Increasing collaboration in NOK 2012, the XXXX Nordic Congress of Ophthalmology

T he Nordic Congress of Ophthalmology, which will be organized this August in Helsinki, is already the 40th of its kind. Most of us now have accustomed to the fact that the congress is arranged biennially, but this was not always the case. The interval previously was 3 years and World War II also played havoc. The history of the Nordic Congress thus spans 112 and not 80 years from its inception in Stockholm in year 1900. The famous Nordic ophthalmologist, Alvar Gullstrand, proposed a Nordic Congress during the 9th International Congress of Ophthalmology in Utrecht in 1899 (Ehinger & Grzybowski 2011). The latter incidentally is the oldest medical congress still continuously organized, although it is today better known as the World Ophthalmology Congress. The same proposal, however, had been made even earlier by Gustaf A. Nordman, later the first President of the Finnish Ophthalmological Society (Ehinger & Grzybowski 2011). It is thus fitting that the 40th Congress takes place in Finland, and that the International Council of Ophthalmology is present by contributing a satellite course in residency training. The Nordic Congress is a joint venture of the five Nordic Ophthalmological Societies, represented by the NOK Committee. Over the years, the congress has increasingly attracted participants from across Europe and especially from the Baltic countries. For this reason, the previously traditional official Scandinavian language was changed to English around 1992. The XXXX Congress, or NOK 2012, makes history in that part of the symposia has been prospectively planned with representatives of the Baltic Eye Forum, or Forum Ophthalmologicum Balticum. The Forum is the second major ophthalmologic congress in Northern Europe. In 2010, the XIII Forum held in Vilnius was par in its number of delegates with the previous Nordic Congress organized in Reykjavik, yet few ophthalmologists attended both congresses, which were separated by only a few weeks. The NOK 2012 does not count as a formal joint meeting, but I see it as a step toward a single, larger North European Congress of Ophthalmology. The Nordic Congress currently takes place every other and the Forum every third year, which means that both will be organized, until now separately, every 6 years. At least on those years, if not more regularly, a true joint meeting would gather a larger audience and would give North European ophthalmology more international weight and visibility. Next year, the Baltic Forum takes place in Tallin, Estonia. The meetings will again clash in 2016. Hopefully before that time we have built on the incipient collaboration between the two events for our joint benefit, preserving the best of both traditions. This collaboration coincides with the steady achievements of Acta Ophthalmologica in broadening its horizons. Acta will be visible in the Congress through the KKK Lundsgaard prize, awarded to the authors of the best paper published after the previous Nordic Congress. The Acta Ophthalmologica Honorary Lecture and Gold Medal, given to a scientist from the Nordic countries for excellence in ophthalmic research, will be awarded to Professor Albert Alm from Sweden for his achievements in the field of glaucoma. This tradition started in 2002 during NOK 2002 held in Tampere (Heijl 2002). In Helsinki, the Acta Honorary Lecture and Gold Medal celebrate their first decennial. Previous recipients of this prestigious prize have been Professors Niels Ehlers (Denmark), Leila Laatikainen (Finland), Sven Erik G. Nilsson (Sweden), Ahti Tarkkanen (Finland) and Anders Heijl (Sweden). The full program of NOK 2012 extends over 54 sessions of which 37 are symposia organized by leading regional experts from essentially every field of modern ophthalmology. Six of these have been put together by members of the Baltic Eye Forum to showcase Baltic ophthalmology. It is not intended as a separate program and has thus been integrated theme wise with other sessions. All symposia include outstanding regional and international speakers such as Dr. Helen Mintz-Hittner, a widely known expert on retinopathy of prematurity. The Congress additionally boasts four courses, six free paper sessions and ten special sessions organized together with other societies and organizations. One glaucoma symposium is organized by the American AcadActa Ophthalmologica 2012