PAAO President’s Message

Dear Friends, 

“The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head.” 

 ~William Osler 

  The words of William Osler, a McGill graduate who became a great physician and professor at McGill, Johns Hopkins & Oxford, are very meaningful to describe my first two months as a President of PAAO. 

On one hand, the Executive Committee continues to meet on Mondays over the phone and has developed a very stimulating agenda for 2019-2020.   

This coming August, we will have at McGill, the first Ophthalmic Pathology Review Course, supported by the PAAO, similar to the AFIP annual course which has several PAAO members in its faculty. Carol & Jerry Shields, Rubens N. Belfort, Sander Dubovy, among others will be teaching during this 3-day course. I feel very honored and pleased with the number of PAAO countries that are represented both in the faculty and the course participants. 

As part of my duties as your President, I will be representing the PAAO as a Board Member in the Board of Trustees of the ICO.  It is important to develop strategies and a common agenda particularly for 2020 with our international partners. My first meeting will be held at the AAO in San Francisco.  

I am also looking forward to participate in my first Leadership Development Program (LDP) at the AAO. 

 We are also continuing to organize our next PARD 2020 meeting in Baltimore. As you all know the PARD is traditionally Saturday afternoon right before ARVO. The meeting will be held at Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins. The experience of holding the PARD meetings in connection with the local Department of Ophthalmology started in Hawaii and last year it was in Vancouver, University of British Columbia. It was one of the most successful and well organized PARDs ever. 

Finally, most recently in Sao Paulo, Brazil at the SBO 2019 meeting, the PAAO Brazilian chapter was established. I am sure that the connection of the PAAO with the Brazilian ophthalmologists will grow even stronger.  There is a lot of enthusiasm in both CBO and SBO with this new development. 

We all at the PAAO leadership, as Dr. Osler recommended, are using our hearts and minds to develop further the wonderful values of the PAAO among its members. 

Miguel N Burnier Jr, MD, MSc, PhD, FRCSC 

PAAO President