The 2019 UK-EGG annual meeting was held in Glasgow on 8th November 2019. 57 people attended and we received overwhelmingly positive feedback about the overall content of the sessions and the overall organisation of the meeting (more than 76% of you thought these were “excellent”). Many of you commented on the interesting variety of talks, and the high quality of presentations across the board. We were also pleased to hear that you enjoyed the friendly atmosphere of the meeting, and thought that the venue and catering were excellent.

We improved poster presentations on last year (35% of you thought these were just “adequate” or “good”, compared to 61% last year) but we will continue to strive to improve this for next year. In order to display more posters and have more free papers we need more abstract submissions so we would urge you to send abstracts and unusual or unsolved clinical cases in good time. Congratulations to our two winners of the prizes for the best free paper (Siying Lin) and poster (Chloe Stanton) – see photos below. Look out for details of the posters and free papers on the education webpage in the coming weeks.

In response to feedback we will improve the online registration process next year, including advertising more widely and providing clearer directions to the venue. We will also strive to reduce plastic waste, and provide re-usable cups next year. Finally, we will introduce timers for speakers and better microphones for speakers and audience next year.

Our 2019 Keynote speaker, Professor Veronica van Heyningen gave an excellent talk on ‘Disease to genes and biology: PAX6 and progress’ highlighting the significant improvements in both knowledge and genetic techniques over the last 30 years. The patient perspective session was particularly well-received this year, with Andrew Pettigrew entertaining us with a selection of his poems, as well as sharing with us his experience of living with a visual impairment. Our aim will be to include a patient perspective in the meeting programme where possible. It serves as a great reminder of why we have chosen to work in this area of ophthalmology.

Building on the success of last year, a specific session was set aside for genetic counsellors and nurses in genetic ophthalmology, in addition to an informal lunchtime meeting for this group of professionals. Presentations were recorded with permission from the speakers and these will be available to members only at https://ukegg.com Check your email for the password. Should you wish to propose a future Keynote speaker, or have any suggestion for the 2020 meeting, please let one of the committee members know.

We welcomed new members to the Executive: Denize Atan and Mariya Moosajee as joint Chairs of UKEGG, and Gabrielle Wheway as Secretary and thanked the departing members for all their hard work over the years: Amanda Churchill (Chair), Stuart Ingram (Secretary) and Daniela Pilz (Meeting Organiser). Georgina Hall will be stepping down as Treasurer in February 2020 and replaced by Carmel Toomes.

UK-EGG would like to say a huge thank you to Daniela and everyone at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow for such a fantastic job organising and hosting the meeting, and to Geoff Cross for providing AV services. And of course thank you to our members and attendees!

We look forward to seeing you in London on Tuesday, November 24th, 2020!

Amanda Churchill and Gabrielle Wheway