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Show NEURO- OPHTHALMOLOGY AT LARGE The 15th Meeting of the International Neuro- Ophthalmology Society, Geneva, Switzerland, July 18- 22, 2004 ore than 360 neuro- ophthalmologists from 36 countries gathered in Geneva, Switzerland from July 18 to 22, 2004 to attend the 15th International Neuro- Ophthalmology Society ( INOS) meeting. It was the largest attendance at INOS, which began modestly in 1976 with 58 people convening at the picturesque Chateau de La Napoule near Cannes under the auspices of Thomas R. Hedges, Jr, International Neuro- Ophthalmology_ Society FIG. 1. Program cover of the 15th INOS Meeting. It pictures Charles Bonnet and his Essai Analytique Sur Les Fac-ulte's de L'Ame, published in 1 760. J Neuro- Ophthalmol, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2004 FIG. 2. Avinoam B. Safran, MD, the organizer of the meeting, in front of posters he designed to acquaint conference attendees with the contributions of physician- scientists like Georges de Morsier, Charles Bonnet, and Louis Necker, who had historical connections to Geneva. FIG. 3. The Conference Hall, with its sumptuous leather seats and pyramid- shaped microphones at each place. Shlomo Dotan, MD ( Jerusalem, Israel), left, and Guntram Kommerell, MD ( Freiburg, Germany) are moderating. 319 JNeuro- Ophthalmol, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2004 Neuro- Ophthalmology at Large FIG. 4. Doodles by Anonymous during the proceedings. MD ( Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Alfred Huber, MD ( Zurich, Switzerland). Drs. Hedges and Huber opened the meeting with a nostalgic recall of their chance encounter in a breakfast line at the 1975 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in Dallas, Texas, where they hatched the plans for INOS. They paid tribute to this year's organizer, Avinoam B. Safran, MD, the chairperson of the ophthalmology department of the University of Geneva. The kudos were well- deserved. The meeting was held in a gorgeous modern conference center that had been recently vacated by United Nations delegates. The lecture hall was appointed in luxurious leather chairs ( fauteuils, really), microphones at each seat, and video blow- up of the speaker. Dr. Safran had FIG. 5. Detlef Kompf, MD ( Lubeck, Germany) chats with Alfred Huber, MD, and Thomas R. Hedges, Jr, MD, the founders of INOS, at the opening night cocktail party on the battlements of the old city of Geneva. 320 FIG. 6. The Cathedral of Geneva, a symbol of the old Cal-vinist tradition, rises above the lakeshore banks and watchmaking buildings, symbols of the new Calvinist tradition. recruited an audiovisual team immunized against all manner of media viruses to deftly handle the complexities of modern multimedia projection. There were 96 oral presentations delivered in the conference chamber and 114 posters displayed in the halls around it. FIG. 7. The INOS Council at the 2004 INOS Meeting. Front row ( left to right): William F. Hoyt, MD ( San Francisco, CA), Avinoam B. Safran, MD ( Geneva, Switzerland), Alfred Huber, MD ( Zurich, Switzerland), Masato Wakakura, MD ( Tokyo, Japan); back row ( left to right): Guntram Kommer-ell, MD ( Freiburg, Germany), Neil R. Miller, MD ( Baltimore, MD), Christopher Kennard, MD ( London, England), Roberto Ebner, MD ( Buenos Aires, Argentina), James A. Sharpe, MD ( Toronto, ON, Canada), Bertil Lindblom ( Molndal, Sweden). © 2004 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Neuro- Ophthalmology at Large JNeuro- Ophthalmol, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2004 FIG. 8. Ulrich Schiefer, MD ( Tubingen, Germany; center) in conversation at a poster session. The imaginative Dr. Safran gathered the oral presentations into seven symposia, each named in honor of a physician- scientist who had made a seminal contribution to the topic and who ( coincidentally!) had a strong historical connection to Geneva. The symposia were anchored with invited state- of- the- art lectures and colorful historical vignettes about the life and achievements of the honoree. So, FIG. 10. The Jet d'eau, with Geneva's lakeshore in the background, as seen from the balcony of the Hotel Beau Rivage, where the closing INOS banquet took place. there was the Georges de Morsier Symposium on anterior visual pathways, the Louis Albert Necker Symposium on imaging techniques, the Charles Bonnet Symposium on higher visual function, the Otto Loewenstein Symposium on pupil function, the Leon Revilliod Symposium on eye and lid movements, the Adolphe Franceschetti Symposium on systemic disorders, and the Henry Dunant Symposium on pain. As usual, the social events were a highlight of the INOS. On the first evening, congregants were bused to Geneva's cantonal Hotel de Ville, where councilors have met continuously since the beginning of the 17th century. After a greeting from the mayor in the historic courtyard, and a pause in the light drizzle, a string quartet zestily delivered Haydn and Schumann. Cocktails were then served FIG. 9. INOS attendees gather for a group photo outside the conference center. 321 JNeuro- Ophthalmol, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2004 Neuro- Ophthalmology at Large in the nearby esplanade atop the old city wall where cannons guarded the city against the predatory Savoyards. On the second day, attendees met at the museum of the Red Cross founded 150 years ago meme a Geneve. The next day, there were excursions to the famous Chateau de Chillon ( where Byron was inspired to write his famous poem " The Prisoner of Chillon"), to Mount Chamonix, to the vieille ville of Geneva, or to the recently opened Patek- Philippe museum, which features more than 2,000 treasures of Geneva's renowned watchmakers, known as " la Fab-rique." The meeting ended gloriously with a dinner at the elegant Hotel Beau Rivage, which fronts on Lake Geneva ( also known as Lac Leman) and has entertained dignitaries, including President Woodrow Wilson, during the founding in Geneva of the League of Nations after World War I. As we gazed out onto the lake's splendid jet d'eau, the symbol of modern Geneva, and dined on terrine of candied Provengal vegetables, fried ferra fillet, and mille- feuille of seasonal fruits, we were enthusiastically beckoned by Masato Wakakura, MD ( Tokyo, Japan) to the 16th INOS Meeting, which will be held November 29 to December 2, 2006 in Odaiba, Japan ( near Tokyo)( www. secretariat. ne. jp/ inos2006/ or inos@ secretariat. ne. jp). The e- mail addresses of all INOS 2004 attendees will be sent soon to all INOS members and attendees. Jonathan D. Trobe, MD Departments of Ophthalmology and Neurology University of Michigan Medical Center Ann Arbor, Michigan Acknowledgment Thanks to Helmut Wilhelm, MD ( Tubingen, Germany) for many of the photographs. 322 © 2004 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins |