Newsletter WAEH | March 2026
Join our Community of Practice – Human Resources
The Human Resources Community of practice meets to discuss topics such as Handholding – From Volunteer to Career, Employment model(s) in ophthalmology, Task differentiation and Burn out prevention. The group will share best practices and learn from each other.
This group is led by Jos Hubers, HR manager from The Rotterdam Eye Hospital (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) and Sue Steen, Chief People Officer at the Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (London, United Kingdom).
The meeting will include a presentation by Sue Steen, in which she will discuss the impact on employees when you move from one building to a new site (Oriel): how do you prepare your staff for such a big change?
🗓️ Thursday, March 26, 2026
🕐 01:00 PM CET
💻 Online (Zoom)
Are you interested in participating in this Community of Practice? Register now!👇🏼
After registration you’ll receive an e-mail with the link to join the meeting on Thursday, March 26.
Please note that this session is only open to staff working at WAEH member eye hospitals. Not a member yet? Join the global WAEH community via our website.
Call for Abstracts open: send in your proposals now!
The WAEH is proud to announce its 20th Annual Meeting, taking place in São Paulo, Brazil, with optional visits to Londrina, Brazil and Chile. This landmark event will bring together our global network of eye hospitals to share knowledge, innovations, and best practices.
Hosts of the meeting:
- Instituto Suel Abujamra, São Paulo, Brazil
- Hoftalon Eye Hospital, Londrina, Brazil
- Clínica Oftalmológica Pasteur, Chile
We are now accepting abstract submissions! Share your research, experiences, or innovative projects with our international eye hospital community.
Topics of the 20th Annual WAEH Meeting will be:
- Eye Hospital Management: Strategic and operational management of eye hospitals, focusing on financial sustainability, performance, and organizational growth.
- Patient Experience (User Experience): Designing and improving the complete patient journey in eye care, across physical and digital touchpoints, from first contact to long-term follow-up.
- Digital Transformation in Eye Care (Non-Clinical) : Leveraging digital technologies to optimize hospital management, operations, and workflows, enhancing efficiency, transparency, and scalability.
- Public Health Systems & Comparative Models: Understanding and comparing global health system models and their impact on access, financing, and delivery of eye care.
- Human Resources & the Workforce of the Future – From Boomers to GenZ: Rethinking workforce strategies in eye hospitals to bridge generations, develop new skills, and build resilient, motivated teams.
- Quality of Care in Eye Care : Ensuring high-quality, safe, and outcome-driven eye care through measurement, standardization, and continuous improvement.
- Science & Clinical Research : Advancing evidence-based eye care through clinical research, outcome measurement, and international knowledge exchange among people working in eyehospitals.
Submit your abstract below! 👇🏼
WAEH Community of Practice – FAIR Images in Ophthalmology | 22 February 2026
On Thursday 26 February 2026, the WAEH launched its new Community of Practice on FAIR Data in Ophthalmology, led by Ciara Bergin, Chief Data Officer at Fondation Asile des Aveugles in Lausanne. The session was moderated by Maaike van Zuilen, Global Lead of WAEH, and brought together eye hospital professionals from the Netherlands, Switzerland, China, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Brazil, Pakistan, France, Rwanda, the United Kingdom, Chile, Sweden, and Singapore.
FAIR stands for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable, and while widely applied in research, the Community focuses on its operational implementation in eye hospitals. Given the vast volume and diversity of ophthalmic imaging data, FAIR data management is critical to improving workflows, enabling AI deployment, strengthening research quality, and ultimately enhancing patient care.
Ciara and the participants discussed shared challenges, including fragmented storage systems, inconsistent metadata, limited DICOM standardization, proprietary formats, manual data entry errors, and difficulties integrating AI tools into daily practice. The discussion distinguished between local challenges – such as PACS and EMR integration, governance, and workflow configuration – and systemic issues, including vendor fragmentation and lack of cross-device interoperability.
A key priority is the development of a shared ophthalmology metadata dictionary to standardize definitions, improve data migration and cohort identification, and support multi-center research and scalable AI implementation. The group agreed to define minimum FAIR criteria and best practices and establish working groups, in order to advance FAIR imaging as a clinical, research, and patient outcome imperative.
Read the full report and watch the full recording on the Knowledge Hub website (for members only)👇🏼
Are you a member but do not have a login code for the Knowledge Hub? Send an email to !
The Community of Practice – FAIR Images in Ophthalmology will reconvene on 27 August 2026, as part of WAEH’s ongoing programme of Communities of Practice on key topics in eye hospital management.
WAEH Survey – Ophthalmic Nursing Education
The WAEH is conducting a short survey to gain insight into the provision of ophthalmic nursing education across its member hospitals.
As we have welcomed several new members since 2023, we would like to invite all current member hospitals to complete this short and anonymous survey. It takes no more than 5 minutes to fill in and will help us better understand and share educational practices within our global community.
Please use the button below to access the survey👇
Many thanks for your support and valuable input!
Wilmer in Focus Newsletter
News from our full member Wilmer Eye Institute
Read the most recent issue of the Wilmer in Focus newsletter – featuring the latest news, staff updates, awards and honors, and upcoming events – below!👇🏼
Eye and Ear community program provides accessible care for glaucoma patients
News from our full member The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital
Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in Australia and affects an estimated 300,000 people. With no cure available and ongoing treatment necessary, this disease places a large strain on specialist healthcare institutions like the Eye and Ear.
The Eye and Ear’s Glaucoma Community Collaborative Care Program (G3CP) is bringing together community providers to ease pressure on the hospital’s waitlist and provide patients with local care.
2026
March
─
Thursday, 12 March | 13.00 PM CET
WAEH Board Meeting
Want to share ideas with the board? Please share: maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org
Friday, 13 March
Workshops by Moorfields Education: Non-medical intravitreal injection course
Monday, 16 March
Workshops by Moorfields Education: Pregnancy considerations in women with eye disease: a day of obstetrics for ophthalmologists
25-27 March
Workshops by Moorfields Education: New to Ophthalmology
Thursday, 26 March | 13.00 PM CET
WAEH Community of Practice – Human Resources
April
─
Monday, 13 April
Workshops by Moorfields Education: Cataract, medical retina and disc assessment
Saturday, 18 April
Workshops by Moorfields Education: International refractive symposium
Saturday, 18 April
Workshops by Moorfields Education: Biometry study day
Saturday, 25 April
Workshops by Moorfields Education: Ophthalmic emergency study day
Thursday, 30 April | 13.00 PM CEST
WAEH Community of Practice – Nurses and Allied Health Personnel
May
─
Wednesday, 6 May
Workshops by Moorfields Education: Basic slit lamp and Goldmann tonometry study day
Friday, 8 May
Workshops by Moorfields Education: Ocular oncology for the non-ocular oncologist: what you need to know for clinical practice
Monday, 18 May
Workshops by Moorfields Education: Botulinum toxin: Is it injector error, side effects or complications
Thursday, 28 May | 13.00 PM CEST
WAEH Community of Practice – Innovation
June
─
1-4 June
Workshops by Moorfields Education: The macula course
4-6 June
IAPB- 2030 IN SIGHT LIVE | Kenya
Thursday, 11 June | 13.00 PM CEST
WAEH Board Meeting
Want to share ideas with the board? Please share: maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org
Thursday, 25 June | 13.00 PM CEST
WAEH Community of Practice – Finances
July
─
Thursday, 2 July | 13.00 PM CEST
WAEH Community of Practice – Fundraising
July 29 – August 4
Workshops by Moorfields Education: Ophthalmology Summer School
August
─
July 29 – August 4
Workshops by Moorfields Education: Ophthalmology Summer School
26-28 August
13th Annual COECSA Conference | Uganda
Thursday, 27 August | 13.00 PM CEST
WAEH Community of Practice – FAIR images in Ophthalmology
September
─
Thursday, 24 September | 13.00 PM CEST
WAEH Community of Practice – Human Resources
28 September – 1 October
ICEVI World Conference| South-Africa
October
─
28 September – 1 October
ICEVI World Conference| South-Africa
Thursday, 8 October | 13.00 PM CEST
WAEH Board Meeting
Want to share ideas with the board? Please share: maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org
Thursday, 15 October | 13.00 PM CEST
WAEH Community of Practice – Nurses and Allied Health Personnel
November
─
9-13 November
20th Annual WAEH Meeting in Brazil
Please check out the event website and register yourself.
All CoP’s have their meeting during the Annual Meeting.
Tuesday, 10 November
WAEH Board Meeting – in person meeting in Brazil
Want to share ideas with the board? Please share: maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org
December
─
Thursday, 3 December | 13.00 PM CET
WAEH Board Meeting
Want to share ideas with the board? Please share: maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org
Thursday, 17 December | 13.00 PM CET
WAEH Community of Practice – Innovation
2027
January
─
Thursday, 28 January | 01.00 PM CET
WAEH Community of Practice – Finances
Questions? Share news?
Do you have a special request? Would you like to organize a webinar or share news? Would you like to be (digitally) connected to a certain person in one of our member eye hospitals? Please feel very welcome to share your questions via the new Community Tool or contact Maaike van Zuilen: Maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org