EXECUTIVE BOARD
PRESIDENT - BAHRAM BODAGHI, France
Bahram Bodaghi, MD, PHD, FEBO is Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris, France. He coordinates the Teaching Hospital Department of Vision and Handicaps (SightRestore) and chairs the French University Council of Ophthalmology. Dr Bodaghi is actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programs in France.
Dr Bodaghi was trained as a resident at the University of Rene Descartes, in Paris. During his PhD training at the Pasteur Institute, he focused on the pathophysiology of viral infections, especially CMV retinitis. He performed medical uveitis fellowship at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. Dr Bodaghi is a member of the IOIS education committee. He served as Secretary General of the European Association for Vision and Eye Research (EVER) from 2008-2012. He was an International Board member of the BCSC for the American Academy of Ophthalmology from 2005-2011. He has been elected as an ARVO Annual Meeting Program Committee Member in 2013. Dr Bodaghi obtained the Senior Achievement award of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the International Uveitis Study Group Prize.
GENERAL SECRETARY - QUAN DONG NGUYEN, USA
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, and immigrated with his parents and three brothers to the United States in 1980, Dr. Quan Dong Nguyen currently holds the McGaw Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology and is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and the Inaugural Director of the Stanley M. Truhlsen Eye Institute at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Prior to being chosen for the chairmanship at Nebraska, Dr. Nguyen was on the faculty at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.
A diplomate of the American Board of Ophthalmology and a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Dr. Nguyen has received many commendations and awards including the National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award, the Charles L. Schepens MD Award for Excellence in Retina Research, the National Eye Institute Career Development Award, the National Eye Institute/National Institutes of Heath RO1 and R24 Awards, ...
Dr. Nguyen serves as principal investigator on multiple clinical trials sponsored by the National Eye Institute and other organizations for macular edema (from diabetes and uveitis), neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and ocular inflammatory and uveitic diseases, as well as co-investigator on numerous other clinical trials involving novel therapeutic agents. Dr. Nguyen is known for his innovative work in early proof-of-concept, first-in-human clinical trials to evaluate potential pharmacotherapeutic agents for retinal vascular and uveitic diseases.
TREASURER - TALIN BARISANI, Austria
Talin Barisani-Asenbauer has studied Medicine at the University of Vienna, Austria. She started her career in 1987 at the Department of Ophthalmology as scientific coworker and from 1990 to 1997 she completed her residency in ophthalmology with special emphasis on ocular immunology and infectiology. In 1997 she became senior staff member of the Department and the director of the Uveitis unit and the working group “ocular immunology & infectiology”. In 2001 she was awarded the habiliation degree by the University of Vienna, the topic of her habilitation thesis being `Molecular methods to identify microbes in ocular tissues´.
In 2009 Talin Barisani-Asenbauer succeeded to obtain one of eight highly competitive peer-reviewed Laura Bassi Centre of Expertise grants from the Austrian Ministry of Economics allowing her to establish in 2010 with her industrial partners the Laura Bassi Centre of Expertise OCUVAC at the Center of Pathophysiology, Immunology and Infectiology, Medical University of Vienna. OCUVAC aims at achieving a multidisciplinary understanding of trachoma and ocular immunity that underpins the more translational research in the centre, while having the potential for the discovery of innovative drug-delivery systems and ocular vaccines.
Her research interests are: rare and neglected ocular diseases, uveitis, ocular immunology, inflammation & infection, drug delivery to ocular tissues and ocular vaccine development.
CHAIR OF INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL - JUSTINE SMITH, Australia
Justine Smith is Professor of Eye & Vision Health at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. She also holds a prestigious professorial-level Future Fellowship of the Australian Research Council. In 2015, Justine was elected to fellowship of the Australian Academy of Health & Medical Science and to Chair XIII of Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis. Justine holds a number of prominent international positions within the eye and vision research, and ophthalmology communities. She is an International Councilor and the Chair of the Executive Committee Board of the International Ocular Inflammation Society. She is President of the American Uveitis Society. She has just completed a 6-year term on the Council of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. She is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Board of Directors of the International Council of Ophthalmology. She was 2013-2014 President of the Association of Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Justine runs a weekly uveitis clinic, managing patient with inflammatory eye disease, and she participates in multiple international initiatives aimed at improving clinical outcomes for patients with these conditions. She also heads a translational research laboratory, which studies cellular mechanisms of intraocular infectious and inflammatory diseases and retinal vasculopathies.
PAST PRESIDENT - NARSING RAO, USA
Dr. Rao is Professor of Ophthalmology and pathology and director of Uveitis service and Ophthalmic Pathology laboratory at USC Roski Eye Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He is the first chair holder of Stieger Vision Research Endowed chair at the Doheny Eye Institute. He was awarded medical degree from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India and completed residencies in pathology and ophthalmology at the Georgetown University, and a fellowship at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C.
His research endowers focus on uveitis and related ophthalmic inflammatory diseases and such work is supported by grants from National Institute of Health, Research to Prevent Blindness and Veterans Administration. He has published over 470 peer reviewed articles on ophthalmic diseases in the United States, six books and the American Registry of Pathology-AFIP fascicle on Tumors of the Eye and Ocular Adnexa. He is recipient of several awards including Lorenz Zimmerman medal from American Academy of Ophthalmology, Bietti medal from World Ophthalmology Congress and medals from International Ocular Inflammation Society, International Uveitis Study Group, Pan American Ophthalmological Society and teaching awards from Department of Ophthalmology, Georgetown University and University of Southern California. He delivered several named lectures at various national and international societies of intraocular inflammation, universities as visiting professor. He is the first editor-in-chief of the Journal of Ophthalmic Inflammation and Infections.
He served as president of American Ophthalmic Pathology Society, American Uveitis Society, International Ophthalmic Pathology Society, International Uveitis Study Group and International Ocular Inflammation Society. He is a board member of the International Ocular Inflammation Society and American Uveitis Society. Currently he chairs Indochina ocular inflammation study group and Global Ocular Inflammation Workshop.
EBC Member at large - HIROSHI GOTO, Japan
Hiroshi Goto, MD, PhD is Professor and Chairman of Ophthalmology at Tokyo Medical University, Japan. He is a Director, Councilor and Diploma Certification Board of the Japanese Ophthalmology Society. He was President of the Japanese Society of Ocular Oncology from 2010 to 2014. Since 2013, he has been appointed as President of the Japanese Ocular Inflammation Society. He is actively involved in many Ophthalmology program in Japan. He has received 4 Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research in Japan 2015.
He is a member of Committee and an International Councillor of the International Ocular Inflammation Society. He is also an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and International Society of Ocular Oncology.
EBC Member at large - DANIEL VITOR VASCONCELOS-SANTOS, Brazil
Dr. Daniel Vitor Vasconcelos-Santos obtained his MD and PhD degrees at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG (Belo Horizonte, MG), one of the most prestigious and high-ranked universities in Brazil, where he also completed Ophthalmology residency, in one of the most traditional programs in the country. After fellowships in Retina and Uveitis in UFMG, he went for a two-year-postdoctoral fellowship in Ocular Inflammation, Immunology and Pathology at Doheny Eye Institute / University of Southern California, in Los Angeles (2008-2010). He is currently tenured adjunct professor of ophthalmology at UFMG, chair of the Ophthalmology service and chief of the uveitis unit of Hospital São Geraldo / UFMG University Hospital and of the Telehealth Unit of the same institution. He is elected member of the International Uveitis Study Group and of the American Uveitis Society, and served as international consultant for the Basic Clinical and Science Course (BCSC – Section 9 - Intraocular Inflammation and Uveitis) of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. His is also board member of the Global Ocular Inflammation Workshops. Dr. Vasconcelos-Santos has dedicated his career to teaching and to academia, with more than 60 papers published in peer-reviewed journals, 60+ book chapters, 150+ abstracts and 100+ invited talks in scientific meetings, being also member of the editorial board and reviewer of major international journals. His main research interests include noninfectious and infectious uveitis (particularly toxoplasmosis, tuberculosis and syphilis), tropical ophthalmology, masquerade syndromes, retinal vascular diseases, experimental models of ocular inflammatory disorders, ophthalmic pathology and, more recently, telemedicine.
