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/glasgow-2019/ 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 UK-EGG, 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

We would like to introduce our membership to the newest member of the UK-EGG Committee, 

Denize Atan. Denize is an Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist specialising in Paediatric and Adult Neuro-Ophthalmology at Bristol Eye Hospital and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol.

21st Meeting of the International Society for Genetic Eye Diseases & Retinoblastoma
a joint Meeting with Section Genetics of the German Opthalmological Society (DOG)

HD Video Screencasts of scientific sessions available HERE

Calling all Nurses – ‘Nursing Roles in Ophthalmic Genetic Services’ Study

I am currently recruiting for my Master’s project so if you are a Registered Nurse of any grade – or a colleague of – in an Ophthalmic or Clinical Genetics Service that cares for patients with genetic/inherited eye disease I would be pleased to hear from you!

This is a short qualitative study looking at the variety of what nurses currently do in the developing world of genetic healthcare & roles, in particular in ophthalmology. Participation would involve a short questionnaire and one informal conversation-interview in person or by Skype/Facetime. GC’s welcome if you are also NMC registered and feel your role includes nursing elements. Please email me for more info…

Clare.Arnison-Newgass@postgrad.plymouth.ac.uk   Thank you.!

On 9th May 2019 from 7.00 p.m to 10.00pm, the Optometry Department would like to invite you to join us at the Museum of the Order of St. John to launch our new programmes; MSc in Advanced Clinical Ophthalmology and Optometry and MSc Advanced Clinical Practice in Ophthalmology (degree apprenticeship for non-medical professionals).

Further information and booking details available via Eventbrite

The 2018 UK-EGG annual meeting was an engaging and informative event, with lectures on a wide range of subjects from a host of talented clinicians, scientists and students. 41 people attended and we received overwhelmingly positive feedback about the sessions, venue (74% of you thought these were “excellent”) and the overall organisation. We received useful suggestions for improvements on other aspects of the day, for example more poster presentations (61% of you thought these were “good”). In order to display more posters we need more abstract submissions so we would urge you to become more involved in the meeting by sending abstracts and unusual or unsolved clinical cases to the scientific committee in good time.

There was a lunchtime session specifically dedicated to genetic counsellors and we will plan specific time in the 2019 programme for topics relevant to this professional group. If you have any suggestions for this or want to be involved please contact Georgina Hall, our treasurer, and Consultant genetic counsellor. Penny Clouston gave a clear overview of the new laboratory configuration and there was very positive feedback for our 2018 Keynote speaker, Professor Robert MacLaren who gave an excellent talk on ‘Gene therapy for Retinal Diseases’. Presentations were recorded with permission from the speakers (thanks to sponsorship from ISGEDR) and these will be available to members only at https://ukegg.com/birmingham-2018. Check your email for the password! Should you wish to propose a future Keynote speaker, or have any suggestion for the 2019 meeting, please let one of the committee members know.

UK-EGG would like to say a huge thank you to Denise Williams and everyone at Birmingham Children’s Hospital for such a fantastic job organising and hosting the meeting, our sponsors, Santhera Pharmaceuticals and Leadiant Biosciences, and to Geoff Cross for providing AV services. And of course thank you to our members and attendees! Finally, we invite interested members to discuss future roles on the UK-EGG committee. We try to maintain a mix of different professionals on the committee (ophthalmologists, clinical geneticists, counsellors, scientists, laboratory staff and patient representatives), however the positions are voluntary and people rotate on/off at staggered intervals, so please contact a committee member if interested.

We look forward to seeing you in Glasgow on Friday November 8th 2019!

Executive Committee (Amanda Churchill, Georgina Hall and Stuart Ingram)

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/glasgow-2019/ 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 UK-EGG, 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

The 2018 UK-EGG annual meeting was an engaging and informative event, with lectures on a wide range of subjects from a host of talented clinicians, scientists and students. 41 people attended and we received overwhelmingly positive feedback about the sessions, venue (74% of you thought these were “excellent”) and the overall organisation. We received useful suggestions for improvements on other aspects of the day, for example more poster presentations (61% of you thought these were “good”). In order to display more posters we need more abstract submissions so we would urge you to become more involved in the meeting by sending abstracts and unusual or unsolved clinical cases to the scientific committee in good time.

There was a lunchtime session specifically dedicated to genetic counsellors and we will plan specific time in the 2019 programme for topics relevant to this professional group. If you have any suggestions for this or want to be involved please contact Georgina Hall, our treasurer, and Consultant genetic counsellor. Penny Clouston gave a clear overview of the new laboratory configuration and there was very positive feedback for our 2018 Keynote speaker, Professor Robert MacLaren who gave an excellent talk on ‘Gene therapy for Retinal Diseases’. Presentations were recorded with permission from the speakers (thanks to sponsorship from ISGEDR) and these will be available to members only at https://ukegg.com/birmingham-2018. Check your email for the password! Should you wish to propose a future Keynote speaker, or have any suggestion for the 2019 meeting, please let one of the committee members know.

UK-EGG would like to say a huge thank you to Denise Williams and everyone at Birmingham Children’s Hospital for such a fantastic job organising and hosting the meeting, our sponsors, Santhera Pharmaceuticals and Leadiant Biosciences, and to Geoff Cross for providing AV services. And of course thank you to our members and attendees! Finally, we invite interested members to discuss future roles on the UK-EGG committee. We try to maintain a mix of different professionals on the committee (ophthalmologists, clinical geneticists, counsellors, scientists, laboratory staff and patient representatives), however the positions are voluntary and people rotate on/off at staggered intervals, so please contact a committee member if interested.

We look forward to seeing you in Glasgow on Friday November 8th 2019!

Executive Committee (Amanda Churchill, Georgina Hall and Stuart Ingram)