The annual ECVO Congress was held in the city of Helsinki, the capital and largest city of Finland, sites in a beautiful location, on a peninsula in the Gulf of Finland. The weather was sunny and the participants could enjoyed the nearby open market, the marina, and the many other city attractions including great green parks, museums, high quality restaurants, and more!

An ECVO record-breaking number of 369 attendees from all over the world gathered in Helsinki for the ECVO scientific meeting which focused this year on medical treatment for ocular disease, and included a total of 80 presentation. Click here for a link to the 2015 ECVO abstracts on the Veterinary Ophthalmology Journal website. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/vop.12300/abstract). The Continuing Education and Masterclass days also focused on the same theme and were given by the outstanding guest speakers: Dr. Allison Clode, DACVO and Dr. Gigi Davidson, DICVP from North Carolina State University, and Prof. Alain Regnier, PhD, From the University of Toulouse.
On Saturday, the fascinating ISVO Magrane lecture was given by the world-renowned Finnish native, Dr. Johan Stjernschantz, the co-inventor of latanoprost. The social events provided an excellent opportunity to meet old and new friends, and also attracted a record-breaking number of participants. A total of 286 people attended the Welcome Reception at the Helsinki City Hall, and 274 people enjoyed the Conference Gala Dinner at Restaurant Saaristo, with a spectacular view of the Gulf of Finland.


NEW ECVO DIPLOMATES

The ECVO had the pleasure of welcoming 4 new Diplomates who passed the 2015 Board examination. The 4 new Diplomates are: Pedro Malho, Freya Mowat, Samuela Mazzucchelli and Katrin Voelter. 


THE ECVO GRANT AND CONFERENCE AWARDS

The ECVO Research Grant was offered again this year. The Grant funds research in areas of Veterinary Ophthalmology to ECVO-approved residents or ECVO Diplomates, and this year it was awarded to James Rushton from the Veterinary University Vienna. The title of his grant proposal is: Introducing equine platelet rich plasma in corneal treatment: an in-vitro study. 
In addition, 2 awards for the best resident presentation, and the best poster presentation were given at the end of the conference. The winners of these awards are:

1. Award for best resident presentation was given to Charlotte Dawson from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), University of London for her presentation: Immediate effects of diamond burr debridement in patients with spontaneous chronic corneal epithelial defects; light and electronmicroscopic evaluation.

2. Award for best poster presentation was given to Natalia Ziolkowska from the University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn, Poland for her presentation: Morphological features of ocular inflammation and distribution of viral antigens in ocular tissues of cats with feline infectious peritonitis (FIP).
For further information on previous and future ECVO Congresses please follow this link (http://ecvo.org/meetings/congresses) and visit our website regularly for updates.

Gil Ben-Shlomo, ECVO Communication Committee