The 2024 Vit-Buckle Society's Annual Meeting in Miami Beach, FL was held April 4 - 6, 2024. The goal of the meeting is to create an intimate, interactive, discussion-oriented atmosphere aimed at nurturing innovative surgical and medical therapeutic approaches and technologies in order to foster best practices for the management of retinal pathologies.
Vitreoretinal surgeon and tenured Associate Professor of Ophthalmology Lejla Vajzovic, MD, FASRS was honored with the prestigious Mentorship Award during the meeting and was a featured speaker. The Mentorship Award celebrates Vajzovic's sustained career commitment to mentoring vitreoretinal fellows and advancing research and patient care in the field of ophthalmology. Vit Buckle Society President Geeta Lalwani, MD, along with Duke alumni Avni Finn, MD and Akshay Thomas, MD, presented her with the award.
Duke Eye Center resident, Emily Jung, MD, PGY1, medical student Lindsey Chew, and research scholar Vahid Ownagh received the Academic Grant Award from the Vit-Buckle Society to present their work during the meeting. Chew also received a best poster award for her research, Feasibility of Screening for Retinal Disease in Children without Pharmacologic Dilation in the Pediatric Primary Care Setting.
Richard Morgan, MD, PhD, PGY3 received the FOCUS award, designed to bolster the pipeline of people from backgrounds that are underrepresented in medicine.
Watch video interview with Vajzovic on receiving the Mentorship award
