The 13th Annual Vit-Buckle Society Meeting was held in Austin, TX, from March 20-22, 2025. This event aimed to create an intimate, interactive, and discussion-oriented atmosphere to nurture innovative surgical and medical therapeutic approaches and technologies. The goal was to foster best practices for managing retinal pathologies. Duke faculty and trainees participated by leading and moderating sessions and giving poster presentations.
Duke faculty presenters included Durga Borkar, MD, MMCi, Glenn Jaffe, MD, Yannek Leiderman, MD, PhD, and Lejla Vajzovic, MD, FASRS.
Duke trainee presenters included Bani Antonio Aguirre, MD, Venkatkrish Kasetty, MD, Vahid Ownagh, MD, Anjali Saini, Terry Lee, MD, Nikhil Gadiraju and Lindsey Chew.
Research fellow Anjali Saini received the Best Research Poster by a Fellow award for her poster, "Screening for Referable Macular Pathologies in Retirement Centers using a Nonmydriatic Robotic OCT Fundus Camera." Lejla Vajzovic, MD, FASRS and Majda Hadziahmetovic, MD served as her mentors.
Glenn Jaffe, MD received the "Best Moderator Award" for moderating the session, "Medical Retina Rapid Fire."
Durga Borkar, MD, MMCi presenting her paper, "Association between Private Equity Acquisition and Retinal Detachment Surgery Volume."
Lejla Vajzovic, MD, FASRS moderating the "Lightning Rounds" Session.
Medical Student, Lindsey Chew with her poster, "Innovative minimally-invasive subretinal injection method enables development of novel gene therapies for age-related macular degeneration on retinal degeneration."
Medical student, Nikhil Gadiraju with his poster, "Evaluating performance of ResNet-50 and RETFound Image Classification Algorithm on Ultra-widefield Fundus Image."
Research fellow Bani Antonia-Aguirre, MD with her poster, "Evaluation of Novel Single-Step Subretinal Injection Device Using Microscope-Integrated Optical Coherence Tomography".
Research fellow Vahid Ownagh, MD with his poster, "Risk factors and Outcomes for Recurrent or Persistent Pediatric Retinal Detachments."
Duke Retina faculty and alumni enjoying VBS!