EEBA Program (PDF/3MB) - EEBA - Annual Meeting

INVITED LECTURE: DONALD TAN, SINGAPORE: EYE BANKINGCHALLENGES IN ASIA – CAN THEY BE OVERCOME?Medical Director, Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC)Chairman, Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI)Professor of Ophthalmology, National University of SingaporeMedical Director, Singapore Eye BankPresident, Association of Eye Banks of AsiaBiography: Donald Tan is the Medical Director of the Singapore NationalEye Centre (SNEC), Chairman of the Singapore Eye Research Institute(SERI), Professor of Ophthalmology at the National University of Singapore, Chair of the Eye AcademicClinical Program at the Duke-NUS GMS, and Medical Director of the Singapore Eye Bank. Involvedprimarily in clinical and translational research in cornea, refractive surgery and myopia, he haspublished over 300 peer-reviewed articles (h index = 42), contributed 18 book chapters and holds 13patents in stem cell culture, myopia prevention, refractive corneal implants and surgical devices forendothelial keratoplasty. He has trained 22 corneal fellows from 13 countries, and is the recipient ofover 20 awards, which include the AAO 2006 Distinguished Achievement Award, the ISRS/AAO 2009Casebeer Award, the Saudi Ophthalmological Society 2010 Gold Medal, the Australia and New ZealandCorneal Society 2011 Doug Coster Award, the Canadian Society of Ophthalmology 2011 W. BruceJackson Award, the 2012 EuCornea Medal, and the Portland, Oregon Arthur Devers 2012 Lecture.Professor Tan established the Asia Cornea Society in 2007 and the Association of Eye Banks of Asia in2009, and is currently President of both societies. In 2012 he assumed the Presidency of the US-basedCornea Society, its first International President.Summary: Eyebanking Challenges in Asia – can they be overcome?Asia has the greatest burden of world blindness, representing 53% of the 285 million globally blind.Corneal blindness may represent only 4% of global blindness, but when combined with other formsof infections and ocular surface disease, such as trachoma and keratomalacia, is second in importanceonly to cataract. Whilst the majority of corneal blindness occurs in Asia, and in Africa, it is these samecontinents which have the least developed eyebanking structures, standards and corneal donors.Causes of corneal blindness in Asia are also significantly different from the West, with more severeinflammatory and infectious disorders and later stage presentations. The Asia Cornea Society (ACS)was formed in 2007 by corneal leaders in Asia, and is a professional society dedicated to provideeducational initiatives and research into corneal and external diseases, and clinical networkingamongst eyecare professionals. ACS initiated the Association of Eye Banks of Asia (AEBA) in 2009, asupranational organization bringing eye banking organizations throughout Asia under one roof, withthe aim of enhancing, regularizing and unifying eye banking standards, providing educational supportand advocacy for eye donation in Asian countries, and developing new sources of donor tissue, in theform of establishment of new model eye banks and initiation of tissue sharing initiatives, all gearedtowards helping to alleviate corneal blindness in Asia. The formation of the new National Eye Bank ofSri Lanka (NEBSL) represented a model AEBA eye bank, and is the result of a collaboration between adeveloping Asian country (Sri Lanka), and an industrialized Asian country (Singapore), represented bythe Singapore Eye Bank (SEB). Launched in 2011, NEBSL currently procures around 600 corneas a year,transporting tissue of the highest quality standards, to several Asian countries, with the potential forexceeding 1000 corneas a year. The NEBSL-SEB alliance also initiated the first pre-cut donor tissue inAsia in 2012, the same year when draft medical standards for Asian eyebanking were developed byAEBA. Eyebanking challenges in Asia can be overcome, and progress is being made.XXV ANNUAL MEETING OF THE EUROPEAN EYE BANK ASSOCIATION Zagreb, Croatia 18/19 January 2013 47