1. Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis 1975-2006 J.J.De Laey, Chair III AOI meeting, Sao Paulo, Brasil February 20, 2006

2. Where it started? On March 7, 1975, during the meeting of the American Society of Contemporary Ophthalmology in Bal Harbour, Florida, the act of foundation of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis was signed by Jules François (Honorary Life President), Fritz Hollwich (President), Saul Sugar (1st Vice-President), Edward Grom (2nd Vice-President) and John G.Bellows (Secretary-General).

3. Bal Harbour, March 7, 1975 J.Bellows, E.Grom, J.François, S.Sugar, F.Hollwich

4. AOI “An organization dedicated to the conservation of ophthalologic ethics and tradition, preservation of its heritage and transmission of its history to future generations” No more than 50 members. Members must have practiced ophthalmology not less than 20 years have at least 100 publications and published no less than one book.M

5. AOI Meetings at least every 4 years. Insignia, certificates and diplomas Will prepare a code on professional ethics Official languages: English, French, German and Spanish Prof.Jules François to become the Honorary Life President

7. Caracas, 1985

8. AOI Charter Members I.J.François II. F.Hollwich III.H.S.Sugar IV. J.G.Bellows V. E.Grom VI. H.G.Scheie VII. P.Brégeat VIII. H.E.Henkes IX. A.Kettesy X.J.I.Barraquer X. XI.E.S.Avetisov XII.H.Sautter XIII. M.da Silva-Pinto XIV. S.Vannas XV. G.W.Crock XVI. P.Trevor-Roper XVII. R.F.Lowe XVIII. L.E.Werner XIX. GB Bietti XX. A.M.Soliman

9. AOI Charter Members XXI. L.Paufique XXII. Duque-Estrada XXIII. M.H.Luntz XXIV. T.Krwawicz XXV. H.K.Merté XXVI. Fronimopoulos XXVII.I.Michaelson XXVIII. B.F.Boyd XXIX. J.Casanovas XXX. G.Offret XXXI. Urrets-Zavalia XXXII. L.Sanchez- Bulnes XXXIII. FW Newell XXXIV. H.Rocha XXXV. J.Diallo XXXVI. Puchkoskaya XXXVII. A.Nakajima XXXVIII. J.H.King XXXIX. JS Charamis

10. AOI Charter Members XL. E.Maumenee XLI. A.B.Reese XLII. M.Radnot XLIII. J.Arentsen XLIV. H.Fanta XLV.B.Streiff

11. Presidents of AOI Jules François, Honorary Life President Fritz Hollwich, 1976-1980 Frank Newell1980-1984 Frederick C.Blodi1984-1988 Akira Nakajima1988-1990 Giuseppe Scuderi1990-1994 Benjamin F.Boyd1994-1998 Bradley Straatsma1998-2002 Koichi Shimizu2002-2006

12. Vice-Presidents of AOI F.Newell & S.Sugar1976-1980 P.Brégeat & E.Grom1980-1984 P.Brégeat & J.Fronimopoulos1984-1988 G.Scuderi & H.Fanta1988-1990 B.Boyd & R.Lowe1990-1993 B.Boyd & P.Amalric1993-1994 M.Lund & A.Lim1994-1998 E.Malbran & K.Shimizu1998-2002 G.Coscas & R.Brancato2002-2006

13. General-Secretaries of AOI Edward Grom1976-1980 Akira Nakajima1980-1988 Pierre Amalric1988-1994 Gabriel Coscas1994-2002 Paul Lichter2002-

14. Treasurers of AOI Werther Duque-Estrada1976-1993 Jean-François Cuendet1993-1998 Rosario Brancato1998-2002 Juan Verdaguer2002-

15. Meetings of AOI 1. Ghent :10.04.76. 2. Dallas :30.09.77. 3. Kyoto :16.05.78. 4. Ghent :14.05.79. 5. London: 19.04.80. 6. Acapulco: 09.05.81. 7.S.Francisco:30.10.82 8. Paris : 07.05.83. 9. Cos :10.06.84. 10. Baltimore 30.4.85. 11. Rome: 03.05.86. 12. Barcelona:23.5.87 13. Sidney: 27.10.88 14. Rio: 02.09.89 15. Singapore:18.3.90 16. Paris:26.05.91 17. New Delhi:1.2.92 18. Mexico: 13.02.93 19. Toronto: 26.06.94 20. Milano: 24.06.95

16. Meetings of AOI 21. Chicago. 27.10.96 22. Kyoto. 10.05.97 23.Amsterdam21.6.98 24. Nile. 27.02.99 25. Orlando. 25.10.99 26.Jerusalem 21.05.00 27.BuenosAires21.7.1 28. Sydney. 21.04.02 29.New Delhi. 15.1.03 30.N.Orleans.23.10.04 31. Florence. 12.05.05 32. Sao Paulo.20.2.06

17. Dallas, October 1, 1977 Discussion on The code of ethics the Journal “History of Ophthalmology” Book on ophthalmology in 4 volumes. L.Werner (XVIII) to become emeritus Obituary of G.Bietti (XIX) Election of F.Blodi (XVIII), S.Mishima (XIX), B.Straatsma (XLVI), E.Norton (XLVII), A.Dubois-Poulsen (XLVIII), M.Radnot (XLIX), M.Krasnov (L)

18. Kyoto, May 16, 1978 Presentation of the Code of Ophthalmologic Deontology ICO accepts an ex-officio representative of the AOI. E.Grom is elected in that post. New members elected: G.Scuderi and L.P.Agarwal

20. Ghent, May 14, 1979 Presentation of the first issue of History of Ophthalmology. Only 200 subscriptions (200 more are needed) Emeritus members:H.Rocha (XXXIV), A.Reese (XLI) Election postponed. Problems with Bellows

22. Acapulco, May 9, 1981 Creation of Committee on attendance (chair Trevor- Roper) Committee on membership (chair: Nakajima) Emeritus: G.Offret (XXX) Elections: P.Amalric (IV), J.Barraquer (XXX), Stephen Drance (XXI), W.Jaeger (XXVII), B.Spivey (XXXIV)

23. San Francisco, October 30, 1982 Obituaries: L.Paufique (XXI), I.Michaelson (XXVIII) Emeritus: J.Casanovas (XXIX), H.King (XXXVIII), M.da Silva-Pinto (XIII) Elections: G.Meyer-Schwickerath (XXIV), DMA Albert, E.Malbran (XIII) “A member can become emeritus if he is more than 75 years old or is in the impossibility to further participate in the affairs of the Academy.”

24. Island of Cos, October 6, 1984 For the first time a guest speaker is invited. Prof.Nicolas Kouzos, former Minister, gives a lecture on Hippocrates “The first steps out of darkness”. It is proposed to reduce the term of office of president and vice-presidents from 4 to 2 years The importance of geographic distribution is stressed.

25. Rome, May 3, 1986 The president shall represent the AOI in the International Council of Ophthalmology. It is proposed to deposit the Archives of the AOI in Ghent.

26. Rome, 1986

27. Barcelona, 1987

30. Paris, 26 May 1991 The president G.Scuderi presents new badges and new medals. Committees are suggested 1. History 2. Ethics 3. Scientific activities 4. Administrative problems 5. Bylaws 6. Didactic activities 7. Relationship with the Int.Council.

32. Toronto, June 26, 1994 1. To have a special guest lecture within the AOI meeting 2. To organize an Academia session in selected national or international meetings. 3. The Academia Oration by an AOI member during the special session. 4. Presentation of AC.Award every 2 y. 5. Qualification of emeritus member after 70 years on request or at 80 years peremptorily. Founder members are for life.

33. Milano, June 24, 1995 Special guest lecture and Academia award: Raymond D.Lund. Reconstruction and repair of the primary optic circuitry with transplants. Special session honoring E.Norton

34. Chicago, October 27, 1996. Academia Oration. Prof.J.Barraquer “The challenge of combined surgery: keratoplasty, EECC, IOL, vitrectomy and glaucoma”. Special guest lecture. Prof.G.O.H.Naumann “Pseudo-exfoliation syndrome for the comprehensive ophthalmologist.”

35. Kyoto, May 10, 1997 Academia oration by A.Nakajima The AOI has officially agreed to present the Streiff medal. Special Academia Session during SOE in Budapest on June 2, 1997 with as topic “New trends in ophthalmology”.

36. Streiff medallists Pierre Amalric, 1998 Bruce Spivey, 2002 Fritz Naumann, 2006

37. 1999

38. Amsterdam, June 21, 1998 Academia oration: A.F.Deutman “ Dutch masters and the macula”. Special session honoring Prof José Barraquer and Prof.Maumenee. Special guest lecture. Michèle Schwartz, New horizons in optic neuropathy: neuroprotection and regeneration. Academia Session on contemporary concepts in uveitis. First issue of the Academia Newsletter.

39. AOI meeting Amsterdam, 1998

40. AOI meeting, Amsterdam, June, 21, 1998

41. Fall 1998, Volume 1, Number 1 Spring 1999, Volume 2, Number 1 Spring 2000, Volume 3, Number 1 Spring 2001, Volume 4, Number 1 Spring 2002, Volume 5, Number 1 2003, Volume 6, Number 1 www.acad-ophthal-int.org/newsletters

43. Nile meeting, February 27, 1999 Int.Ophth.Strategic Plan with ICO Goals: 1. Ophthalmic training 2. Continuing ophthalmic education 3. Preservation and restoration of vision and prevention of blindness. 4. Advocacy for education and blindness prevention 5. Eye care guidelines & standard 6. Research

45. PAACO, Cairo, February, 1999

47. Orlando, October 27, 1999 AOI lecture on October 27. M.LaVail: “Toward pharmaceutical and gene therapy for retinal degeneration.”

48. Jerusalem, May 21, 2000 AOI lecture. G.Coscas “Photodynamic therapy for CNV in age related maculopathy.” AOI oration. Michael Blumenthal. “Cataract surgery: training, quality and innovation.” AOI symposium: “Retina update in the third millenium.” Membership increased to more than 50.

49. Buenos Aires, July 21, 2001 Academia Lecture: E.Malbran “Scleral fixated intra-ocular lenses”. AOI symposium: “Corneal diseases and surgery” AOI is officially registered in Switzerland on July 9, 2001

50. Statutes J.François, April 1976 F.Blodi, May 1986 A.Nakajima, January 1990 B.Straatsma, July 1999

52. Sydney, April 2002

53. AOI Lecture by K.Shimizu, on Pulseless Disease Sydney, April 2002

54. New Delhi, January 2003

56. Florence, May 12, 2005 Academia Oration: Angelo Luigi Vescovi “Neural stem cells in brain pathology and therapy” AOI lecture: B.Straatsma AOI symposia in conjunction with meetings Am.Acad.Ophthalmol. P.Lichter Asia Pac.Acad.Ophthalmol. Selvarajah Pan Am.Ass.Ophthalmol. J.Verdaguer Financial support for a single IFOS fellowship for one year: 7.000 CHF

57. Trends in the past 30 years Shift from ethics and history to more actual scientific presentations. Increased participation of the AOI to regional and international meetings by organizing AOI symposia Involvement of AOI in ophthalmologic strategic plan (Nile meeting) and Vision 20/20

58. Comparison of the statutes 1976-1999 1976: “conservation of the ethics and tradition of Ophthalmology, preservation of its heritage and transmission of its history to coming generations”. 1999: “ to conserve the ethics and preserve the history of ophthalmology, to enhance education in ophthalmology and in allied fields, and to promote and advance the science and art of ophthalmology among all peoples and nations”.

59. Mission Statement of AOI “The Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis is a university-centered international organization committed to excellence in education, research and culturally appropriate medical services to preserve and restore vision for people of the world.”