Marie-José Tassignon
MD, PhD, FEBOS-CR
Marie-José Tassignon is appointed from 2017 till current as emeritus head and chief of the department of ophthalmology Antwerp University Hospital and University of Antwerp. She is CEO of the P.E.D Tassignon company for medical expertise in Ophthalmology (2017- current).
She is member of the Royal Belgian Academy of Medicine.
She is author/co-author of more than 320 papers in peer reviewed journals and author of 29 books/book chapters.
She is director of 11 PhD programs
She holds 7 patents of which the bag-in-the lens intraocular lens and the ring caliper for sizing the anterior capsulorhexis. Both have been commercialised.
Three more patents have been filed in 2021:
- Continuous extended depth of focus profile for the bag-in-the-lens intraocular lens
- Medical device replacing the limbal stem cell niches
- New laser treatment model for treatment of vitreous floaters
She currently takes key international functions in 5 international societies:
- European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons
- Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis: President
- WOC 2022: Co-Chair program committee
- European Vision Institute Clinical Trial-network
- European Board of Ophthalmology
She is Co-editor of two international key Journals: Journal Cataract Refractive Surgery- Ophthamic Research.
She was awarded 14 major international awards/medals.
- Norman Galloway award of Nottingham University
- Peter Eustace award by EBO
- Montgomery Lecture (Ireland)
- Tadeusz Krwawicz Gold Medal by WOC
- Ophthalmic Research award by EVER
- Teddy Epstein Medal by SASCRS
- Kanski medal lecture by WSPOS
- Bjerrum Medal Lecture (Danmark)
Karla Chaloupka
PD Dr. phil. Dr. med
Karla Chaloupka, MD, PhD, private docent, is the founder and head of Oculoplastics, Orbital and Lacrimal Surgery Unit at the University Hospital Zurich since 2003. She graduated in 1994 at the University in Zurich, covered general surgical training during 1995-1998 including the completion of a thesis at the University in Basle and the Royal Free Hospital in London, followed by the ophthalmic training in Basle, Lucerne and Geneva. She was a consultant/chef de clinic in neuroophthalmology and oculoplastics in Geneva. She did an OPAL-Fellowship in Australia with A. McNab 2004/2005, a PhD in Nanotechnology at the UCL, London and the habilitation at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
Professor Dr Theo Seiler
Dr rer. nat.
Institute for Refractive and Ophthalmic Surgery (IROC) in Zurich.
Prof. Seiler is a specialist in corneal and refractive therapy physiologic optics lasers in ophthalmology and anterior segment surgery. His doctorates in physics and medicine enabled him to become a pioneer of modern refractive surgery. Among his achievements are the development of the first clinical dye laser and the invention of CXL he also performed the first ever PTK PRK and wavefront-laser guided surgical techniques on the human eye and was also the first to combine LASIK and rapid CXL. He also performed the first ever CXL in humans. Theo is a specialist in corneal and refractive therapy physiologic optics lasers in ophthalmology and anterior segment surgery.
Professor emeritus Klara Landau
MD, FEBO
Born in Prague, former Czechoslovakia. High school and Medical studies in Zurich, Switzerland. Ophthalmology training in Zurich and thereafter mainly at Kaplan Hospital, Rehovot, Israel. Fellowship in Neuro-Ophthalmology at UC San Francisco and Research appointment at UC Berkeley, USA. Head of Neuro-Ophthalmology, Strabismus and Pediatric Ophthalmology at the University Hospital Zurich. Between 2002 and 2018 Chair of Ophthalmology Department at the University Hospital Zurich and full professor at the University of Zurich. 2013 Sabbatical at Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Oxford UK in 2013. Senior Fellow of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society, Fellow of the European Board of Ophthalmology, Past president of the Swiss Ophthalmological Society and of the European Neuro-Ophthalmology Society.
• Currently appointed part-time as Medical Education and Equal Opportunity Delegate at the University Hospital Zurich.
• Current President of the Swiss chapter of “Light for the World”, an NGO promoting eye health and inclusion of disabled persons in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Languages: Czech, Russian, German, French, English, Hebrew.
Married to a basic scientist, 2 grown-up children and 2 little granddaughters.
Prof. Dr. med. Birgit Lorenz
MD, PhD, FEBO, FARVO
Prof. Lorenz studied medicine at Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany and Sorbonne, Paris, France. She defended her MD thesis „summa cum laude“ and PhD thesis ophthalmology at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich.
She has been Professor and Head of the Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology, Strabismology and Ophthalmic Genetics, University of Regensburg, Germany and full Professor and Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany. She is currently senior clinical expert (professor emerita) at Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Bonn, Germany and professor emeritus, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
Her main research interests are: pediatric rare diseases, genotype-phenotype correlations, imaging, ROP, inherited retinal degenerations (IRDs), psychophysics and clinical electrophysiology and gene therapy.
She has published >300 peer reviewed papers, > 50 book chapters, 19 proceedings and is the editor of 3 books. In addition, she was editor of the section Ophthalmic Genetics of Klinische Monatsblätter für Augenheilkunde (2016-2020) and section editor Ophthalmic Research (2016 - 2022).
Prof. Lorenz has received a number of awards among others, she has been elected to the 2021 Top List of Women in European Vision Research and Ophthalmology 2021, has received the Senior Research Award from Bielschowsky Society for Strabismus, Neuroophthalmology and Pediatric Ophthalmology in 2021 and has been awarded the lifetime achievement award and medal of the European Pediatric Ophthalmological Society (EPOS).
She has been the chair of rare pediatric eye diseases, workgroup of the European Reference Network for rare eye diseases (ERN-EYE). Prof. Lorenz is the member of numerous scientific societies and a reviewer of a great number of peer reviewed journals.
Theo G. Seiler
PD Dr. med.
Senior physician in Ophthalmology Department of Ophthalmology University of Dusseldorf Germany, Consultant in Ophthalmology IROC Zurich Switzerland, Medical director YouSeeZüri Eye Laser Clinic Zurich Switzerland, Consultant in Ophthalmology Department of Ophthalmology University of Bern Switzerland.