The European Society of Retina Specialists (Euretina) opened its 25th annual congress in Paris on Thursday, reporting record attendance with more than 10,000 registrations. This is the first time the meeting has crossed that participation threshold since its founding.
In her keynote lecture, Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth, MD, professor of ophthalmology at the Medical University of Vienna, outlined the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in retinal care. She emphasized that AI tools are already being used in clinical practice, clinical trials, and population screening, particularly for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). “AI is here to stay for practical management of AMD, guided treatment in geographic atrophy, and understanding the combined wet/dry complexity,” she said.
The opening ceremony also recognized this year’s award recipients. Prithvi Ramtohul, MD, of France, received the Professor Ramin Tadayoni Award for his study on neuronal excitability in retinal ganglion cells. Josef Huemer, MD, of the United Kingdom, was honored with the Retinal Medicine Clinical Research Award for his project applying deep phenotyping of OCT biomarkers to cardiovascular disease using AI and genome-wide analysis. The same award was presented to Kanmin Xue, MD, also of the United Kingdom, for his investigation into physiological risk factors for retinopathy of prematurity progression and the effects of anti-VEGF therapy on neurodevelopment.
Other prizes included the free paper award to Roy Schwartz, MD, of the United Kingdom, for his work on estimating visual acuity in geographic atrophy; the poster award to Saoud Al-Khuzaei, MD, of the United Kingdom, for his genotype-phenotype study of IMPG2 retinopathy; and the video award to Elizabeth Yang, MD, of Italy, for her presentation of a complex triple procedure combining scleral-sutured IOL, artificial iris, and keratoplasty.
The society also honored the FEBOS-Retina certification exam, now in its third year, with honorary diplomas awarded to Nicole Eter, MD, and Jens Folke Kiilgaard, MD, for their leadership in establishing the program. RP