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Invited Keynote Speakers: |
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Dr. Ron Ofri, DVM, PhD, DECVO |
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Professor in veterinary ophthalmology, Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
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Dr. Ron Ofri was a member of the charter class of the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Upon his graduation he traveled tothe University of Florida, where he spent the next 4 years undergoing clinical training in veterinary ophthalmology and obtaining his Ph.D. During this time Ron developed an interest in the physiology of vision, focusing on retinal electrophysiology and animal models of retinal diseases. Upon his graduation Ron returned to Israel and joined the faculty of his alma mater, where he is currently a Professor in Veterinary Ophthalmology and winner of numerous Teacher of the Year awards. At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ron expanded his research interests to include to include clinical veterinary ophthalmology (focusing on glaucoma and retinal diseases) and retinal gene therapy. His groundbreaking work on retinal gene therapy on a herd of sheep with naturally occurring day blindness has resulted in restoration of vision in treated animals for >6 years, and has paved the way to FDA approval of Phase I/IIa clinical trials in humans patients.
Dr. Ron is also a very popular international speaker, having been invited to talk in more than 40 countries and 6 continents, lecturing in continuing education seminars, national & international meetings, and world congresses for general practitioners including BSAVA, SEVC, WSAVA, WVC, WVAC and NAVC/VMX.
He also lectures frequently in advanced training courses for veterinary ophthalmologists, including lectureship at the Basic Science Course of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (where he has been speaking since 2002) and numerous other forums. And during the covid pandemic he has given dozens of online lectures.
Dr. Ron has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, is a contributing author to the Gelatt's classic textbook Veterinary Ophthalmology (3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th editions) as well as co-author of the popular textbook Slatter's Fundamentals of Veterinary Ophthalmology (4th, 5th and 6th editions, below).
Dr. Ron is a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Ophthalmology (ECVO), a former ECVO Executive Board member and Scientific Committee member and in 2002-2005 he served as President of the European Society of Veterinary Ophthalmology. |
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Dr. Kazuya Oikawa, BVSc, PhD |
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Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison |
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Dr. Oikawa is an early-stage veterinary clinician - scientist. He received his veterinary degree from Azabu University (Japan). After completing a rotating internship in Japan, he pursued and completed his PhD in glaucoma pathobiology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, mentored by Dr. Gillian McLellan. He currently holds a research position in the lab while being trained as an ABVO ophthalmology resident at UW-Madison.
His main area of research interests is comparative glaucoma in animals and humans, including molecular pathology and genetics of glaucoma, imaging of the retina and optic nerve, gene therapy, and aqueous outflow pathology in glaucoma.
Dr. Oikawa's research work has been published in prestigious ophthalmology and neuroscience journals including IOVS, Molecular Neurobiology and Experimental Eye Research. |
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