2ND Global Young Ophthalmologist Summit 2024
19 January 2024, Singapore
The 2nd Global Young Ophthalmologist Summit was held in Svingapore on Friday, 19 January 2024, in conjunction with the 37th Singapore-Malaysia Joint Ophthalmic Conference. The full-day summit was a huge success: we welcomed around 700 delegates from 40 countries across all the Asian regions (Northeast Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia), the US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Of the participants, almost 200 were either residents or fellows.
Full house at the 2nd Global YO Summit!
L-R: Dr Claire Peterson (Singapore), Dr Bia Kim (New Zealand), Dr Chay Tanlapco (Philippines), Dr Michael Murri (USA)
The Global YO Summit programme jam-packed with both sessions and YOs. The morning included interactive scientific debates for 9 sub-specialties, including cornea, cataract, refractive, glaucoma, surgical retina, medical retina, neuro-ophthalmology, oculoplastics, pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus. The debates included hot topics such as “Endothelial Keratoplasty: Is DMEK Superior to Ultra-thin DSAEK?”, “What is the Future of Cataracts surgery- Is There a Role for Robotic Phacoemulsification?”, “Geographic Atrophy – IVT or Let it be?” and “To SMILE or not to SMILE?”. For each session, we had a speaker ‘for’ and a speaker ‘against’ the topic. Audiences were polled using QR codes prior to the sessions and again at the end of the session, after discussion amongst the panellists and session chairs. The debates were very engaging and in some sessions, we witnessed radical changes in the audience’s opinion!
Dr Michael Murri (USA) speaking in the Cornea session
Paediatric Ophthalmology Session at the 2nd Global YO Summit: From L-R: Dr Haeng-Jin Lee (South Korea), Dr Divijay Singh (India), Dr Jose Antonio Paulino (Philippines), Dr Lana Dataushvili (Georgia), Dr Nathalie Chiam (Singapore), Dr Hsu-Ying Dawn Lin (Taiwan), Dr Parth Sha (Australia)
Dr Jungyul Park (South Korea) speaking in the Oculoplastics session
Left: Dr Alia Arianti (Indonesia) and Dr Ray Lin (Taiwan) in the Neuro-ophthalmology session
Dr Nitee Ratprasatporn (Thailand) speaking in the Medical Retina Session
Left: Dr Ashraful Huq (Bangladesh) and Dr Imane Tarib (Morocco/USA) in the Refractive Session. Right: Dr David Chen (Singapore), Dr Rabindra Singh Thakuri (Nepal), Dr Sanushka Moodley (South Africa/Ireland) in the Cataract Session
The afternoon sessions consisted of non-scientific fireside-style discussions on important matters to YOs such as surgical training, fellowships, global ophthalmology, social media and women in ophthalmology and a feature on YO societies. Here, the session chairs engaged in more relaxed discussion with panellists and the audience. The audience could also ask questions through an anonymous link. It was very insightful to learn about barriers different YOs face in their respective countries, and to juxtapose the difference between training and working in low, middle and high-income settings.
Dr Claire Peterson (Singapore), Dr Sudhashini Chandrasekaran (Malyasia) and Dr Kanae Fukutsu (Japan) at the Women in Ophthalmology Session
Dr Minak Bhalla (UK), Dr Yap Zhu Li (Singapore), Dr Mohammed Azzam (Maldives), Dr Michael Murri (USA), Dr Anna Tan (Singapore) and Prof Nathan Congdon (USA), session Chair, in the Global Ophthalmology session
The afternoon segment culminated with a special ‘YO’ feature, where we invited a few YO societies to share.
Left: Dr Diva Kant Misra (India) sharing on YOSI; Right: Dr Lana Dataushvili (Georgia) sharing on SOE-YO
Throughout the course of the day, participants had ample opportunity to relax and mingle in the YO lounge, where we offered free barista coffee, a photobooth and blind-man massage.
YO Lounge!
The participants adjourned to the main foyer of the Singapore National Eye Centre for the welcome reception, where they were treated to a Lion Dance and traditional Malay culture performance.
Welcome Reception at the Singapore National Eye Centre Foyer. Left: Dr Marcus Ang and Professor Aung Tin.
The full day of events culminated with an exciting YO social night held at Stay Gold Flamingo, which has been voted as one of the Top 50 bars in Asia.
Some snapshots of YO night, held at StayGold Flamingo
A separate Global YO leaders meeting was held during the second day of the meeting, which gathered more than 16 YO representatives from different countries. Here we discussed the meaning of YO and how we can continue to sustain the YO movement. We also brainstormed on common initiatives which we may pursue together, including sustainability, mentorship, gender in ophthalmology and community initiatives.
Global YO Leaders Meeting
Following this, we embarked on a ‘YO cruise’ along the Singapore river and were able to take in the beautiful evening views of the Marina Bay, followed by faculty dinner at a rooftop restaurant, SKAI.
YO River Cruise
YOs at the Faculty Dinner, SKAI
It was an honour to organise the 2nd Global YO Summit together with Dr Marcus Ang, the Singapore Society of Ophthalmology President. We were extremely fortunate to receive overwhelming support from the local, regional and global YO communities and to get to know national YO representatives from so many countries. This summit was a success because of everyone’s support.
Graduation of the 2023 APAO Rising Star Cohort
The 2nd Global YO Summit showed us that there is an eager and growing YO community across the world. We have seen the formation of many new YO societies in recent years, such as in South Korea, Japan, Bangladesh, and Thailand, who were able to participate in the Global YO summit for the first time this year. A YO mentioned that the meeting felt like the ‘United Nation of Ophthalmologists’ – I can’t find a description better than this – despite our different training, subspecialities, countries, language, culture, governments – we were all united through ophthalmology and our purpose of growing and sustaining the global YO movement. Looking forward, we hope to continue to draw outward-looking, motivated and inspirational YOs and YO leaders globally to support each other and collaborate on initiatives important to YOs around the world!