 strong, the EURETINA meeting has become as important as the ASRS annual meeting and the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Retina Subspecialty Day for retina specialist education. This begs the question whether US societies should look across the other pond, stay in the US, or merge.
The number of meetings that members of our specialty can attend has increased exponentially. When I was in training this was not the case. We now have beach meetings, ski meetings, golf meetings, family meetings, and local, regional, national, or international meetings. The educational content has not kept up. It may be time for a reset, or for smaller societies to merge, enabling them to become stronger and better equipped to serve their membership.
I am not talking about the niche meetings, where camaraderie is as important as the meeting. I am talking about the major societies. If it were not for the sheer number of new molecular entities in retina, consolidation would have occurred already. Academic societies like the American Ophthalmological Society are a dying breed that none of my younger colleagues have any desire to join. Like any industry, it is time for ours to consolidate. Hopefully, we will see this soon. RP
