Each year, I come away from ARVO with new experiences to share with colleagues back home. I always get to talk about new collaborators I met at poster sessions, new places I found to meet up with friends to share some serious refreshments, new ideas and perspectives I got from the keynote speaker, and the list goes on.

This year, we had a new and unexpected treat—posters and presentations in the dark—or almost dark. Seems there was a power problem in the convention center neighborhood on Thursday morning that sent the lights and computer systems haywire. Not to worry, everything was back up and running soon enough, but this was a unique experience for us all. It’s funny how unexpected events bring people together.  I hope others will write about where they were and what they did when the lights went out.

ARVO provides a great opportunity for young physicians and researchers to meet the experts in their field and get familiar with their latest research projects. Thanks for the relaxing atmosphere in Fort lauderdale — it makes  communication and  and socializing with the experts so easy and  spontaneous. 

ARVO is without any doubt the largest meeting where colleagues and friends from all over the world gather and meet once yearly. After attending my fourth annual ARVO meeting I am convinced that ARVO will always be my favorite meeting in ophthalmology.

On the plane heading home after ARVO and a post-ARVO meeting in Miami, I tried to collect a few thoughts. First, it was as busy a week as I have ever had — anywhere! Several mornings and evenings were spent with long-time collaborators and friends, working on manuscripts and presentations, all dealing with exciting new findings about the primate and human accommodative mechanism and presbyopia. The beauty, elegance and complexity of this entire system, designed to hone its function to perfection, continues to amaze me, as does my colleagues’ ability to hunt down new anatomical/physiological findings and relationships that one feels must be there, and indeed they are. Discovery is still the greatest joy in what we all do, and is why we do it. We live for the “a-ha” moments.

This was interspersed with two solid days of immersion into the world of retinal ganglion cells — how they live and how and why they die in development, aging and disease, and how we might influence the latter. The head-to-head scheduling of the two all-day symposia on Friday and Saturday (Elsevier’s 13^th Annual Vision Research Conference and the ARVO/Pfizer Ophthalmics Research Institute) offered both complementarity and frustration because one wanted to hear all of it and this was not possible. Nonetheless, the presentations, learning and discussions with our colleagues was terrific, cementing existing relationships and fostering new ones.

There were of course oral presentations and posters from our own group to sharpen and view throughout the week, taking a moment to enjoy the accomplishments of our students and junior and senior staff. As a colleague once said of his children, “they do grow up.”

There were many meetings — formal working ones related to IOVS with our associate editors and Editorial Board, and many less formal ones related to ongoing and new projects and grants with scientists from other institutions. And, after many years of not being able to do this, a bit of night-time hanging out and informal, impromptu dinners with small groups of my own departmental faculty and staff, and my research staff and collaborators — an intimacy and great pleasure that has escaped me for the past few years. This was managed even with attendance at more sessions and more of the formal award/keynote sessions than in prior years, and reminded me how very, very rich the ARVO experience has become. One cannot hope to encompass it all, but there is enough to satiate the most voracious appetite.

The casualty of course is sleep. Five hours was a good night, achieved only once or twice during the week, but adrenaline carries one a long way for a short while. My stores were depleted, but lasted one more evening for a community event immediately after I arrived home. Sleep beckoned and was accommodated thereafter, but it was a wonderful week even if the tank was empty at the end.

I also had the great fun this year of bringing undergraduate research students to ARVO for the first time.  The meeting normally falls during our finals week, so I have not invited students to join me in the past.  But I have two excellent research students this year, one interested in optometry, who were excited about the opportunity.  They had a great time presenting a poster in one of Wednesday’s lens sessions, and surprised at least a few people with the quality of research that can be done by undergraduate students.  In fact, Robert Langer, in his excellent Sunday keynote, mentioned an undergrad in his lab conducting some of the initial research into drug delivering microchip implants, and then going on to start a company that designs and sells them.

My students greatly appreciated interacting with both faculty and other students, and thoroughly enjoyed their first ARVO experience –  a nice tribute to the quality of this meeting and the Association.  But it would be nice if there were more social activities geared towards undergraduate and graduate students.  Perhaps a student social?  It was great to see a Pizza with the Experts session on teaching at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (with Dana Vaughan).

With the growth in undergraduate research in both small colleges and large universities, ARVO could help support and recruit a new generation of vision scientists by reaching out to these students.

Thanks again for a great meeting and see you in 2011.

This is my longest stay at ARVO in many years, as I came for the ISIE meeting on Saturday, and my lab has a poster today (Thursday).

It’s been a great week, as always. My yearly clock has been reset by lots of positive interactions with colleagues, old and new. I made headway on two manuscripts, with different co-authors who I normally don’t get to sit down with anywhere else but ARVO.

Our Sunday SIG on Cholesterol, Lipoproteins, Retinal Health, and Maculopathy was well attended, and I felt that the diverse group of speakers educated the audience well about the pressing questions and opportunity in this field. The timing of this SIG, relative to newly published genetic associations for cholesterol-processing genes in ARMD, could not have been planned better! The program planners somehow had all the SIGs back to back in that room, however, so there was no time between to move people in and out. But because we organize the SIG in advance by having speakers share talks and coordinate messages, we covered everyone’s talk and had 25 minutes for questions, just like the SIG rules say to do.

Things about meeting logistics to recall for next year:

1. Make your 2011 hotel reservations online starting June 1.
2. Scale down your expectations for service at the convention center. I sensed that they were really short-handed this year, due to the economy – shorter hours in the building, fewer food choices. And now that it is known that ARVO is leaving FLL, don’t expect it to improve next year.
3. Plan your schedule for the scientific sessions, like all the bloggers tell you to, but if you download an itinerary in Excel spreadsheet form, don’t forget to proofread before you print and bring. I came with a very nice printout in a binder that was sorted by day but not by poster board number.
4. Attend the ARVO concert on Wednesday evening and see what wonderful music your colleagues can make. Thanks to Mike Marmor for keeping this going for 19 years.

Two of the best scientific things I heard in FLL this year were Alex Walsh’s vision of a hand-held OCT, presented at the ARMD Education course, and Rosalie Crouch’s lab’s work on MALDI-TOF of human RPE flat mounts. These things will stick in my mind and influence how I think.

I am having a nice time at the ARVO meeting and hope the same for you. About 10,900 members are on the site. There are about 1000 new members this year. You have the opportunity to meet people not only of your research area but to view posters/papers of other areas which will be useful to update your comprehensive knowledge of the eye and vision research.

There is a lot to see and imbibe from a wide variety of presentations today. Some general topics of interest are:

- Protecting Your Research: It’s Never Too Early
- From Bench to Blockbuster: How to Develop Your Drug or Medical Device
- Women in Eye and Vision Research (WEAVR) Luncheon
- Friedenwald Lecture & Cogan Lecture
- and last but not the least ARVO rocks, a concert featuring ARVO members, for ARVO members.

Have a nice time at ARVO!

-Poonam

With me slumped over in pain from carrying around my latptop, my colleague (Dr. Austin Roorda) tells me that he hasnt had “ARVO-back” ever since he switched to a backback. I will take his advice next year. Either that, or invest in an i-pad…

Next piece of advice; even after 12 years, I try to pack too much into one day. I forget how many friends and colleagues I want to chat with. I wish we could find more time for “informal” discussions. Or some nice couches in the poster hall? Bottom time is to remember to factor in time for bumping into these folks and catching up – this is important.

Highlights for me were the Bob Barlow symposium. For us younger folks, this was inspirational. I only knew Bob peripherally through my advisor (David Williams), but he was always so kind and supportive at my posters at past ARVO’s. He was a great person, and I was happy to see ARVO set some time aside for this. Many times we lose focus of the people, and in the end, this is what makes ARVO what it is.

There is still much meeting left and here are some of the things I am looking forward to over the next couple of days (in addition to great science at the posters and presentations):

• Dr. Spaeth’s Weisenfeld lecture (Monday)
• Perusing the items in the WEAVR auction (Monday)
• The workshop on “Protecting your Research: (Tuesday)
• The SIG “From Bench to Blockbuster…” (Tuesday)

Don’t forget to stop by the ARVO gift booth in the Exhibit/Poster hall so you don’t come back empty handed (my daughter enjoys the animal-themed ARVO T-shirts).

I hope you are also enjoying the rest of Ft. Lauderdale.  If you have not yet found things to do, head on over to http://sunny.org.  From there you can also find out about the Ft. Lauderdale travel guide for your iPhone and get the list of free things to do in Ft. Lauderdale (not that I am suggesting ARVO attendees are cheap

The BEST lunch value at ARVO. $5 for pizza, drinks, and dessert!! All that, and you get to rub shoulders with some pretty great scientists & clinicians. This years program is expanded, and while it is generally geared towards members-in-training (students, postdocs, residents, fellows), many topics are relevant for junior faculty. I have been attending this program since my first ARVO, first as a student, now as one of the “experts”. The Members-in-Training committee is looking to further improve this event so if you have ideas for topics/tables, let us know. If you didnt register this year, consider coming next year (you need to register in advance). For the more “senior” folks, encourage your trainees to come – or even put your name forward to be one of the experts – we are always looking for new faces to help at this event. The fun starts in 30 minutes…

As I get ready to head off to my 7am Commercial Relationships Committee, I thought I’d list the sessions/posters I’m super excited about today:

*Gene-Environment Interactions and Retinal Disease (Grand D; 8:30 am) – The Sunday Symposia are a great place to educate yourself on a topic, and this is an amazing lineup of speakers (pretty good when the Cogan Awardee is the moderator!!) Can’t wait…

*Current Strategies in the Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Epidemiology of Refractive Error Development (Grand D, 11:15 am) – I dont even have to leave my seat from the previous session! This is another Symposium outside my area of expertise, but packed with outstanding speakers.

*Posterior Imaging I (poster; D615-D656) – Imaging is growing exponentially it seems, and this is the toughest area to sort through. This is a nice mix of technical demonstration and clinical applications of imaging.

*And last but not least, the ARVO social tonight!! I hope to stop by before the food is all gone!

Bon Appetit!!!