UPDATE: EPOS 2021 Virtual Conference will be held on 18-19 June 2021

We hereby announce that the 46th meeting of the European Paediatric Ophthalmological Society EPOS, EPOS 2021 will be a virtual conference held on 18-19 June 2021.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to our participants, speakers, abstract submitters and industry partners for their understanding, continuous support and flexibility.
All registered participants, abstract submitters, invited speakers, sponsors and exhibitors will receive more detailed information via email.

We look forward to seeing you virtually in June!

Dear colleagues and friends

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 46^th EPOS meeting - which for the first will be a virtual meeting!

In 2017, we hosted the Nordic Pediatric Ophthalmic Group meeting north of Copenhagen, and the experience of meeting new and old friends, learning new aspects of pediatric ophthalmology and enjoying the most beautiful Danish summer weather was so rewarding, and build the ground for the next upcoming EPOS meeting. We are very honoured to be accepted as hosts for the 46^th EPOS, in Copenhagen for the first time since 1975.

This meeting was originally planned to be held at the Univeristy of Copenhagen. Among their famous candidates is one of the founders of Pediatric Ophthalmology, Mette Warburg (1926-2015), who was a founding member of EPOG and an honorary member of EPOS, hosting the 1975 and 1991 EPOG meetings on visually and multiply handicapped children. Her influence in Danish and international Ophthalmology is well recognized, as she put the visual health of persons with developmental delay into the consciousness of ophthalmologists, and together with Lea Hyvärinen taught us the significance of early visual development.

We have chosen the topic of “The important first year. Vision 20/20” as a tribute to Mette and Leas ground breaking work in an ever-changing world. Babies develop at exorbitant speed, and largely this is guided by visual inputs. Our goal of this conference is to update us all on the also rapid development of ophthalmological treatment: genetic therapy is now available and preterm born children now rarely go blind due to ROP in Europe, but other health issues threaten vision as very early survival is possible. Surgery for infants is also changing with new methods for treatment in glaucoma, anterior segment and strabismus.

The mission of the VISION 2020 WHO Global Initiative is to eliminate the main causes of all preventable and treatable blindness by 2020, so what could be a more appropriate topic for EPOS 2021?

On behalf of the EPOS COPENHAGEN 2021 organizing committee, we look forward to seeing you in June 2021 and promise to bring a virtual "flavour" of Copenhagen!

Lotte Welinder, Pediatric Ophthalmology, Aalborg University Hospital
Member of the EBO board, MJC-RUD, FEBO.