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Following the academic advisory council meeting in the master's program M.Sc. Vision Science and Business (Optometry), renowned international experts in optometry, including alumni from Aalen University, gave lectures on Friday afternoon. At the event, four experts provided insights into their professional lives. Topics ranged from glaucoma research to contact lens and sports optometry to digitization and the European Diploma of Optometry. Prof. Dr. Anna Nagl, Dean of Studies at Aalen University of the Master degree program, welcomed the members of the Academic Advisory Council and the numerous bachelor and master students in Aalen University’s new auditorium building.

AALEN The afternoon on Friday, March 15, at Aalen University was all about optometry. With four lectures around the early detection of the glaucom and case studies from the contact lens and sports optometry field as well as the digitization an interesting program was offered. Prof. Antonio Cavallerano from Aalen University's American partner University, the New England College of Optometry, Boston, opened the event with a talk on "Glaucoma Research and Patient Care". Prof. Cavallerano discussed the latest findings in the research of the Glaucom disease and explained how new technologies, such as B. Virtual Reality, can be used in diagnostics.

Exciting use cases
Mike Wyss, also alumni of the master's program and board member of the eyeness AG in Bern, showed by means of examples of his clients how important a high optometric competence is for the optimal care of the population with vision problems. Markus Hofmann, founder and board member of Sehzentrum Zürich AG and also alumni of the Aalen master's program, gave insights into the exciting field of sports optometry and showed with detailled examples, which successes with a visual training for (professional) athletes after a sport-indicated concussion can be achieved.

Digitization offers new possibilities
The fact that digitization is also important for optometry was the topic of the speaker Hans Torvald Haugo, Secretary General and Professional Manager of the Norwegian Opticians' Association, who arrived from Norway for the day. He gave a vivid account of new developments in e-health and optometry. In his presentation, he also showed how customers can already make refractions with web solutions and smartphone applications on their own - without seeing an optometrist. Finally, he briefly presented the so-called ECOO diploma, the European Diploma in Optometry. The aim of the ECOO diploma is to harmonize the vocational and training systems for optometry and optics throughout Europe. The Aalener part-time Master degree program M.Sc. Vision Science and Business (Optometry) plans to become part of this Europe-wide initiative.

On this afternoon, all speakers presented current insights from research and daily practice to the audience in an exciting and understandable way. The lectures gave the students a practical insight into their future professional field. Prof. Nagl encouraged the students to be curious and invited them to liaise with the attending experts, f.e. for their internship. The chairman of the alumni association "Aalen Friends of Optometry e.V.", and owner of an optometry practice, Georg Scheuerer, finds "that this afternoon succeeded the students for the exciting profession of becoming an optometrist and for the continuing education after their (first) degree."

Apply now: At present, there are only two of the 14 seats in the Aalen part-time Master's program M.Sc. Vision Science and Business (Optometry) with start in July 2019 free: www.optometry-master.de

Image licensing: Aalen University, Pia Heusel