UC Irvine Gavin Herbert Eye Institute 20th Annual Colloquium

Friday, February 19, 2027, 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center, Irvine, CA


AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (5.75 hours), Non-Physician Attendance (5.75 hours)

The Gavin Herbert Eye Institute will organize this educational conference, which will be held on February 19-20, 2027. Goals: 1) to bring together vision clinicians and researchers from UCI and the rest of the world so we can expand our knowledge and collaborate; 2) to promote education and interactions with local, regional, national and global Ophthalmology health care providers; and 3) to expand our interactions with the ophthalmic companies in the area. Speakers include UCI Gavin Herbert Eye Institute ophthalmologists and researchers, and guest speakers who are specialists in their fields. Opportunity for ophthalmic companies to exhibit. The goal of this year’s conference is to create synergy by bringing clinicians and researchers together to establish collaborations. Ophthalmologists interested in the comprehensive, clinical applications and translational research that address eye diseases are the main target audience.

1. Attendees will review current molecular and imaging-based diagnostic advances in uveal melanoma, understand emerging precision/personalized therapeutic approaches, and identify how these developments should influence referral timing and patient counseling.
2. Learn diagnostic criteria distinguishing NTG from early POAG, recognize red-flag findings warranting neuroimaging or systemic vascular workup (nocturnal hypotension, sleep apnea, vasospasm), and understand how environmental/lifestyle factors affect IOP, ocular perfusion pressure, and disease course.
3. Participants will understand current evidence on surgical timing and outcomes in the first months of life, recognize the elevated and long-tailed risk of secondary glaucoma after congenital cataract surgery, and apply best practices for IOL selection and long-term monitoring in complicated pediatric cases.
4. Attendees will compare subretinal, suprachoroidal, and intravitreal gene delivery platforms and their trade-offs, review the expanding roster of IRDs now targeted by gene therapy (RP, achromatopsia, choroideremia, Stargardt, X-linked retinoschisis), and understand how trial endpoint design affects real-world referral decisions.
5. Learn why structure-function discordance is most pronounced in mild and severe disease, understand the "floor effect" limiting OCT reliability in advanced glaucoma, and apply event-based and trend-based progression analysis to guide treatment escalation when structural and functional tests disagree.
6. Attendees will understand the biometric pitfalls specific to irregular corneas, compare performance of keratoconus-specific IOL formulas versus standard formulas, and apply preoperative stabilization strategies (crosslinking, ring segments) and toric vs. monofocal vs. small-aperture IOL decision-making in these eyes.
7. Participants will recognize common but underdiagnosed patterns of adult strabismus (sagging eye syndrome, restrictive thyroid eye disease, iatrogenic diplopia), understand goal-directed surgical priorities and realistic success/reoperation rates, and identify when multidisciplinary or specialist referral is warranted.
8. Attendees will identify the most common cognitive and process-based sources of diagnostic error in neuro-ophthalmic presentations (history, exam, differential generation), understand the downside of premature closure and inappropriate testing/treatment prior to referral, and apply strategies to reduce preventable diagnostic delay and harm.
9. Learn the current evidence-based treatment algorithm for macular edema secondary to BRVO/CRVO, understand the systemic workup and cardiovascular risk-factor counseling now recommended for all RVO patients, and identify surveillance needs for neovascular complications in ischemic disease.
10. Attendees will apply triage criteria distinguishing emergent from urgent-but-schedulable retinal detachments, compare anatomic and visual outcomes across pneumatic retinopexy, scleral buckle, and pars plana vitrectomy (including PIVOT trial data), and counsel patients on realistic recovery expectations for each approach.
11. Learn the current evidence on optimal anti-VEGF-to-surgery interval to minimize both postoperative hemorrhage and tractional detachment risk, recognize which vitreous hemorrhage presentations warrant urgent vitrectomy versus observation, and understand how combined tractional-rhegmatogenous detachment changes surgical urgency.
12. Understand the mechanism of dichoptic stimulation and binocular integration, identify patient suitability for binocular therapy versus traditional monocular treatment, and evaluate current evidence on efficacy, compliance challenges, and long-term outcomes.
13. Attendees will review the sensitivity and turnaround-time limitations of culture-based diagnosis, understand the role of adjunct modalities (in vivo confocal microscopy, PCR, MALDI-TOF MS) in accelerating diagnosis, and apply strategies to reduce time-to-treatment in suspected fungal keratitis.
14. Learn the evidence-based TFOS DEWS III prescribing algorithm organized by disease subtype/etiology rather than staged severity alone, review newer anti-inflammatory, device-assisted, and neuromodulatory treatment options, and apply individualized, phenotype-driven management to replace one-size-fits-all approaches.

ADA Statement: In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, we will make every reasonable effort to accommodate your request.  For any special requests, please contact the activity administrator before the meeting date.

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Event Contact: Dana Collison at [email protected].

The University of California, Irvine School of Medicine adheres to ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independance in Accredited Continuing Education regarding industry support of continuing medical education activities. Disclosure of faculty and their commercial relationships will be made prior to the activity.

Mitigation of Relevant Financial Relationships

University of California, Irvine School of Medicine Continuing Medical Education adheres to the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity, including faculty, planners, reviewers or others are required to disclose all relevant financial relationships with ineligible entities (commercial interests). All relevant conflicts of interest have been mitigated prior to the commencement of the activity.

Friday, February 19, 2027