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Send Rebecca to ARVO and ASCRS

I would like to ask for help with travel expenses to attend two major medical conferences this spring on behalf of The Dry Eye Foundation!

1) ARVO (Vancouver, WA)  - April 27-30

ARVO is the best, simply the best conference ever... and this is one of the years that it's happening close to home! I just have to take a ferry and drive about 3 hours.

For me, ARVO is all about the SCIENCE and the PEOPLE. It's absolutely the place to be for the very latest scientific developments and the great minds. So many of the top researchers worldwide are there. My plan is to attend classes and poster sessions on Sunday through Tuesday and a TFOS DEWS dinner on Monday night, as well as meeting up with as many doctors as I can. 

Here's a link to the complete listings of all the classes and meetings available  at ARVO. As you'll see, it's overwhelming. But if you see a class that you really, really, really want to know more about, please don't hesitate to contact me in case it's something I may be able to attend.

UPDATE: Here are some of the specific meetings & classes I'll be going to at ARVO:
"The Potential and Pitfalls of Big Data" - looking at big data usage in ophthalmology. This is actually an area of keen interest for me in the dry eye world because I believe we have barely begun to leverage the symptom data that could help unlock more mysteries of the onset, progression and also relief of dry eye happen.
"Tear film, inflammation and the nervous system—the three pillars of dry eye disease resulting in symptoms of discomfort" - this is considered a special interest group meeting but the co-presenter is Pedram Hamrah and I've never had the opportunity to hear him speak so looking forward to it. 
"Dry Eye I" - co-moderated by Stephen Pflugfelder, really looking forward to how they pull together the big picture.
"Quality of life and the patient experience" 
"Patient engagement in ophthalmology research"
"Dry Eye II" Cintia De Paiva, Monica Alves!
There are LOTS more, many of them moderated by doctors I know from TFOS DEWS II... looking forward to meeting up with many on the epidemiology team (we met in Paris a few years back) and the public awareness & education team. So many people and so much information. 


2) ASCRS (San Diego, CA) - May 3-6

For me, ASCRS is all about the COMPANIES and what they are doing. It's attended by cornea specialists from all over the world, hence it's attended by every company marketing anything to them, hence the exhibit hall is spectacular from a dry eye perspective. All the key dry eye players, from diagnostics to treatments, OTC and Rx and in-office and whatever, will be there. I plan on spending three straight days talking to them, punctuated by a few classes here and there (MGD; cosmetics etc; one on the intersection of glaucoma and cornea). I want to learn everything coming down the pipeline and I want to convey our the needs of our community to them. 

Here's the exhibit hall and exhibitor list  for ASCRS.

UPDATE: Here are companies related to dry eye that I am hoping to squeeze in time with:
Akorn, Alcon, Allergan, Altaire, Bausch, Beaver-visitec, Biotissue, Blephex, Bruder, Digital Heat Corp, Eye Eco, FCI Ophthamics, Focus Labs, Imprimisrx, Johnson & Johnson, Kala pharmaceuticals, Katena, Lacrimedics, Lacrivera, Lumenis,, Mibo Medical, Miracles in sight, Myco, Natural Ophthalmics, NuSight Medical, Oasis Medical, Ocusoft, PRN, Quantel Medical , Science Based Health, Scope, Shire, sight sciences, Sun Ophthalmics, Tear Film Innovations (ilux), tearlab, the dry eye doctor inc, Vital Tears

LAST UPDATE:
- Here's all my blog posts from ARVO 
- Here's what I've posted about ASCRS so far (more to come) 

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As always I'll be blogging a ton from the venues themselves. 

Budget:
I'm driving to ARVO, and I'm personally covering airfare for ASCRS and food/incidentals for both. What I really would love help with is accommodation because to get anyplace anywhere near the convention centers is soooo expensive!
ARVO: $650 + ASCRS: $800 = Total: $1450

I would be so grateful for your support for these trips!

The Dry Eye Foundation has its 501(c)(3) status now so tax deductible donations can be made - however, even though it was approved in February, it's not showing up on GFM yet so I'm not able to attach this fundraiser specifically to the Foundation, unfortunately! You can send checks to the Foundation, though, at PO Box 1891, Poulsbo WA 98370.

Organizer

Rebecca Petris
Organizer
Poulsbo, WA

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