Message from the PAOF Chair

We are very proud to announce that the Pan-American Ophthalmological Foundation’s Circle of Vision program has started our 2023 Circle of Vision campaign, and I am very pleased to announce that we have had an overwhelmingly positive response to donate to our Circle of Vision program. We would like to extend our gratitude to the Pan-American leaders in ophthalmology for supporting the Pan-American’s mission of providing lifelong education and cultural exchange among ophthalmologists to improve patient care.

COVID-19 changed the face of the global community over the last three years. But the educational needs did not go away. The Pan-American responded robustly by expanding its online learning programs. The eLearning Programs offered freely available high-quality webinars and seminars. Our digital journal, the Pan-American Journal of Ophthalmology (PAJO), continues to break records. In March 2023, PAJO had nearly 15,000 users/readers, growing from 2,000 readers in 2018 in its former printed format.

Because of your commitment to the Pan-American, if you have not done so, we are asking you to renew your support to help sustain and expand PAAO’s online and face-to-face educational and specialty training programs, the Pan-American Journal of Ophthalmology, and support for prevention of blindness programs throughout the Americas, among other things including new opportunities for our young ophthalmologists.

As a leader in the Pan-American ophthalmology community, your membership in the Circle of Vision is important. Not only will your renewed support help us reach our goals but will also serve to inspire others to join. For your convenience, you may go to https://paao.org/paof/cov-donate/ and renew online or become a new member! The option to pay your commitment in one payment, or if you would rather pay in monthly installments, is also available. If you have any questions or would like any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Again, thank you for your leadership and commitment to the Pan-American and we look forward to seeing you at the Circle of Vision Annual Recognition Luncheon in November at the AAO in San Francisco 2023. 

The PAOF continues to work tirelessly and supports the PAAO membership, particularly our junior/early-career members via various grants/awards, and opportunities through our Travel Awards, and scholarships. We are in the process of creating more opportunities for you as we speak. We hope that PAAO members will generously support the Foundation (https://paao.org/paof/donate/) throughout the year. No gift is small, donate what you can. The more gifts donated, the more support the Foundation can provide to PAAO programs.

The future is great if we stick together as a Pan-American community! We are better, stronger and the goal is to meet again at our XXVII Pan-American Regional Curse of Ophthalmology, March 15-17, 2024 in San Juan, Puerto Rico! XXXVI Pan-American Congress of Ophthalmology, May 30-June 2, 2025 in Bogota, Colombia! It’s at these superb meetings where ophthalmology from all the Americas come together to meet and you cannot miss that!

Dr. Fernando Arévalo
PAOF President