Welcome
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the International Uveitis Study Group, it is our great pleasure to invite you
to the 7th International Symposium on Uveitis. For the first time this Meeting will take
place in Germany, in Constance, at the beautiful Lake Constance.
The meeting will be in September from Tuesday the 9th until Friday the 12th 2008.
Uveitis has always been one of the most challenging diagnoses in ophthalmology.
Interactive cooperation with other fields of medicine is increasingly important. The
program of the Symposium will reflect this. The most innovative and provocative topics
from the field of uveitis will be placed at the centre of this Symposium, e.g. Uveitis
in children, Behçet’s Disease, viral disorders, tuberculosis and other infectious forms
of uveitis, HLA-B27 associated uveitis. Even for the most aggressive uveitis the time
for successful treatments was never better: multiple new drugs are under study, which
seem to be more potent and less toxic compared to other immunosuppressive drugs.
We may enter a time when we are not aware of the massive side effects of extended
corticosteroid use. Therefore the Symposium will also extensively discuss the role of
the new drugs. Until that time we often have to solve problems related to the typical
complications of uveitis, like cataract and glaucoma, which also are major topics of this
Symposium. Over the last years the speed of development in diagnosis and treatment,
but also our knowledge of the immunopathogenesis has increased leading to a
change in paradigm regarding fighting against uveitis. Each session will have to
explain what has changed for us.
For the first time at our Meetings, we also welcome the Uveitis Patient Interest Groups
who also will meet in Constance.
The hope is that the Symposium will succeed by being scientifically and clinically relevant, as well as becoming an occasion for all of us to get together in an atmosphere of collegiality and friendship. Other international inflammation groups, like the American Uveitis Society, the Society for Ocular Immunoinfectiology in Europe, and the International Ocular Inflammation Society are joining the meeting.
We are looking forward seeing you in September 2008 at Lake Constance, on the border to Switzerland and Austria, at the foot of the Alps.
Bob Nussenblatt
President of the IUSG
Manfred Zierhut
Organizer of the Symposium
I wish to welcome you all to the 7th International symposium on Uveitis. The first meeting was held in Strasbourg, France in 1974. Such notables as Arthur Silverstein, G. Richard O'Connor, Rene Campinchi, Wilhelm Böke, Seiji Sugiura, and the first ISUG president Etienne Bloch-Michel, to name just a few.
The meeting has taken on an even greater universal nature, with the collaboration of so many other important organizations devoted to these immune mediated diseases of the eye. Immunologically mediated mechanisms of the eye have taken on even greater import over the last decade.
I wish to offer my personal best wishes the hope that the meeting will renew old friendships, start new friendships, and spark your scientific and medical interest so that we may better evaluate and treat our patients.
Bob Nussenblatt
President of the IUSG
Dear Colleagues,
The International Uveitis Study Group has met annually since it was created in 1978 by a small number of uveitis specialists from around the world who identified a need to collaborate and share information in order to advance the worldwide knowledge of uveitis by ophthalmologists. Uveitis is challenging because it is the smallest subspecialty of ophthalmology, has the highest percentage of cases of unknown etiology, and the broadest overlap with other medical specialties.
Since ocular inflammatory disease is also rare, the society was also initially very small with restricted entry by nomination and election by country of residence. The Study Group has expanded and now comprises nearly 100 members from several countries. We are a member of the International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies (IFOS), the Executive Body of which is the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO).
The IUSG sponsors International Symposia approximately every 3 years. In contrast to the more restricted annual meetings, the International Symposia are intended to disseminate both new research findings and state-of-the-art clinical guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of uveitis and its blinding complications. All ophthalmologists are welcome to participate in the International Symposia. In keeping with the expanded scope of this International meeting, the IUSG has partnered with the Society for Ophthalmo-Immunoinfectiology in Europe (SOIE), the International Ocular Inflammation Society (IOIS), and the American Uveitis Society (AUS) to present a superb scientific program.
This year's Symposium portends to surpass the 6th International Symposium in Venice, Italy, September 2004, and to complement the highly successful international meeting hosted by the IOIS in Paris, France, in September 2007. IUSG members, when elected, agree to attend each annual meeting and each Symposium, a tremendous commitment in this age of world congresses. Joining us at Constance will give you the opportunity to meet with those our own subspecialty has selected to represent itself around the world. We look forward to meeting you at Lake Constance.
Janet Davis
President of the American Uveitis Society (AUS)
Dear Colleagues,
7th International Symposium on Uveitis, International Uveitis Study Group (IUSG), Constance, from September 9th to 12th, 2008.
The IUSG organises on a regular base, every 4 years, an International Symposium on Uveitis. The Constance Symposium will be the 7th of its name. As the first international uveitis organisation, the IUSG has lead the way in the promotion of uveitis and has been at the origin of the advancement in the knowledge and management of this difficult albeit interesting field. Other uveitis societies have been founded since with complementary tasks, usually working together to contribute to the success and quality of International Symposia such as the Constance IUSG Symposium.
The Society of Ophthalmo-immunoinfectiology in Europe (SOIE), immediately responded positively, after consulting its executive committee, to the invitation that has been extended to our society by the main organiser Manfred Zierhut and the organising committee. The SOIE has been formally founded in 2005. Its activities are principally devoted to teaching tasks. After its first meeting in June 2006 in Monaco, combined with the Moorfields Uveitis Course, a course & symposium has been organised in May 2007 in Cracow, Poland. Its second meeting in the scenic area of Cappadoccia in Turkey in June 2008 was very succesful and well attended. Meetings are already planned in Tunisia (2009), in Greece (2010) as well as in Japan and Italy in 2011. We are a small group that privileges convivial contacts in small course or workshop type of gatherings. SOIE is of course eager and honoured to take part, like other societies, including the International Ocular Inflammation Society (IOIS) and the American Uveitis Society (AUS) in such an important event.
For the 7th International IUSG symposium, the SOIE will contribute a symposium on "Diagnosis and Assessment of Uveitis" addressing present day problems.
In the name of the SOIE, I would like to welcome all the participants to the 7th International Symposium on Uveitis organised by the IUSG. Please come numerous to fresh-up your knowledge in uveitis in a syposium with an outstanding program, taking advantage of the magnificent scenery on the shore of one the largest European lakes.
See you all in Constance.
Carl P. Herbort
President
of the Society of Ocular
Immunoinfectiology in Europe (SOIE)