Introducing the new PAAO-YO Chairs

Initially, I want to thank the Board of Directors of the PAAO for granting me the privilege to be co-Chair of the PAAO-YO from 2017 to 2022. It has been a true honor to serve under the extraordinary presidency of Dr. Fernando Arevalo, Dr. Miguel Burnier, and Dr. Paulo Dantas. I cannot thank them enough for believing in and supporting us in creating this fun and cohesive group. This has been an exciting and enriching experience to lead young Ophthalmologists from so many different countries in Latin America and Europe.

I also want to express my gratitude to my co-chair Jorge Fortun and the executive committee (Bruna Ventura, Juan Carlos Ginés, Pedro Carricondo, and Sandra Belálcazar), along with our 42 delegates from 38 countries for the partnership over these five years. When looking back, I am overjoyed with what we have accomplished in these past five years:

• We organized symposiums, social events (Eye Ball), and a YO lounge with a complete agenda in the biannual meetings in Lima (2017) and Cancun (2019).
• We created the PAAO YO page in the PAAO website and our own social media in 2020.
• We did our first YO photography contest in 2021.
• We have hosted 13 YO Webinars since its creation in 2020.

It gives me enormous pride to see our accomplishments and that we have created a strong and unique bond between us. It has been a pleasure to work with each of you and I want to thank you for your contributions, commitment, and friendship over the years.

Other special thanks go to Teresa Bradshaw, Terri Grassi, and Krista Jonas for being huge supporters of our work and for always being so helpful and available in our journey. I appreciate you so much!

And without further due, it gives me much joy to introduce our new PAAO-YO co-chairs: Dr. Linda Cernichiaro and Dr. Eduardo Viteri Solórzano.  Dr. Cernichiaro is a pediatric retina specialist from Mexico and is currently doing her post-doctoral fellowship in ocular oncology at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Viteri finished his vitreoretinal surgery training and works in Guayaquil, Ecuador. They have extraordinary leadership skills and have been committed to the PAAO-YO since 2017. They have all my support to continue leading the PAAO-YO group, and I am convinced that they will make great contributions to PAAO. I wish you great success in your new positions!

Dr. Camila Ventura
Former PAAO-YO Chair