Join Us For Our Next Symposium!
2016 Symposium
Thank you to all attendees, faculty, exhibitors, and supporters for a fantastic 65th Annual Symposium!
Pictures from the 2016 Symposium can be viewed on our NOAO facebook page – like us today!
The 66th Annual Symposium will be February 10 – 12, 2017!
The 2016 Annual Symposium – Under Pressure program and registration brochure is now available! Click on the image below to view or download the brochure:
The 65th Annual Symposium is February 19th – 21st, 2016 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, 500 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70130. Click here to reserve a room or call the Sheraton at (504) 525-2500.
Learn from the brightest ophthalmologists from around the country on Glaucoma, Neuro-Ophthalmology and Cataract.
Fiona Costello, MD, FRCPC, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Brian A. Francis, MD, MS, University of California, San Francisco, CA
Douglas R. Lazzaro, FAAO, FACS, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY
Parag A. Majmudar, MD, Rush University Medical Center, South Barrington, IL
Paul F. Palmberg, MD, PhD, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, FL
Louis R. Pasquale, MD, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA
Thomas W. Samuelson, MD, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Prem S. Subramanian, MD, PhD, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
Michael Wall, MD, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Keith A. Walter, MD, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Wake Forest, NC
“I thought it was one of the MOST WONDERFUL meetings in the world! GREAT information, lots of fun and learning and GREAT attendees.”
– Kathleen Digre, Salt Lake City, Utah
“Excellent program, excellent interactive speakers, comfortable facility.”
– anonymous attendee, 2015 Symposium
“Good value, fun location. I enjoyed the meeting and hope to come back next year.”
– anonymous attendee, 2015 Symposium
“Another phenomenal meeting sponsored by the NOAO!!”
– anonymous attendee, 2015 Symposium
NEW WORKSHOPS ADDED!
Friday, February 19, 5:30 – 6:30 PM
Glaucoma Cases – Diagnostics, Dilemmas and Decisions
Moderator: Louis Pasquale Panel: Drs. Francis, Palmberg & Samuelson
Join the glaucoma speakers in a casual setting as they discuss common and not so common cases that all ophthalmologists should be aware of, or at least thinking about! Time will be alloted for questions from the audience.
Patient Privacy and Cybersecurity
Instructor: Jeffery Daigrepont
Join Jeffery Daigrepont, expert consultant to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, as he details the perfect storm — data breaches on the rise and the rising costs of HIPAA violations. Last year put cybersecurity and compliance on the minds of providers across the country with some of the highest financial penalties to date for violating HIPAA. Learn more about how to best to protect yourself and your practice with this informative workshop.
Saturday, February 20, 5:30 – 6:30 PM
How to Avoid a Lawsuit in Cataract Surgery
Instructor: Keith Walter, MD
Cataract surgery is the most frequently performed ophthalmic procedure in the United States. Patient expectations have changed considerably over the years. This workshop will review how ophthalmologists can best prepare their patients expectation on surgery, and how to deal with a result that does not match the claims of efficacy of the new premium IOLs.
OMIC Risk Management Workshop
Instructor: Hans K. Bruhn, MHS
Saturday, February 20, 5:30 –6:30 p.m.
Review risk management case studies in glaucoma, neuro and cataract with Hans Bruhn of OMIC’s Risk Management Department and local legal counsel. OMIC insureds who are registered NOAO Symposium attendees who attend this OMIC course at this meeting will earn a 10% premium discount.
Speakers
Fiona Costello, MD, FRCPC began working towards her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, prior to entering Medical School in 1991. She graduated in 1995, and embarked on a neurology residency program at Memorial University which she completed in 2000. Dr. Costello then did a two-year clinical research fellowship in Neuro-Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa. She worked for five years at the University of Ottawa prior to relocating to Calgary in 2007.
Dr. Costello’s research focuses on the use of the anterior visual pathway as a system model of MS. Together with her colleagues, she is studying the mechanisms that underpin neurological disability in MS patients, with a view to developing new therapeutic strategies for this disease. Dr. Costello has published 27 articles and 10 book chapters to date. In addition to this, she regularly presents nationally and internationally in the areas of Neuro-Ophthalmology and Multiple Sclerosis.
Recent awards include the P.J. Leinfelder Award for Research at the University of Iowa (2002), the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society Young Investigator Award (2007), and the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement Award in 2008. In 2008, she was honoured by being named one of Canada’s “Top 40 under 40” for innovations in vision research.
Brian A. Francis, MD, MS is a glaucoma and cataract specialist at the Doheny Eye Institute and Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. A graduate of Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, he went on to complete his residency at Tulane, followed by a fellowship in glaucoma at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Francis is a leading expert in the field of glaucoma surgical treatment and diagnostics. He is a pioneer in the field of minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS), a new group of surgeries including Trabectome, iStent, canaloplasty, endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation (ECP), as well as others still in clinical trials. He also has an interest in new imaging modalities in glaucoma diagnosis including optical coherence tomography (OCT) and ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM). His research has been widely published in journals including Ophthalmology, the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and the British Journal of Ophthalmology, among many others.
Douglas R. Lazzaro, MD, FAAO, FACS, serves as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at SUNY Downstate. Dr. Lazzaro received his MD degree and residency training at SUNY Downstate and then completed a cornea and refractive surgery fellowship at the Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital and Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Lazzaro has been involved in residency training since 1994. He directs at one of the largest programs in the United States and is recognized as one of the top training programs in the NYC area. He was director of surgical training at the Kings County Hospital Center for a decade and has served as its Director of Ophthalmology from 2001 to the present time. This eye service is the largest in the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation and currently sees over 30,000 outpatients annually. Dr. Lazzaro’s research focuses on the development of a corneal endothelial prosthesis. The department became RPB funded in 2012 with Dr. Lazzaro as Principle Investigator of a 4 year Challenge Grant. Dr. Lazzaro also serves as PI of a 2,000,000 SUNY Empire Innovator Program grant since 2014.
Dr. Lazzaro serves on the board of the Eye Bank for Sight Restoration and the NY Society for Clinical Ophthalmology, and serves as the Scientific Program Chair of the NY Ophthalmic Laser Society. He was named Attending of the Year in 2002, 2003, and 2007, the recipient of the Community Service Award for Visions /Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired in 2007. He has been elected to New York Super Doctors in 2008-2015, New York Magazine’s Best Doctors 2012, 2014, and 2015. Dr. Lazzaro was elected a lifetime member of Swathmore’s Who’s Who, and the Worldwide Registry of Executives and Professionals. Dr. Lazzaro received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Daniel Hale Williams Society at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in 2010 and the Chancellor’s Award for Service Excellence at Downstate in 2012.
Parag A. Majmudar, MD, is an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and a partner at Chicago Cornea Consultants. Raised primarily in New Jersey, Dr. Majmudar graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, as part of an honors program in medical education. While at Lehigh University, Dr. Majmudar was elected as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society. After receiving his degree at the Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he was a member of the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, Dr. Majmudar completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of Chicago, serving as chief resident in the Department of Ophthalmology. He followed his residency with a subspecialty fellowship in cornea and external diseases and refractive surgery at Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago.
An active participant in clinical research activities, Dr. Majmudar is a highly regarded lecturer and instructor on the subjects of corneal and refractive surgery, and has delivered numerous presentations at national and international conferences. Dr. Majmudar is an active member of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery as well as the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and he recently received the Academy’s Achievement Award. He has been the chairman of the AAO’s Annual Meeting Program Committee for Refractive Surgery for the past several years. He is an International Council Representative from the United States for the International Society of Refractive Surgery.
Paul F. Palmberg, MD, PhD, now a Professor of Ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, knew early on that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an ophthalmologist. At age 19, he decided that he also wanted to be a scientist. “I wanted to find out if being ‘dual-wired’ would let me see connections between science and medicine that scientists or clinicians were unlikely to come up with independently,” he recalls.
In 1978, he introduced Modified MK Media, an improved solution for maintaining corneas for transplantation which was adopted worldwide. In the 1980s, his discoveries of simplified methods for detecting early diabetic retinopathy led to a decade-long trial by the National Institutes of Health which concluded that tightly controlling blood sugar significantly lowered the risk of retinal and kidney damage in diabetic patients. Dr. Palmberg is best known, however, for his role in helping to clarify the relationship between the level of pressure in the eye and how well a glaucoma patient retains peripheral vision.
In 2000, Palmberg was co-recipient of the International Glaucoma Review Award for the most significant glaucoma research of the year for his finding that lowering eye pressure sufficiently could halt glaucoma damage in nearly all patients with advanced damage. Dr. Palmberg has authored or co-authored 84 journal articles and book chapters, lectured in 55 countries, and trained 52 clinical fellows and 103 foreign observer fellows. Palmberg hopes in his last decade of practice to develop teaching modules in both English and foreign languages to explain the new concepts for treating glaucoma.
Louis R. Pasquale, MD is director of both the Glaucoma Service and the Ophthalmology Telemedicine program at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, where he specializes in glaucoma—a leading cause of blindness in the United States and throughout the world. He is especially interested in normal tension glaucoma, difficult surgical glaucoma, and secondary glaucoma in children. Dr. Pasquale also is a dedicated teacher and mentor. He trains residents and medical students and serves as the Director of Mass. Eye and Ear’s fellowship program.
Dr. Pasquale aims to eradicate functional blindness from primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) and exfoliation syndrome through early detection and an improved understanding of disease pathogenesis. In addition to his clinical practice, he is investigating how genes interact with the environment to cause glaucoma. He was awarded a grant as part of the National Institutes of Health’s Genes, Environment & Heath Initiative to rapidly scan the entire human genome in order to discover the genetic determinants of POAG. Dr. Pasquale is also involved in an initiative that integrates telemedicine technologies to improve access to ophthalmic services by allowing patients to receive ophthalmic consultations virtually.
Throughout his career, Dr. Pasquale has received numerous honors, including the HMS Department of Ophthalmology Distinguished Ophthalmology Scholar Award, the Secretariat Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Silver Fellow Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), and many others.
Thomas W. Samuelson, MD, a founding partner and attending surgeon of Minnesota Eye Consultants, is a board-certified ophthalmologist who specializes in the treatment of glaucoma, cataract, and refractive surgery. He is also an adjunct associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Minnesota and a faculty member at Hennepin County Medical Center, a major teaching hospital for the University of Minnesota residency program. Dr. Samuelson’s research interests include surgical procedures involving Schlemm’s Canal as well as the management of coincident cataract and glaucoma. He has also performed research on the safety of LASIK in patients with other ocular disorders, especially glaucoma.
A frequent lecturer nationally and internationally on ocular surgery, he has published numerous scientific manuscripts and textbook chapters on ophthalmic surgery. Dr. Samuelson is the current Treasurer for the American Glaucoma Society and serves on its Executive Committee. He also oversees the glaucoma skills transfer courses for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and serves on its Basic Clinical Science Course Committee. Dr. Samuelson is the glaucoma section editor for Ocular Surgery News, the most widely circulated ophthalmology news publication worldwide. He also serves as editorial board member and scientific reviewer for several ophthalmology journals.
Dr. Samuelson is the recipient of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Senior Achievement Award honoring contributions made to the Academy’s educational programs. He is also an examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology and has been named to America’s Top Doctors each year since 2002.
Prem S. Subramanian, MD, PhD is professor of ophthalmology, neurology, and neurosurgery and vice chair for academic affairs at the UC Health Eye Center/Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He received his MD with high honors and PhD (molecular and human genetics) at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Prior to taking his current position, he was on the faculty of the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for 8 years.
Dr. Subramanian previously served as an active duty US Army officer and surgeon, caring for battle casualties during which time his interest in the efferent visual effects of traumatic brain injury arose. He is also an active orbitocranial surgeon with a specific interest in tumors of the skull base and small-incisional approaches. Dr. Subramanian’s current research is focused on rigorously assessing and improving visual quality of life in patients undergoing surgery for skull base tumors, finding more effective medical treatments for patients at risk for progressive thyroid ophthalmopathy, and on developing better treatments of vision problems in patients with increased intracranial pressure.
He serves on the Board of Directors of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society; in addition, he has published over 130 research articles, book chapters, and web-based educational materials and is a dedicated educator in several countries around the world.
Michael Wall, MD, a graduate of Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, is Director of the Neuro-Ophthalmology Clinic and Professor of Neurology, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Iowa, where he weaves together his medical practice, teaching and research. “What I really love are the interactions with seeing patients, teaching, and doing research,” he says. “They enhance each other in a way that makes every day interesting.”
Dr. Wall’s research has two arms. The first, funded by a VA Merit review for 12 years, is to develop strategies to detect visual field changes and defects at an earlier stage by studying mechanisms of perimetric variability. Dr. Wall and his colleagues are in the fourth year of a five year study that follows glaucoma patients with four visual field tests to determine if larger stimuli result in earlier detection of visual field change. The second arm of Dr. Wall’s research is to study idiopathic intracranial hypertension (pseudotumor cerebri). The goal is to find the cause of the disease and to develop evidence-based treatment strategies. Currently all treatment decisions are based on data that is retrospective and uncontrolled. This clinical trial has been funded by the National Institutes of Health for $16 million over five years.
Keith A. Walter, MD is a board-certified ophthalmologist specializing in corneal and refractive surgery and Professor of Ophthalmology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. He received his medical training at Duke University and completed his ophthalmology residency and fellowship at Emory University. During his fellowship, Dr. Walter was a co-investigator of the first and largest LASIK study in the United States. Based on his research, he was the first in his field to improve LASIK outcomes by adjusting for humidity. In addition, he has authored several articles related to LASIK surgery; and his research has been covered by numerous news organizations including The New York Times, Time Magazine and CNN.
For both laser and non-laser cataract surgery, Dr. Walter offers the most advanced technology that eliminates the need for eye glasses post-surgery. Additionally, Dr. Walter’s research on post-cataract surgery inflammation has yielded results that simplify and improve the recovery process for patients. Dr. Walter also devotes a portion of his practice to corneal diseases and transplantation. He invented the EndoSerter™ Corneal Endothelium Delivery Instrument to improve corneal transplant surgery. FDA approved, the device is distributed worldwide and allows eye surgeons to insert corneal donor tissue without damaging the eye.
We are honored and excited to have such esteemed ophthalmologists as our faculty for the 2016 meeting! Subscribe to our emails or follow us via the social media buttons to the left for all the latest news about our upcoming symposium.
For the last 65 years, the New Orleans Academy of Ophthalmology (NOAO) puts on an annual meeting which offers hours in Category 1 credit towards the AMA Physician’s Recognition Award™. NOAO is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to sponsor continuing medical education for physicians.
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