The Sixth European Aniridia Conference began on 3 June in San Juan de Alicante.
Over 3 days, more than 145 attendees, including patients, families and professionals, enjoyed talks, activities and clinical sessions.
The event began on Friday 3 June with a series of ophthalmology consultations and genetic information sessions for patients and families that took place at the Vissum Miranza Alicante facilities. Thanks to the collaboration of the centre’s staff and doctors Jorge L. Alió and Pilar Casas de Llera in ophthalmology, and Marta Corton and Fiona Blanco-Kelly in genetics, families were able to access specialised information about aniridia and their personal situation.
In the afternoon, the meeting of Aniridia Europa members took place at the San Juan Complex and, finally, a welcome dinner was held for speakers, moderators and representatives of patient organisations.
The scientific conference kicked off on Saturday 4th with an opening ceremony presided over by Jorge Alió y Sanz, president of the Scientific Committee; Barbara Poli, president of Aniridia Europe; Yolanda Asenjo García, president of the AEA; José M. Ramírez Sebastián, president of SIREV; Domingo Orozco Beltrán, vice-rector of Research at the UMH; María Teresa Caballero, representing the University of Alicante and Antonio Piñero Bustamante, president of the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology.
This presentation was followed by lectures by Dr. Marta Corton on genetics and Prof. José Carlos Pastor, who gave an interesting talk on patient registries and their situation at European level.
The talks then continued in two parallel rooms for professionals, one dealing with the latest advances in clinical ophthalmology and the other with the latest developments in genetics and WAGR syndrome.
In the afternoon it was the turn of the COST Session and the poster and communication presentations. To end the day, families and representatives of organisations met for a group dinner to get to know each other better and create bonds.
On Sunday it was the turn of the patients. Summaries were made of the talks given on Saturday and there was a question and answer session for all those who had questions about them.
Finally, the event ended with round tables for patients and families where they talked about school inclusion, European education projects underway, the work of the Spanish Aniridia Association’s communication and where Yolanda Asenjo, president of the AEA, gave an emotional speech about aniridia.
The event was closed with the presence of Jorge L. Alió, president of the Scientific Committee, Juliana Martínez Atienza, Bárbara Poli and Ivana Kildsgaard, who presented the next European Aniridia Conference, which could take place in Sweden.
Throughout the weekend, the youngest children were able to enjoy leisure activities while their families attended the different talks and workshops of the Conference.
From the Spanish Aniridia Association, we would like to thank all the funders who have made this event possible:
COST Action, Aniridia Europa, Grupo Social ONCE, FEDER, Fundación La Caixa, Tercer Sector, Consejería de Políticas Sociales y Familias, Distrito Moncloa Aravaca, Medicalmix, Rotary Club Alicante Puerto, Kreston Iberaudit, Grupo HOB and Aniridia Network.
The videos of the presentations and lectures will soon be available on the official website and on YouTube.
