EyeCon 2023: Overview with Dr Kelly Nichols

Dr Kelly Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO, met with Optometry Time to discuss EyeCon, a meeting that combines optometry and ophthalmology. EyeCon will be held December 1 and 2 in Sanibel Island, Flordia.

Video Transcript

Editors note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Emily Kaiser:
Hi, everyone. I'm Emily Kaiser with Optometry Times, and today we're sitting down with Dr Kelly Nichols, co-chair of EyeCon which will be held [December]* 1 and 2, 2023 in Sanibel Island, Florida. Welcome, Dr Nichols, thank you for taking the time to be here.

Kelly Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO:
Thanks, Emily, it's a pleasure. I'm looking forward to the meeting this year.

Kaiser:
Yeah, we're really excited too. So first, can you tell us a little bit more about EyeCon, what makes it special?

Nichols:
Sure. This is our second year of having the meeting, and from its inception, it was intended to be a joint, blended meeting. So, it's Optometry Times and Ophthalmology Times together, so they're optometrist and ophthalmologists that are attending lectures in the same facility and spending some time together. That should be really exciting this year, again, to do the same thing.
Absolutely. What are you most excited about for this year's meeting?
Well, I think that because [it] was such a success and having the groups together last year, people wanted more interaction. So this year, the whole first day is going to be joint talks with optometry and ophthalmology speakers, [with] some high level topics, really interesting things, current events, and things like that. Then in day 2, we'll have 2 parallel tracks, but we can switch back and forth between whichever anybody's comfortable or interested in attending. It really is going to be a very blended meeting this year, and I think that just kicks it up to have such good reviews from folks that it was nice to be together.

Kaiser:
Yeah, absolutely. I think that sounds really exciting and very innovative and interesting. So, you kind of mentioned a little bit about how the dual tracks were hit last year at the inaugural Eyecon. Is that something that you're excited to take to the next level this year?

Nichols:
I think it's exciting because the panel is that we have, especially in the whole first day, are truly experts in these particular topic areas, but coming at it from a slightly different angle. So, it'll be just really full verse, and hopefully the conversation will be very good. This meeting is set up so that there's some conversation. Well, actually, there's some lecture that's done in an interactive way. Then there's a lot of panel discussion and Q&A that happens. I think that's where the best knowledge is really given to the audience because they can ask questions about how's it really done, [and] what do you think the direction is for the future. It's an interactive atmosphere as well, which is always nice and makes it interesting, in my opinion.

Kaiser:
Yeah, absolutely. Do you have anything else you'd like to share about EyeCon?

Nichols:
Well, I think that we're going to be hitting a lot of topics that we normally see. So we're going to have topics like front of the eye and back of the eye, [and] there'll be surgical concepts. But, we're going to be talking about myopia control and neuropsychiatric disease. Again, we're going to come at it from a blended approach so that any of the attendees could join either of the tracks or any of the lectures and get something out of them. And, who can say anything bad about the location of this meeting in December? Everybody wants a little bit of sun in Florida. We're looking forward to being in Florida again, so, of course, that's a highlight.

Kaiser:
Yeah, of course. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat today, Dr Nichols, and I can't wait to see you in Florida.

Nichols:
Yeah, me too. I hope that we have a great attendance. See you in Florida.

*Editors note- Changed to correct date