Grand ideas win prizes at congress

The overall winner in the 2017 Video Competition of the Michael Blumenthal Award was Tadahiko Kozawa, Japan. His video, “New Propeller Turbo Tip for torsional phacoemulsification and aspiration”, described a new phaco-tip designed to reduce the risk of tissue damage that can result from the scattering of lens tissue that occurs with conventional torsional phacoemulsification. The winners of this year’s poster competition highlighted research on new techniques and technologies in cataract and refractive surgery, as well as reviews of results achieved and complications associated with well-established procedures. First prize in the Refractive Category went to Lional Raj Daniel Ponniah, India, for “Femto modified keratoconic eyes and intracorneal lenticular transplantation (stromal augmentation technique): an effective alternative to DALK”. First prize in the Cataract Category went to Panos Gartaganis, Greece, for “Different reasons or a start-up factor of hydrophilic IOL calcification?”. The winner of this year’s John Henahan Prize is Dr Clare Quigley. Dr Quigley is a third-year Resident at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. The winning entry in the writing competition for young ophthalmologists was on the topic of "How does commercial interest affect my career?" Three young European ophthalmologists also earned the right to go to an ophthalmic centre of their choice in order to pursue their research, courtesy of the inaugural Peter Barry Fellowship. Luis Fernández-Vega from Spain, Nino Hirnschall from Austria and Myriam Böhm from Germany each received the fellowship award of €50,000, enabling them to further their training at a centre of excellence anywhere in the world.