We look back at many years with satisfaction and success at PAOF & PAAO. With education as a core mission for the Pan-American, we have kept you updated through webinars, our digital journal PAJO, and e-learning courses to help our members give the gift of sight to their patients. After our resounding success at our Buenos Aires PAAO meeting, we were able to get together during our XXVII Pan-American Regional Course of Ophthalmology, March 15-17, 2024, in San Juan, Puerto Rico! What a meeting! What a success! What a kickoff to our 85th Anniversary!!

In 1939, three ophthalmologists of the Americas, Dr. Harry S. Gradle, Dr. Conrad Berens, both from the United States, and Dr. Moacyr E. Alvaro of Brazil, had a vision to build a Pan-American community. They wanted to build cultural bridges in the Americas, expand educational opportunities, and tackle preventable blindness.

The Pan-American is now celebrating its 85th anniversary. We have grown since that first Congress in 1940, in Cincinnati, Ohio. We now have members in 36 countries around the world.

So why should you support the Pan-American?

As the year is only getting started, we look ahead to many Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology’s (PAAO) exciting activities with the support of the PAOF. With education as a core mission for the Pan-American, we just came back from our PAAO’s Curso de Liderazgo; we joined forces in the meeting with the Academy’s Leadership Development Program (LDP) in San Francisco, CA. It was an extraordinary event!