Dr Michelle Dickinson
Opening Speaker
Dr Michelle Dickinson
Opening Speaker
Dr. Michelle Dickinson MNZM is a pioneering engineer and technology strategist whose career bridges science, engineering, and emerging technologies. Driven by a mission to make complex ideas accessible and engaging, she has become a global leader in translating cutting-edge innovation into concepts that inspire action.
Raised with a curiosity for how things work, Michelle went on to earn a PhD in Biomedical and Materials Engineering, specialising in advanced nanomechanical techniques. Her academic research spanned materials science and biomedical engineering, producing an extensive body of published work.
Michelle’s career has seen her advising some of the world’s largest technology companies on nanotechnology and guiding them through the rapidly evolving landscapes of AI, quantum computing, and sustainable technology. She has held influential roles across academia and industry, including her ongoing position as an honorary academic in engineering at the University of Auckland.
As co-founder of Nanogirl Labs, she built innovative STEM education programmes that reached global audiences, before founding Matter Workshop, where she continues to champion creative approaches to STEM learning and corporate technology training. She also serves as an Honorary Wing Commander in the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Beyond her technical expertise, Michelle is an accomplished author of bestselling science books, a creator and host of award-winning television series, and the voice behind top-charting science podcasts. Her ability to connect science to everyday life has made her a familiar presence in media and a trusted voice in public science communication.000
Michelle’s contributions have been recognised with numerous awards, including the Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to science communication, the Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award, the Prime Minister’s Science Media Communication Prize, and the Women of Influence Award for Science & Innovation.
Prof Robyn Guymer AM
Council Lecture
Prof Robyn Guymer AM
Council Lecture
Robyn Guymer is Professor of Ophthalmology at Melbourne University and a deputy director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia. She is also a senior retinal specialist at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. She is a clinician scientist who leads a team of researchers primarily investigating Age related macular degeneration (AMD) and has co-authored over 450 peer reviewed papers. She is currently investigating new strategies for treating early stages of AMD and is working to identify novel imaging and functional biomarkers and surrogate endpoints to improve the feasibility of conducting early intervention trials.
She has been a principal investigator in many industry sponsored trials, serves on several pharmaceutical advisory boards and is a member of several international working groups on macular diseases. She is an inaugural fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. In June 2018 she was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to medicine in the field of ophthalmology, particularly age related macular degeneration as a clinician, academic and researcher and in 2021 was inducted into the Victorian honour roll of Women and in 2024 received the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital’s board chair medal and the College’s Distinguished Service Medal.
Prof Chris Hammond
Sir Norman Gregg Lecture
Prof Chris Hammond
Sir Norman Gregg Lecture
Professor Hammond is the Frost Professor of Ophthalmology and King’s College London and is a paediatric ophthalmologist and strabismus surgeon at St Thomas’ Hospital. He is a key opinion leader in management of myopia and through his work with the TwinsUK cohort in London his research group examines the genetic epidemiology of myopia, and also glaucoma, age-related cataract, dry eye disease and age-related macular degeneration.
His research is aiming to deliver personalized, predictive, preventive and participatory medicine, using Omics technology and Big Data analytics with the ultimate aim of reducing blindness and debilitating eye diseases. His research is highly collaborative, and he contributes to international consortia with data from the TwinsUK cohort, UK Biobank and local patient datasets.
Prof Robert Casson
Dame Ida Mann Memorial Lecture
Prof Robert Casson
Dame Ida Mann Memorial Lecture
Professor Robert Casson
MB, BS (Hons), M. Biostats, DPhil, GAICD, FRANZCO
Professor Casson is an ophthalmic clinician/scientist who finds the Universe such a fascinating place that he can’t contain his interests. He has special interests in glaucoma, neuroprotection, retinal bioenergetics, epidemiology, and translational research. He completed his DPhil in the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology at Oxford University and a Master of Biostatistics at University of Adelaide. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Asia-Pacific Professors of Ophthalmology and is the Chair of the NGO, Sight For All. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He works in private practice and is a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He aims to foster interdisciplinary solutions to eye-related problems and promote sustainable eye health care throughout the Asia-Pacific.
Dr Gullapalli N Rao
Hollows Lecture
Dr Gullapalli N Rao
Hollows Lecture
After a successful career in the US as an academic Ophthalmologist, in 1987 Dr. Gullapalli N Rao established the L V Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, India 38 years ago and is the Founder & Chair of that Institute. L V Prasad Eye Institute is a complex of modern eye hospital with advanced training programmes for ophthalmologists and allied eye health personnel, an eye research centre, rehabilitation programme, product development and high quality eye care models for underserved areas.
Dr. Rao received his basic medical education in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, and completed his postgraduate residency training at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. In the US, he trained at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, and later at the School of Medicine, University of Rochester, where he continued on the faculty until 1986.
Dr David Chang
Cataract Update Lecture
Dr David Chang
Cataract Update Lecture
David F. Chang, MD is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. He completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of California, San Francisco where he achieved the rank of clinical professor in 1999. Dr. Chang is past president of ASCRS and served on their executive board for 15 years. He is a past chair of the AAO Cataract Preferred Practice Pattern Panel and the AAO Annual Meeting Program Committee. Dr. Chang previously served as chief medical editor of EyeWorld, and Cataract and Refractive Surgery Today. He is past chair of the ASCRS Foundation and received the 2019 AAO Humanitarian Service Award and the 2020 Aravind Venkataswamy Award. Dr Chang is co-founder and the advisory board chair of EyeSustain, a global consortium of 55 eye societies advancing sustainability in ophthalmology.
Dr. Chang has received honors from the following international organizations: AAO (Kelman Lecture), ASCRS (Binkhorst Medal, Kelman Innovator Award, and Lindstrom Medal), ESCRS (Ridley Medal), APACRS (Lim Medal), UKISCRS (Rayner Medal), RANZCO (Gregg Medal), APAO (Jose Rizal International Medal), MEACO (El-Maghraby International Award), and the ICO (T. Krwawicz Gold Medal). Including these, he has delivered more than 50 named lectures.
Dr Chang holds chair XI in Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis, the international academy of 100 leading academic ophthalmologists. In a poll of American ophthalmologists, he was voted #1 in Newsweek’s 2025 list of the top cataract surgeons in the United States. He was ranked #2 in the 2024 “Power List” of the 100 most influential ophthalmologists as selected by The Ophthalmologist.
Prof Anthony Khawaja
Glaucoma Update Lecture
Prof Anthony Khawaja
Glaucoma Update Lecture
Anthony Khawaja PhD FRCOphth is Professor and Honorary Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK. He is currently a UK Research & Innovation Future Leaders Fellow and a Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine Fellow. Anthony completed a Wellcome Trust funded Epidemiology Masters and PhD programme at the University of Cambridge, and a Berkeley Fellowship at Harvard Medical School. His research concerns the genetic and environmental causes of glaucoma. Anthony’s ultimate aim is to develop prediction models that enable efficient population screening of glaucoma and personalised glaucoma care in the clinic, as well as identifying novel biological pathways amenable to treatments.
Recent awards include American Academy of Ophthalmology Senior Achievement and Secretariat Awards and a National Health Service (NHS) National Clinical Excellence Award. Anthony is currently Chair of the SNOMED International Eye Care Clinical Reference Group, Chair of the NHS England Imaging Interoperability Task and Finish Group, Chair of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Informatics Committee, President of the European Eye Epidemiology Consortium and Director of the European Society of Ophthalmology Leadership Development Programme. In his spare time, Anthony is passionate about music: he plays the piano, composes, and enjoys listening to broad range of music. His most played record of 2024 was In Waves by Jamie xx.
Prof Valerie Biousse
Neuro-ophthalmology Update Lecture
Prof Valerie Biousse
Neuro-ophthalmology Update Lecture
Valerie Biousse, MD holds the Reunette Harris Chair of Ophthalmologic Research, and is Professor of Ophthalmology and Neurology in the section of neuro-ophthalmology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA, USA. She serves as Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Neuro-Ophthalmology Fellowship Director in the Department of Ophthalmology at Emory University.
Dr. Biousse is a fellow of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society and of the French Society of Neurology and an elected member of the American Ophthalmology Society and American Neurological Association, and multiple other national and international societies, including the American Academies of Ophthalmology and Neurology and the French Society of Ophthalmology. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology as Senior Editor, on the editorial board of Frontiers in Neurology as Specialty Chief Editor for Neuro-Ophthalmology, on the editorial board of Current Opinion in Neurology and of the Journal Stroke. She also serves as the Neuro-Ophthalmology Section Lead for the American Academy of Ophthalmology ONE Network. She currently also serves on the Board of Directors and is Immediate pas Chair of the Board/Past President of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society.
She has more than 500 publications, including scientific articles, book chapters and books, including the primary textbook Neuro-Ophthalmology and Walsh & Hoyt’s Clinical Neuro-Ophthalmology, 6th Edition, 2005, and the didactic textbook Neuro-Ophthalmology Illustrated (Thieme, 2009, 2016 and 2019 –awarded “best Neurology book of the year” by the British Medical Association in 2016 and received the “PROSE award” from the American Association of Publishers in 2017). Her current research focuses on four primary areas: (1) idiopathic intracranial hypertension, (2) the use of non-mydriatic fundus photography for the diagnosis of neuro-ophthalmic disease in various clinical settings and deep learning applications, (3) diagnostic errors and referral patterns in neuro-ophthalmology, and (4) ocular manifestations of cerebrovascular diseases.
Prof Aylin Kılıç
Refractive Update Lecture
Prof Aylin Kılıç
Refractive Update Lecture
Prof. Dr. Aylin Kılıç is a pioneering corneal and refractive surgeon from Istanbul, Turkey, internationally recognized for her groundbreaking innovations in allogenic corneal surgery. She developed the Istanbul Nomogram, a personalized topography-based protocol for CAIRS (Corneal Allogenic Intrastromal Ring Segments), and was among the first surgeons in Europe to perform KeraNatural™ and Allotex procedures.
She is the Owner and Medical Director of Swiss Vision Group Istanbul, a center of excellence dedicated to corneal and refractive innovation, and also serves as a faculty member, Prof at Biruni University. Prof. Kılıç leads the Swiss Vision Group Scientific Research Advisory Board, supporting global academic collaborations and scientific studies focused on corneal allograft technology.
Her major field of expertise and innovation is allogenic corneal surgery, where she has made significant contributions to surgical planning, clinical application, and education. Throughout her career, she has authored numerous peer-reviewed scientific papers and book chapters, many published under her previous surname Ertan. Her extensive body of work has received widespread citations and international recognition for advancing corneal surgery science.
Prof. Kılıç continues to mentor surgeons worldwide through workshops, courses, and collaborative research programs, uniting innovation, precision, and compassion in the service of restoring sight.
Prof Dan Martin
Retina Update Lecture
Prof Dan Martin
Retina Update Lecture
Daniel F. Martin MD is Professor of Ophthalmology at the Emory University School of Medicine. He completed medical school at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine followed by residency and chief residency in ophthalmology at Emory University School of Medicine. He completed a fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery at Duke University Eye Center followed by a fellowship in uveitis and clinical trials at the National Eye Institute/National Institutes of Health. From 1993 to 2008, Dr. Martin was on faculty at Emory ultimately serving as the Thomas M. Aaberg Professor of Ophthalmology and Interim Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology. From 2008 to 2024, Dr Martin served as Chair of the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute and the Barbara and A. Malachi Mixon III Institute Chair in Ophthalmology. He returned to the faculty at Emory in 2025.
Dr. Martin currently serves as the Network Chair for the DRCR Retina Network. He previously served as the Study Chair for the Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials (CATT) and has served as Study Chair for many other national clinical trials including those that led to FDA approval of the ganciclovir implant and valganciclovir. Dr. Martin has served as PI, member of the DSMC, and/or member of the Steering Committee for dozens of other studies including AREDS, SOCA, and MUST. He has published more than 230 peer-reviewed articles, delivered 51 named and keynote lectures, and delivered more than 570 invited lectures. Dr. Martin has served in numerous society leadership roles including recently as President of the Macula Society. Dr. Martin has been the recipient of numerous awards including the 74th Edward Jackson Memorial Lecture, the AAO Lifetime Achievement Award, the AAO Secretariat Award, the AAO Senior Achievement Award, the Heed-Gutman Award from the Society of Heed Fellows, the J. Donald M. Gass Medal from the Macula Society, the Roger Johnson Award in AMD Research from the University of Washington, the Pyron Award and the Crystal Apple Award from the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS), the Rosenthal Young Investigator Award from the Macula Society, the Sam and Maria Miller Award for Scientific Achievement in Clinical Research from the Cleveland Clinic, the J. Donald M. Gass Lectureship Award from the Retina Society, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Clinical Trials, and the Cless Medal. Dr Martin has previously served on the Board of Governors for the Cleveland Clinic.
