Kicking off this year’s professional education, Retina New Zealand is inviting all eyecare practitioners (ECPs) to a trailblazing afternoon with renowned keynote speakers, who are specialists in their field, on Friday 21st February 2025 in South Auckland.  

Covering everything from research, diagnostics to new and emerging treatments, the 2025 Retina NZ Symposium offers CPD and is available for in-person and online attendees via Zoom and YouTube.  

Professor Lauren Ayton, head of the Retinal Gene Therapy Unit at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) and the Vision Optimisation Unit at the University of Melbourne, will provide an overview of the treatment options currently in development for RPE65-associated inherited retinal degeneration, including gene therapies (Luxturna and others), optogenetics and other pharmaceuticals. Other speakers include Professor Robyn Guymer, CERA deputy director and professor of surgery (ophthalmology) at the University of Melbourne, who will cover new and emerging treatments for wet and dry AMD; Dr Lola Mugisho, deputy director of the Buchanan Ocular Therapeutics Unit at the University of Auckland (UoA), on key learnings from a decade of chronic inflammation and diabetic retinopathy research; while Associate Professor Monica Acosta, investigator for the Centre of Brain Research and head of the Cell and Molecular Biology of the Retina Laboratory in the School of Optometry and Vision Science, UoA, will discuss retinal biomarkers for unlocking molecular clues into the aging process.  

ECPs are invited to register using this form: https://forms.gle/Wsv2yM3PbLBiYkf87.