The Duke Fellows Advanced Surgery Course (fAVS) was held March 22-23, 2024, marking its 10th year. One of the first vitreoretinal surgery courses for fellows, it was led by course director Lejla Vajzovic, MD, FASRS and course co-chairs Dilraj Grewal, MD, FASRS, Xi Chen, MD, PhD, and Durga Borkar, MD, MMCi. Duke fAVS has become the premier educational course for retina fellows across the world, attracting 92 retina fellows and 14 resident awardees this year, along with 28 esteemed faculty speakers and 81 industry representatives.
Duke fAVS is based on the Duke Advanced Vitreoretinal Surgery Course (AVS) which was established more than 40 years ago by Robert Machemer, MD, “father of retina surgery” and former chair of Duke Ophthalmology. The first of its type in the world at that time, Duke AVS has served as the model for subsequent national and international vitreoretinal courses. Duke AVS is held bi-annually and intended for retina specialists already in practice.
The annual Duke fAVS meeting is a practical course geared toward first-year vitreoretinal fellows, medical retina fellows, and uveitis fellows training primarily in North America, with a limited number of international fellows accepted. Packed with extensive educational content, Duke fAVS participants learn from medical and surgical panel discussions, surgical video tricks and tips, and an unparalleled wet lab experience with access to some of the latest technology and cutting-edge procedures with one-on-one faculty/fellow interaction.
The course provides an opportunity for fellows to interact with world-renowned faculty, industry representatives, and senior colleagues in the field of retina. All fellows have a unique opportunity to directly compare sustained release technology, implants, 3D visualization systems, microscopes, intraoperative OCT machines, vitrectomy machines, forceps, laser probes, subretinal delivery devices, and a range of other tools across manufacturers.
We are proud of this milestone anniversary and look forward to many years of training the next generation of retina experts.