Welcome Address by the DOG President

Dear colleagues,

it gives me great pleasure to extend on behalf of the German Society of Ophthalmology a warm welcome to all the delegates to our 105th annual congress.

This year our society, the world’s most ancient medical scientific society, is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its foundation by Albrecht von Graefe. It is a pleasure and a privilege for me to
be able to celebrate this anniversary together with you and guests from all continents.
Let me indicate to you some of the highlights of this jubilee congress: First of all, it is a particular pleasure for me to hand over to all of you our festschrift containing a detailed and authentic portrait of the past 150 years of DOG history as well as the society’s future perspectives.

Furthermore, an accompanying exposition, organised by the Berlin Medical Historical Museum, is taking place in the congress foyer showing original documents and objects from the society’s initial
years. I would like to draw your special attention to the ceremony on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the DOG. It will be a great honour for me to welcome you to the ceremony and to celebrate together with you this special jubilee.

The theme of this 105th DOG Congress is:
“150 Years DOG
– 150 years of Scientific Exchange and Innovation in Ophthalmology”.

The programme eloquently demonstrates that not only do we wish to draw the attention to history but precisely on this jubilee congress we want to discuss therapeutic options in ophthalmology. At this point, I would like to thank all lecturers and speakers as well as all the organisers of symposia and wetlabs for putting forward the innovative aspects of ophthalmology in this year’s congress programme.

The offered symposia, especially those of the specialist organisations and the DOG sections, guarantee the presentation of ophthalmology on a very high scientific level and will also include the discussion of controversial themes.The extended course and wetlab programme permits the acquisition and deepening of diagnostic knowledge as well as surgical skills. A further highlight
will be live surgery sessions on Sunday morning with international specialists.We are sure, that this will be of particular interest for you.

The first and utmost interest of the DOG is the promotion of science and research in ophthalmology. It is with this scope that at this year’s congress, as in previous years indeed, the DOG will grant numerous awards and fundings. In addition, the congress programme itself shows that the DOG can be considered as a platform for highest-level science and research in ophthalmology. Nevertheless, long-term scientific commitment highly depends on the professional perspectives offered to the young scientists in the field of ophthalmology. The “Professional perspectives for young scientists in ophthalmology” will thus be the topic of the scientific
political discussion during the opening ceremony on Thursday. With special emphasis I would like to ask the scientific juniors and the members of our society to enter this discussion as this topic is
closely linked to the DOG’s future. For an intensification of this discussion, the DOG is inviting the residents to a Junior Panel. This panel offers the possibility of discussing important questions of
young scientists but it will also offer discussion on how ophthalmologists who are at the beginning of their professional career may be stronger involved and integrated in the DOG.

In our days, the prevention of avoidable blindness – not only in scientific circles but also and especially in the population – is accepted and considered as being a global as well as social task. This year’s DOG congress meets this task in a special manner: For the first time an African-German Symposium has been organised during the congress. International speakers will discuss the current state of theWHO initiative Vision 2020 and the results and perspectives – including the German activities – will be presented.

The DOG congress was and will be a platform for intense and direct scientific exchange and discussion in all field and subspecialties of ophthalmology. The congress location, the Estrel hotel in Berlin, offers a perfect frame for this congress. As in last year, most participants will have the opportunity to meet and stay in the same hotel in close proximity to the many attractions of Berlin.

Dear colleagues, I wish you an excellent stay at our congress. I hope that you will return home with excellent scientific and personal memories of this anniversary.

Your

Prof. Dr. Gernot I. W. Duncker
President of the DOG

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