PARD 2022 RECAP

Jun 8, 2022Announcement

On Saturday, May 21, 2022, the 2022 Pan-American Research Day took place as a Zoom virtual meeting. For this meeting, the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology (PAAO) partners with the Association for Research and Vision in Ophthalmology (ARVO).

Drs. Lihteh Wu (Costa Rica) and Arturo Ramirez Miranda MD (Mexico) were course coordinators. The anterior segment moderators were Erick Hernandez Bogantes (Costa Rica), Julio Hernandez Camarena (Mexico), Sandra Belalcazar (Colombia). Posterior segment moderators were Francisco J. Rodriguez (Colombia), Ximena Mira (Mexico), Marcelo Zas (Argentina).

Thirty-five presentations were given during the Anterior Segment Session and 34 presentations were given during the Posterior Segment Session.  The two keynote speakers were José S. Pulido MD from the Wills Eye Institute in Philadelphia, and José De La Cruz MD from the University of Illinois in Chicago.

PARD 2022 Award Recipients

The Pan-American offers three prizes for the best presentations in each session, six prizes total. The prize includes a registration to the 35th Pan-American Congress of Ophthalmology, which is scheduled to take place March 17-20, 2023, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, valued at USD $250 and a USD $250 cash prize. The prizes are sponsored by the Arno Habicht Award for Research Sciences from the Allergan Foundation and the David & Molly Pyott Foundation. To be considered for a prize, the recipient must be 40 years old or less and a native of the Americas, Spain or Portugal. Six (6) young ophthalmologists and researchers received PARD Awards. Three Arno Habicht Awards for Research Sciences were presented to:
  • Dr. Luis Haro Morlett (Mexico) – Stability study of Amniotic-membrane-derived lumican at different storage temperatures, as a potential eye drops treatment
  • Dr. Jibran Mohamed Noriega (Mexico) – Prospective observational study of disc haemorrhages (POSH). Comparison of ocular and systemic variables between visits with and without disc haemorrhages
  • Mr. Mak Djulbegovic (USA) – Conjunctival Papilloma: Surgical vs. Medical Treatment Outcomes
Three awards sponsored by The David & Molly Pyott Foundation were presented to:
  • Ms. Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen (Canada) – Association between heavy metals and diabetic retinopathy in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES)
  • Mr. Jeff Park (Canada) – Effect of Sample Collection and Storage on Biological Stability of Cytokines in Human Aqueous Humor and Vitreous Samples
  • Dr. Claudia Farinha (Portugal) – Rare variants in CFH and phenotype in Age-related Macular Degeneration in the Coimbra Eye Study
PAAO thanks Allergan Foundation and the David and Molly Pyott Foundation for their generous support.