2019 COECSA Scientific Conference
An excellent opportunity to harmonize ophthalmology residency training and celebrate successes!
The 7th Annual College of Ophthalmology of Eastern Central and Southern Africa (COECSA) Scientific Conference was held in Kigali, Rwanda from August 21-23. This year’s conference was organized by Rwanda Ophthalmology Society (ROS) President and long-time HCP partner, Dr. John Nkurikiye. Dr. Nkurikiye was excited to see COECSA return home to the site of the inaugural gathering in 2013, “Those who were at our original conference in Kigali then, can see how much we’ve progressed since then.”
HCP Chairman, Dr. Geoff Tabin and HCP Affiliated Ophthalmologist, Dr. Robert Hoffman both received lifetime achievement awards at the ceremonial award dinner for their commitment to end needless blindness and create sustainable systems of eye care by mentoring young surgeons in dozens of countries throughout Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Robert Hoffman was chosen to present the Rwandan Ophthalmology Society’s (ROS) Distinguished Lecture on his innovative work in the sub-specialty of pediatric ophthalmology. Dr. Hoffman is Chief of the Division of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Eye Muscle Disorders at the John A. Moran Eye Center, University of Utah Health Sciences Center and Primary Children’s Medical Center. Throughout his career, he has volunteered countless weeks to training pediatric ophthalmologists from around the world.
The COECSA Conference provides an opportunity to convene the Residency Directors from Ethiopia. This annual gathering represents a larger collaboration between HCP, the ASCRS Foundation, Orbis International and the five Ethiopian residency programs and satellite training center, the Sinskey Eye Institute, with the end goal of creating high value ophthalmology residency programs that will continue to improve training and quality of care throughout the country. This is the third year the Residency Directors were able to gather at COECSA to meet and discuss strategies for improving their respective ophthalmology residency programs including: increased research efforts, improving ICO examination preparation, improving teaching & surgical supply quality and implementing more frequent residency exchanges. A special thank you to Drs. Karl Golnik and Barb Erny who organized a special session for the Residency Directors.
