The ESCRS Congress is an unmissable event for all Eyecare professionals, but especially for eye surgeons. It is an appointment where one listens to the main European opinion leaders, sees the most experienced surgeons operating, compares colleagues, discusses all the hottest issues and discovers the latest technological innovations. Who better than Roberto Bellucci, President of the XXXIII Congress of the ESCRS, to tell us about all that took place this year in Barcelona?
A 'bird's eye view': how important is the work of the ESCRS today in keeping eye surgeons throughout Europe up to date?
R. Bellucci: The ESCRS plays a fundamental role in the education of ophthalmic surgeons throughout Europe. The role is exercised through a combination of direct and indirect activities, which perhaps not everyone is aware of:
a. The ESCRS symposia are as educational as it gets in the field of anterior segment surgery. Symposia and presentations deal with everyday and rarer topics with a completely independent approach that is highly appreciated by delegates.
b. The exchange of information is fostered to the highest degree. At the conference, any ophthalmologist can ask questions to the most experienced, certain of a courteous and prompt reply. The ESCRS has contributed and contributes greatly to the homogenisation of the level of ophthalmic surgery in Europe.
c. The educational activities of the summer and winter congresses dedicated to the less experienced constitute an educational offer that is unparalleled in Europe and the world. One thinks of the basic phaco, refractive, cornea, basic optics or corneal topography courses.
d. The ESCRS was the first society in the world to have a programme dedicated to young ophthalmologists, a programme that introduces them to the world of society and fully integrates them in 3-4 years. Almost free enrolment and the possibility to present and comment on their videos are cornerstones of this programme.
e. There are two web-based education programmes, which all members can access free of charge: the on-line availability of congresses (12,000 presentations!) and the I-LEARN programme containing specific interactive courses in cataract, cornea and refractive surgery.
f. Some of these courses are recommended by the EBO. The EBO is the European Board of Ophthalmology, an educational organisation recognised by the European Union and entitled to award super-speciality diplomas (so-called 'Fellowships') after passing an examination in Paris. Those who pass the exam become 'Fellow EBO', or 'FEBO', and can add the title to their name. In Italy, for example, Professors Bandello and Midena are FEBOs; indeed, Prof. Midena is the Italian representative of the EBO.
g. The ESCRS sponsors observation periods for young ophthalmologists at prestigious ophthalmic facilities accredited by the society. Each year there are 40 scholarships of € 1,000 each for young people under 35 to travel to Europe.
h. Under my chairmanship, the ESCRS created the transcontinental sponsorship programme, and this year 3 young ophthalmologists were hosted in the US for 10 days as observers. This programme includes reciprocity, so we will host 3 American doctors in Europe, including one in Verona, this coming September. The programme has had a worldwide resonance, and there are already epigones!
What about the spin-offs to the business world? In particular, are new stimuli produced to develop technologies and tools in response to the needs and meetings that take place during ESCRS meetings?
R. Bellucci: One of the strengths of the ESCRS is the excellent relationship with industry, which is an important partner of the Society but of the whole ophthalmic world. The ESCRS is the ideal forum where industry can find stimuli for new products or machines, and from working together with ophthalmologists from all over the world who meet at our congresses comes much of the technological innovation we see. The society has given itself precise ethical rules, with even an ethics committee, to separate science from propaganda. For example, courses that are basically instructions on the use of individual products are hardly ever accepted. These rules have been shared and appreciated by the industry, which retains spaces and activities at conferences to suit its needs but without the ESCRS flag.
Can you tell us an episode/encounter emblematic of your experience in this stimulating international scientific context?
R. Bellucci: There have been so many emotions that I have felt in the almost two years I have been president, but perhaps the episode that left me with the most pleasant memory happened shortly before, when I found myself operating live in Moscow, in the operating theatre that was Fyodorov's, with his staff. There, that day I felt I had established a connection with the heart of world ophthalmology, an environment made up of wonderful friends who are so similar despite coming from such different continents.
Roberto Bellucci
After graduating and specialising in Padua, he began his career in ophthalmology at the Salò ULSS and the Verona Eye Clinic.
Since 2001 he has been director of the Complex Operative Unit of Ophthalmology at the University Hospital of Verona.
Since 1979 he has been teaching anterior segment surgery of the eye at the University of Verona. Among others, he performs cataract surgery and corneal refractive surgery.
He has been President of the ESCRS (European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery) for almost two years.
During the XXXIII Congress of the ESCRS, an important refresher event offered to cataract surgeons, the symposium 'Presbyopia: the beginning of a new era'held in Barcelona on 7 September 2015.
For more information, see our review on presbyopia surgery:
- Innovative IOLs: the future is already tomorrow
- The new EDOF IOLs in the correction of presbyopia
- Biometrics and the success of refractive cataract surgery
- New horizons for presbyopia surgery
- Presbyopia and economic growth
Dr. Carmelo Chines
Direttore responsabile
English 
Italian