Since the publication of the TFOS MGD Workshop Report, and its distribution to over 12,600 ARVO members, TFOS has actively promoted its dissemination to clinicians and researchers around the world. In brief, we have:
- created a video interview with Drs. David A. Sullivan and Kelly K. Nichols: TFOS MGD Report – The Story
- distributed complimentary hard copies of the special IOVS issue containing the Report to all Workshop participants and TFOS members.
- published an overview of the TFOS MGD Report in the Contact Lens Spectrum, Ophthalmology Management and Optometry Management
- emailed (via the Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions Vision Care Group) an overview of the Report to 8,800 ophthalmologists and 34,000 optometrists in the USA.
- noted a very nice commentary about Dr. Kelly Nichol’s Chairmanship of the TFOS MGD Workshop http://www.revoptom.com/e-newsletters/opnl/c/27618/
- distributed information about the Report to members of The External Eye Disease Group received details about the Report – Members originate from Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Israel, Lebanon, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Turkey. This distribution was made by Dr. Igor Petricek, an ophthalmologist from Zagreb University Hospital in Croatia. He will also post links to the Report on the Croatian Ophthalmology Society webpage.
- received permission to have the overview, and links to the Report, placed on the VISION2020 and The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) websites (http://www.vision2020.org/main.cfm?Type=NI&objectid=4471). VISION 2020 is the global initiative for the elimination of avoidable blindness, a joint program of the World Health Organization and IAPB. These websites reach people throughout Africa, as well as other regions throughout the world. Ms. Neebha Budhoo, the IAPB Regional Administrator for Africa, gave us this permission. Dr. Kovin Naidoo recommended that we communicate with Neebha. Kovin, in turn, is the Global Director of the International Centre for Eyecare Education Africa, the President-Elect of the African Council of Optometry and an Associate Professor of Optometry at the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa.
- received permission to have the overview, and links to the Report, placed on The Middle East Africa Council of Ophthalmology (MEACO) website (http://meaco.org/page.php?mdid=30). MEACO is one of the four supranational organizations recognized by the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO), representing the national and sub regional ophthalmological societies in Africa and the Middle East including Turkey and Iran. This permission was granted by the MEACO President, Abdulaziz AlRahji, MD (Saudi Arabia), who will also link the overview in their next newsletter.
- licensed various translation rights to Laboratories Thea, which will distribute the overview & Executive Summary in Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and Turkish to hundreds of thousands of eye care practitioners. The translations will also be available on the TFOS website and TFOS App (coming soon).
- licensed the Japanese translation rights to Santen, which will distribute the entire translated Report and overview to thousands of ophthalmologists throughout Japan.
- learned that Dr. Ahmad Salamat Rad, an Iranian ophthalmologist, will translate a concise version of the Report and publish this translation in the Iranian Journal of Cornea and Contact Lens.
- asked Drs. Fiona Stapleton and Eric Papas are distributing the overview and Report link to the Australian professional eyecare associations (i.e. RANZCO, OAA, Australian Cornea and Contact Lens Society). They will or have forward(ed) this information.
- received permission from Dr. Mark Mannis, the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology (PAAO) President, to publish the overview and Report link in Spanish in Vision Pan-America, the PAAO journal (http://www.paao.org/). This journal reaches over 1,500 eye care practitioners throughout Latin and South America.
- asked Dr. Donald Tan for help in circulating the overview and Report link to all Asia Cornea Society members. Donald agreed, and will also send the information to regional and national cornea societies in Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, etc.
- followed Dr. Eduardo Rocha’s advice and received permission from Dr. Wallace Chamon, Editor-in-Chief, to publish the overview and Report link in Portuguese in the September issue of the Arquivos Brasileiros de Oftalmologia. This journal reaches ophthalmologists throughout Brazil. An editorial about the Report will also appear in the journal.
- learned that ASCRS published a special report in June about the TFOS MGD Workshop and distributed this summary to its members via EyeWorld. This organization has a distribution to over 22,000 ophthalmologists throughout the world.
- commissioned Jing Hua, MD (Boston) to translate the overview into Mandarin and Cantonese. Her translations were proofread by Yan Wang, MD (Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University) and will be distributed soon to clinicians in the Chinese Ophthalmological Society by Lixin Xie, MD (Society President and Director of Shandong Eye Institute). Lixin also invited Dr. David A. Sullivan to give an overview of the entire Workshop Report at the 16th Congress of the Chinese Ophthalmological Society (http://www.coschina.org/2011/en/index.asp).
- learned that all 9 chapters of the Report are the most frequently read articles in IOVS between October 2010 through September 2011 – and our Report was only available for 6 of those months.
Overall, our goal was to disseminate the TFOS MGD Workshop information throughout the world. We are well on our way to achieving that goal.