A great opportunity for young ophthalmologists: BHAAAS presents a prestigious educational award

The BHAAAS Ophthalmology Section has secured a special award this year for young ophthalmologists and ophthalmology residents, which will be presented for the best abstract (research paper) and best presentation at the Sixth International Ophthalmology Symposium to be held in Sarajevo on June 6–7, 2026, at Hotel Bristol, Mövenpick. The entire Sunday program will be dedicated to young ophthalmologists and presentations of their scientific research.

The symposium’s scientific committee, composed of associate and full professors of ophthalmology, will select the best paper and award the winner with a prestigious cataract surgery wet lab training in Prague, with travel and accommodation expenses covered. This award has been made possible thanks to BHAAAS’s long-term partner, the company MES from Zenica, and its director Ena Petrušić.

Surgical wet labs are educational trainings conducted in controlled environments, usually on animal or artificial eyes, and represent an essential part of training for young ophthalmologists before they begin operating on real patients under the mentorship of senior colleagues. The learning curve in ophthalmic microsurgery is long and demanding, requiring years of training and practice; therefore, this award represents an invaluable opportunity for young ophthalmologists.

Such educational programs are typically organized only in selected European cities and are often financially inaccessible to residents and young ophthalmologists in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the wider region. Participation in the ISCOPE cataract wet lab alone costs €3,750, making this award especially attractive to participants in the young ophthalmologists session, according to this year’s symposium co-chairs Dr. Nina Jovanović, Dr. Melita Adilović-Čabrić, Dr. Ernesta Potkonjak, and Dr. Nisada Rehić-Skokić.

BHAAAS has already organized PHACO wet labs and Anti-VEGF wet labs as part of its previous ophthalmology symposia, and this year continues that tradition while taking it a step further.

This year’s symposium program will also include the Alcon School of Biometry, featuring hands-on training using the ARGOS biometer, aimed at improving cataract surgery outcomes with implantation of the latest-generation premium intraocular lenses (multifocal, EDOF, toric IOLs), enabling patients to achieve excellent distance, intermediate, and near vision. In addition, a radiology school of biometry will be organized, where participants, together with radiologists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United States, and Austria, will gain knowledge in interpreting diagnostic imaging of the eye and orbit, as well as proper indications and clinical applications of radiological methods in ophthalmology.