2004: The Origins of the IOL Power Club—How It All Started

The IOL Power Club began because of a happenstance meeting on the last day of the ASCRS meeting in San Diego on May 4, 2004. Thomas Olsen, MD (Århus, Denmark), had visited me in Santa Monica for 2 days prior to the meeting. On the last day of the meeting, he asked me to meet him in the large conference area to discuss the study we were working on. While we were chatting, Jaime Aramberri, MD (San Sebastian, Spain), was passing by and I called him over to introduce him to Dr. Olsen. A remarkably interesting discussion ensued regarding ELP determination. Ten minutes later, Wolfgang Haigis, PhD (Würzburg, Germany), was lugging his bags across the other side of the large room and waved goodbye to me. I waved him over and introductions were made, and then the discussion by the four of us became even more interesting.

I sat back for a moment and realized that this was an amazing interaction among us four IOL power fanatics that was a unique opportunity. But since everyone was on their way home, I suggested that we continue this discussion at some future time when we would have more opportunity to fully discuss these subjects. Since the next ESCRS meeting (that I would be attending) was going to be held in Lisbon, Portugal, in September 2005, I suggested that we might meet somewhere prior to that. Since I love San Sebastian (I first visited in 2001), I asked Dr. Aramberri if he would be willing to host the get-together in his city. He embraced the idea wholeheartedly.

After we returned home, we had all exchanged email addresses and subsequent correspondence led to Dr. Olsen inviting Sverker Norrby, PhD (Groningen, Holland), and me inviting H John Shammas, MD (Los Angeles, CA), to join the meeting if they were interested. They both said they were and they made plans to take part. Being very busy, I did very little to get things moving over the remainder of 2004 and even into 2005. My wife, Marcia, continuously asked me if I had done anything to follow up on this meeting, but I just never got to it. It was only due to her constant persistence and reminders that I finally restarted the email correspondence to get things rolling again. Marcia felt this was a very special idea and it should definitely come to pass; for some reason, this seemed important in her mind. I must admit, without her perseverance, we might never have gotten together. Through email, the dates for the first meeting were set for September 6–8, 2005.

The Club and By-Laws

The following year, Marcia and I were traveling in France for 3 months prior to the ESCRS meeting. Two weeks before driving to San Sebastian, I had thought it might be of interest to form a private club to have an organizational structure to continue such meetings in the future. In the city of Vézelay, France, I had to stay up very late on August 9, 2005, to make a 4 a.m. tele-conference meeting in the USA. In a nearby restaurant called Le Cheval Blanc (below), I wrote a potential set of by-laws, which we later called the “Rules of Vézelay”.

2005: First IPC Meeting—San Sebastian, Spain, September 6–8, Abba Londres y de Inglaterra Hotel

First Meeting

We all arrived in San Sebastian on September 6, 2005. Below are photos of the very first IPC get-together in the lobby of the Londres Hotel and Jaime then showed us his beautiful city (especially the Old Town) and we had an evening of eating tapas (pinxtos in Basque language).

3 photos. Top left, a group of almost 8 individuals sitting in a circle and discussing. Top right, a man and a woman sitting, facing each other and talking. Bottom, a man points his hands to a place and a group of almost 6 individuals near him is looking at the place.

The next day, we held our first scientific meeting at Dr. Aramberri’s BegiTeck Clinica which was an easy walk from the hotel. We held an organizational session, discussed, and carefully edited the proposed by-laws I had submitted, printed them out, and all six of us agreed and signed them. Thus, the IOL Power Club was officially formed, not by any planned or preconceived intention, but purely by happenstance.

3 photos. Top left, 5 men sitting before a table and discussing. Some of them have a laptop before them. Top right, 4 men seated before a table are discussing. A man is standing before a writing board. Bottom, a photo of a paper has the signatures of 6 people for the I O L power club.

First Officers: Per our new by-laws, we elected officers for a 2-year term: Jaime Aramberri as Vice-President, Thomas Olsen as Secretary, Wolfgang Haigis as Treasurer, and they forced me to be President. We agreed that Executive Committee (EC) members could invite new members, but there was no interest or intention that the Club grow into some large Society; this was heavily stressed by both Haigis and I. The requirements for membership were an MD or PhD degree, long-term interest in IOL Power calculation, and ample evidence of publications, research, and teaching in this subject. It was also agreed, because of the importance of the social interactions of the Club, that if a minimum of one member of the EC did not approve a new member, they would not be admitted. The EC decided that it would hold annual scientific sessions alternating between the USA and the EU. We elected Syvatoslav Fyodorov, MD (Moscow, Russia, deceased), Hermann Gernet, MD (Germany), and John Retzlaff, MD (Medford, OR USA), as Honorary members.

The next day, we participated in a taped video interview session (below) requested by Alcon, Spain, which they wanted to use for educational purposes. In return, they became the very first Sponsor of IPC. We began the session with Dr. Aramberri (as host) moderating and each of us made presentations.

An illustration. It has 6 photos of a group of 5 men and a woman discussing, a man capturing the meeting with a camera, 2 men sitting before a table and listening, 6 men posing for a photo, cards for the I O L power club, and a group of individuals sitting before a dinner table. A logo of power club.

Since we were all professionally dressed, they asked us to take a group photograph (above). This was a once-in-a-lifetime event. We ended the meeting with a celebratory dinner Jamie arranged at Arzak restaurant (above). The best part was the great sense of trust and camaraderie that developed among the six of us. We all agreed not to “borrow” each other’s ideas. Jaime had successfully arranged a wonderful meeting that would be very hard to repeat. Over the following year, Jaime engaged an artist to produce a logo for the Club (above). We used it to create name badges, which we have used ever since our second meeting (above right, badges of 12 meetings).

2006: Second IPC Meeting—Carmel, CA, March 22–25, Pine Inn Hotel

Our next meeting was scheduled for Carmel, CA, after the ASCRS meeting in San Francisco. Dr. Shammas and I agreed to Co-Chair our first US meeting, and we held our scientific sessions on the second floor deck room of the Pine Inn Hotel. John Retzlaff attended with his wife, Tommi. Unbeknownst to any of us, Dr. Norrby had informed Han Bor Fam, MD (Singapore) about the meeting and to my surprise, he showed up. He has attended every single IPC meeting (except 2) since then. Below is the schedule for this meeting (the first time we ever prepared one). There were not many of us so, we only had one large table to sit at and make our presentations (photo of Shammas, Hoffer and Aramberri).

A timetable lists the schedules on Wednesday, March 22. Thursday, March 23. Friday, March 24. Saturday, March 25. Sunday, March 26.

Above is the Pine Inn. Attendees: For the first time, we invited more people from the industry including from Alcon: Shane Dunne, PhD, Charlie Campbell, Eric Storne, and Steve Van Noy as well as Claus Dreher from Carl Zeiss Meditec that joined as Sponsors. The meeting was of high caliber and very successful. The EC got a group photo in front of the famous “Lone Pine” (EC with John & Tommi Retzlaff and Han Bor Fam). 

2007: First Independent IPC EC Meeting—San Diego, CA April 28 Croce’s Restaurant

The EC decided to hold their first independent meeting in San Diego prior to the 2007 Aarhus meeting. It was there that we invited Jean-Philippe Colliac (Paris, France) for the first time and our new member Scott McClatchey (San Diego) (below left) joined us.

An illustration with 2 photographs of the first independent I P C E C meeting in San Diego. Left. Members sit around a table. Right. Members pose for a group photograph.

2007: Third IPC Meeting—Århus, Denmark, September 4–6, Hotel Royal

Our next meeting was to be near the September 2007 ESCRS meeting in Stockholm, Sweden. We decided to have our meeting in Århus, Denmark, with Drs. Olsen and Norrby as Co-Chairmen. They chose our venue at the Hotel Royal. We were pleased to have AMO join Alcon and Zeiss in participating in the meeting, thanks to its CEO, Jim Mazzo. Dr. Olsen scheduled an excellent meeting. Invited speakers for the first time were Gabor Koranyi, MD (Växjö, Sweden), Oliver Findl, MD (Vienna, Austria), and Giacomo Savini, MD (Bologna, Italy, below right). Wolfgang brought his wife Katrine and son Michael (below center).

An illustration with 6 photographs of the third I P C meeting in Arhus. The photographs include the venue, Hotel Royal and the attendees. The attendees include Alcon, Zeiss, Jim Mazzo, Dr. Olsen, Gabor Koranyi, Oliver Findl, Giacomo Savini, Wolfgang's wife Katrine and son Michael.
The I O L power club meeting scientific program schedule and a group photograph of the attendees. The schedule includes dates, time, and details of the sessions.

We had a group shot taken of all the attendees (above). Arnie Sicam PhD and Han Bor Fam joined us. After 2 years in office, it was time for an election. We finally cajoled Aramberri to agree to be elected President, and I agreed to serve as Vice-President. Olsen was again elected Secretary as was Haigis as Treasurer. We unanimously elected Oliver Findl, Gabor Koranyi, and Giacomo Savini as members and Rob Van der Heijde, PhD (Amsterdam, Holland), as an Honorary Member. Jaime thanked Tom for organizing an excellent meeting. 

2008: Fourth IPC Meeting—St. Pete Beach, FL, November 12–16, Tradewinds Island Grand Resort

Our fourth Scientific Meeting was held after the AAO Meeting in Atlanta, GA. This became our longest and largest meeting thus far. This is the first year we had sign posters made for our meeting Sponsors.

An illustration with 2 photographs and a poster. Top panel. The photographs present the Tradewinds Island Grand Resort, St. Pete Beach and a group photograph of the attendees. Bottom panel. A poster reads I O L power club 2004 meeting 4 co chaired by Kenneth Hoffer.

We welcomed our newest Honorary Member, Rob Van der Heijde, PhD (Netherlands), our other new members, Claudio Carbonara, MD (Roma, Italy), Jean-Philippe Colliac, MD (Paris, France), Douglas Koch, MD (Houston, TX), and members Gabor Koranyi, MD (Sweden), John Moran, MD, PhD (Houston, TX), Giacomo Savini, MD, Scott McClatchey, MD, and Han Bor Fam, MD. Our members Oliver Findl, MD (Vienna, Austria), and Massimo Camellin, MD (Rovigo, Italy), were not able to attend.

Below (L-R): Haigis, Aramberri, Norrby, Fam, Van der Heijde, Koch, McClatchey, Moran, He and Wang.

We had return representation from active meeting Sponsors such as AMO (Dan Neal, PhD), Alcon (Mike Simpson, MD, PhD, and George Pettit, MD, PhD), Carl Zeiss Meditec (Claus Dreher and Rudolf Von Buenau), first-time participants Bausch and Lomb (Griffith Altman and Gerhard Youssefi), Haag-Streit (Ruedi Wätli, PhD), Ziemer (Arnoud Snepvangers, Roger Cattin, Cindy Roberts, PhD), and Oculus (Jörg Iwanczuk, right). Jörg has participated and sponsored every meeting ever since, even though the EC gave him a hard time at this meeting. Many of them made excellent scientific presentations. Invited lecturers this year were Li Wang, MD, PhD (Houston, TX, left) and Ji He, PhD (Boston, MA).

A photograph of Jorg Iwanczuk.

Our meetings developed a tradition of treating all physicians, scientists, and members of the industry as equals, eschewing competition, at least during this meeting. Sverker Norrby presented on ACD prediction, and Ken Hoffer presented the first paper on the new Haag-Streit LenStar 900.

An illustration with 2 photographs. Left. Ken Hoffer presents a paper on Len Star 900. Right. 6 attendees standing on either side of a poster listing and thanking the sponsors of the Power Club. The sponsors are titled gold, silver, and bronze.

2009: Second IPC Executive Committee Independant Meeting—St. Helena, CA, April 7–9

We had grown in membership and interaction capabilities, so an EC planning session was held in the Napa Valley town of St. Helena after the ASCRS meeting in San Francisco. Dr. Aramberri was unable to attend.

An illustration with 2 photographs of the second I P C executive committee independent meeting in St. Helena. Left. The 8 attendees pose for a group photograph. Right. During the meeting the attendees are seated around a table.

2009: Fifth IPC Meeting—Roses, Spain, September 8–11, Vistabella Hotel

The fifth Scientific Meeting was held at the Vistabell Hotel in the coastal town of Roses, Spain, prior to the ESCRS in Barcelona.

Attendees: New member Massimo Camellin (and his son Umberto), members Claudio Carbonara, Han Bor Fam, Oliver Findl, and Giacomo Savini. Industry: Dan Neal (AMO), Rudolf Wätli (Haag-Streit), Claus Dreher (Zeiss), Burkhard Wagner (Zeiss), Steve Van Noy (Alcon), Jörg Iwanczuk (Oculus), and first timer Francesco Versaci (CSO, Italy). Giacomo Savini and I ended the meeting by continuing the work on our collaborative studies.

An illustration presents 5 photographs and the schedule for the fifth I P C meeting in Roses, Spain. The photographs include the venue Vistabell Hotel, the coastal town of Roses, a speaker during the presentation, and the attendees seated during the meeting.

Our third election resulted in Shammas as President, Norrby as Vice-President, Olsen as Secretary, and Haigis as Treasurer. There was discussion by Haigis as to limiting the membership to 20, but it was not passed.

2010: Sixth IPC Meeting—Venice, Italy, August 30 to September 2 Splendid Hotel

This meeting was chaired by Massimo Camellin and Sverker Norrby. The EC Business meeting was fully attended.

An illustration presents a poster and a photograph of the sixth I P C meeting, in Venice, Italy. The poster reads I O L power club 2010, meeting 6, and E C past president. The photograph presents the attendees seated around a table.

Attendees: Members: Edmondo Borasio, Massimo Camellin, Claudio Carbonara, Nino Hirnschall, and Giacomo Savini. Invited Speakers: Carmen Canovas, PhD (AMO), and Sean Ianchulev, MD. Industry: Jörg Iwanzcuk (Oculus), Jennifer Lewis, PhD (Ziemer), Burkhard Wagner and Tobias Bühren (Zeiss), Rudolf Wätli (Haag-Streit), and Francesco Versaci (CSO).

An illustration with 2 photographs and the 2010 sixth I P C meeting program for thirtieth and thirty-first August. The photographs include a group photograph of the attendees and a photograph of the attendees during the meeting.

I did my usual introduction of industry attendees which has become a tradition, followed by Session IA “Biometry” moderated by Wolfgang Haigis (below right).

An illustration with 2 photographs of the biometry session. Left. A photograph of the attendees. Right. A photograph of the presenter Wolfgang Haigis.

Nino Hirnschall (below left) presented “Influence of IOL Design/Orientation on Decentration and Tilt Measured With A Clinical Purkinjemeter” and Jaime Aramberri (right) on “Lens Thickness Importance In ELP Prediction.”

An illustration with 2 photographs of presenters with ongoing presentation. The background presents a large screen with an informative slide. Left. A photograph of Nino Hirnschall. Right. A photograph of Jaime Aramberri.

2011: Third EC Independent Meeting Santa Monica, CA March 29-April 2 Le Merigot Hotel

The EC held a Scientific Session following the ASCRS meeting in San Deigo. Jaime Aramberri and Sverker Norrb were not able to attend.

2011: Seventh IPC Meeting—Würzburg, Germany, September 22–25 Steinberg Schloss Hotel

The Meeting was held at the Steinberg Castle and Chaired by Wolfgang Haigis. Our EC Business meeting was held (below left), and our Officers election for 2011–2013 resulted in Norrby as our next President, Olsen as Vice-President, Hoffer as Secretary, and Haigis as Treasurer. Below right are our Honorary Members, Drs. Hermann Gernet (left, deceased) and John Retzlaff with his wife Tommi.

An illustration with 2 photographs of the 2011 Seventh I P C Meeting, in Wurzburg, Germany. Left. Attendees of the E C business meeting. Right. Honorary members Hermann Gernet, John Retzlaff, and Retzlaff's wife Tommi.

Wolf took the EC for tours (below) before the meeting began. Wolfgang Haigis (below left) opened the meeting welcoming everyone to his city, and then I did my introduction of industry representatives. The lecture room was genuinely nice except for the very large stone column in the center.

I gave a talk on “A New Take on Corneal Curvatures in RK Eyes,” and we welcomed our guest speaker, Thomas Kohnen MD.

Special Event: Public Honorary Session at the Würzburg University Eye Clinic (Augenklinik) Lecture hall (above right).

At 1:30 p.m., we all took a bus trip to the Würzburg University Augenklinik (Eye Clinic) lecture hall for an Honorary Session with residents and staff of the University attending. This was a very big deal for Wolfgang, in that he was bringing world-renowned authorities to his university. Its purpose was to honor the IPC Honorary members, Gernet and Retzlaff, followed by special lectures given by them and members of the EC. The Session was moderated by John Shammas.

2012: Eighth IPC Meeting—Memphis and Nashville, TN, April 25–29, The Hermitage Hotel, Nashville, The Peabody Hotel, Memphis

Our eighth Scientific Meeting was held in the two cities of Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, following the ASCRS meeting in Chicago.

Attendees: Members: Jean-Philippe Colliac, Han Bor Fam, Scott McClatchey, John Moran, and Giacomo Savini. Industry: Wilfried Bissmann, PhD (Zeiss), Tobias Bühren, PhD (Zeiss), Peter Fedor, MD (Zeiss), Reiner Herrmann (Haag-Streit), Jörg Iwanzcuk (Oculus), Jennifer Lewis, PhD (Ziemer), Kai Mothes (Oculus), and Thomas Padrick, PhD (Wavetec).

The EC took an Amtrak overnight train from Chicago to Memphis (below left), a first-time experience for all of them (having dinner on the train). That evening on the train, Wolfgang and I were in the lounge where there was a group playing music. One of them gave Wolf his guitar and he began singing “Eve of Destruction” (he was a DJ while working his way through college). We then took a bus to Nashville and met in the lobby of the historic Hermitage Hotel (below right).

The first 2 days would be in Nashville and the 3rd in Memphis. It was a first-time session for us on “Pediatric IOL Powers” which I moderated. I made the first presentation “Problems with Pediatric IOL Power” (left) followed by Scott McClatchey (right). We continued it while on the bus back to Memphis, a Session 3 “Pediatric IOLs” on improving IOL power in children led by Scott and I. We then arrived at the Memphis Peabody Hotel where we continued the 3rd day of the meeting and we also had a tour of the Elvis Presley Mansion and Sun Records Studio.

This discussion later led to our EC American Journal of Ophthalmology Editor-requested Editorial on this subject  (Amer J Ophthalmol. 2012;154(1):1–2). We held a day and half of lectures before adjourning.

2013: Ninth IPC Meeting—Haarlem, the Netherlands, October 9–12, Amrâth Grand Hotel Frans Hals

The ninth IPC Scientific Meeting was held in Haarlem, the Netherlands at the Amrâth Grand Hotel Frans Hals, after the ESCRS Meeting in Amsterdam with Sverker Norrby and Thomas Olsen as Co-Chairmen.

Attendees: Members: Edmondo Borasio, Massimo Camellin, Claudio Carbonara, Jean-Philippe Colliac, Han Bor Fam, Oliver Findl, Gabor Koranyi, and Rob Van der Heijde.

A poster of the 2013, Ninth I P C Meeting, Haarlem, Netherlands. The venue for the event is Amrath Grand Hotel Frans Hals.

Industry: Stan Bentow, PhD (AMO), Theo Bogaert (AMO), Thomas Bütler (Heyer-Schulte), Carmen Canovas, PhD (AMO), Alessandro Foggi (Topcon/Visia Imaging), Mario Gerlach (Zeiss), Pierre Giessen (Topcon EU), Jörg Iwanczuk (Oculus), Luc Johannes, PhD (Lambda-X), Tom Padrick (WaveTec), Balz Schlund (Ziemer), and Gabriele Vestri (CSO). Invited Speakers: Nino Hirnschall MD, Peter Fedor MD, Arni Sicam PhD (iOptics).

Above is the program cover (left) and an example of our badges (right).

Below is the overall program schedule including the EC sessions.

At the EC Business meeting (above), Norrby reminded us of his retirement from the IPC at the end of this meeting. Our elections resulted in Olsen as our next President, Haigis as Vice-President, Hoffer as Secretary and Savini as our new Treasurer. Sverker thanked Wolfgang for his tedious work as Treasurer for the past 8 years. It was unanimous that Norrby be made an Honorary Member.

An illustration with 4 photographs of the attendees of the ninth I P C scientific session. The photographs include Olsen, Haigis, Hoffer, Savini, and Wolfgang.

Norrby chaired the meeting and started with an introductory lecture.

We had a special Statistics Session. The EC had invited Stan Bentow, PhD (AMO) (below), to give a full 30-min lecture, as a statistician, on how IOL power results should be accurately reported.

He reiterated the opinions of Haigis and Norrby that using the MAE was inappropriate since absolute errors are not a normal Gaussian distribution and that MedAE is more legitimate. However, he detailed methods such as bootstrapping which can be used so that MAE would be legitimate. (This resulted in the IOL Power Club’s accepting an invitation for an Editorial in the American Journal of Ophthalmology in 2015. (Protocols for studies of intraocular lens formula accuracy. Amer J Ophthalm. 2015;160(3):403–405)).

First IPC Member Business Meeting

Since the membership had grown over the past decade, the EC decided to have a Membership Business Meeting to allow the members to participate and vote on EC decisions. It was the intention of the EC that these official member business meetings continue. During the meeting, Hoffer made a special tribute to Sverker Norrby for his 8 years of service to this Club as a Founder, an EC Member, and a scientific contributor.

2014: Tenth IPC Meeting—Fort Lauderdale, FL, October 8–11, Il Lugano Hotel and Pelican Grand Hotel

The tenth Scientific Meeting was held at the Il Lugano Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, prior to the AAO Meeting in Chicago.

Attendees: Members: Edmondo Borasio, Jean-Philippe Colliac, Han Bor Fam, Scott McClatchey, and Sabong Srivannaboon. Honorary Member: John Retzlaff. Invited Speaker: Sean Ianchulev, MD.

A poster of the 2014, Tenth I P C Meeting, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The venues are Il Lugano Hotel and Pelican Grand Hotel.

Industry: Kaspar Baltzer (Haag-Streit), Stan Bentow, PhD (AMO), Tobias Bühren, PhD (Zeiss), Changho Chong, PhD (MOVU), Alessandro Foggi and Pierre Gelissen (Topcon EU), Martin Gründig, PhD (Alcon), Hiryuki Hiramatsu (Nidek), Jörg Iwanczuk (Oculus), Chihiro Kato, Koki Nishiwaki, and Hisashi Onizaki (all Tomey), Thomas Padrick, PhD (WaveTec), Gregor Schmid, PhD (Ziemer), and Francesco Versaci (CSO).

A poster of the 2014, I O L Power Club Meeting 10, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The lower part reads Kenneth Hoffer, secretary, co chair, and past president.
An illustration with the schedule of the 2014, tenth I P C Scientific Session, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and a group photograph of the attendees. The schedule illustrates details of the events between the eighth and the eleventh of October 2014.

The EC Business meeting was held as usual and the election resulted in for 2015–2017, Haigis as President, Aramberri as Vice-President, Hoffer as Secretary, and Savini as Treasurer.

2015: 11th IPC Meeting—San Sebastian, Spain, September 9–12, Londres Hotel

After a decade of existence, the IPC celebrated its 10th birthday by returning to the city of its birth, San Sebastian, Spain.

It was held after the ESCRS Meeting in Barcelona and again held at the same Hotel Londres (above L) where we met in 2005.

Attendees: Members: Edmondo Borasio, MD, Massimo Camellin, MD, Claudio Carbonara, MD, Jean-Philippe Colliac, MD, Han Bor Fam, MD, Nino Hirnschall, MD, and Douglas Koch, MD. Guest: Umberto Camellin, MD. Invited Speaker: Jos Rozema, PhD (Antwerp, Belgium). Industry Representatives: Kaspar Baltzer (Haag-Streit), Stan Bentow, PhD (AMO), Tobias Bühren, PhD (Zeiss), Carmen Canovas, PhD (AMO), Changho Chong, PhD (MOVU), Alessandro Foggi (Topcon), Martin Gründig, PhD (Alcon), Hiroyuki Hiramatsu (Nidek), Jörg Iwanczuk (Oculus), Gregor Schmid, PhD (Ziemer), Gabrielle Vestri (CSO), Naoko Hara, Hirofumi Owaki, and Keiichiro Okamoto (all of Tomey), Cristina Curatolo and Gianluca Stivale (CSO), and Jonas Haehnle (Haag-Streit).

The meeting was excellent with many new introductions, such as the new MOVU Argos biometer by Shammas.

2016: 12th IPC Meeting—New Orleans, LA, May 10–13 Royal Sonesta Hotel

The 12th meeting was held in New Orleans, LA, after the ASCRS meeting there in May 5–9.

The venue was the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon St. in the French Quarter with Kenneth J. Hoffer and H. John Shammas as Co-Chairs. John and Najwa Shammas were unable to attend; it is the only IPC Meeting they have ever missed. The Welcome Reception was held in the Sonesta garden court. The EC had the opportunity to meet Jack X. Kane, MD, from Melbourne, Australia, for the first time after I heard his lecture and invited him to meet the IPC EC.

A photograph of the attendees of the 2016 Twelfth I P C Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana. The venue is the Royal Sonesta Hotel.
A photograph of the attendees of the 2016 Twelfth I P C Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana. The attendees are seated.

During the meeting I presented a tribute to Larry Laks (owner of Microsurgical Technologies) for his annual support of IPC for the past 10 years after selling his company.

A photograph of the lecture hall of the 2016 Twelfth I P C Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana. The hall presents a presentation screen titled in honor of Larry Laks, 10 years sponsoring I P C.
A poster of the 2016 I O L Power Club meeting 12. The lower part reads Kenneth Hoffer, secretary, chair, and past president.

We held our usual EC Business meeting.

Attendees: Members: Claudio Carbonara, MD, Han Bor Fam, MD, Gabor Koranyi, MD, Scott McClatchey, MD, and John Retzlaff, MD. Industry: Kaspar Baltzer (Haag-Streit), Christian Brandt, PhD (Heidelberg), Tobias Bühren, PhD (Zeiss), Changho Chong, PhD (MOVU), Alessandro Foggi (Topcon EU), Jörg Iwanzcuk (Oculus), Hiroyuki Hiramatsu (Nidek), Chihiro Kato (Tomey), Gregor Schmid, PhD (Ziemer), and first timer Rosario Occhipinti (SiFi). Several of us had the chance to visit O’Brien’s and try their Hurricanes.

On the way back, Wolf made friends with the Bourbon Street Lucky Dog vendor.

Jaime and Giacomo visited Jackson Square.

Everyone was invited for a cruise on the Natchez paddlewheel boat on the Mississippi River.

2017: 13th IPC Meeting—Athens, Greece, September 8–16 Grand Britannia Hotel

At the Spring ASCRS meeting in Los Angeles, we had the chance to toast Wolfgang who could not be there with his favorite Irish Coffee. This 13th meeting was the farthest East we have been, in the center of the city of Athens, Greece. The EC held their Business/Lecture Meeting in Crete.

3 photographs and 2 posters of the 2017, Thirteenth I P C Meeting, Athens, Greece. The photographs present the attendees and the Grand Britannia Hotel. A poster titled I O L Power Club thirteenth scientific session presents the route map of site visits in the Harmony G ship.

Attendees: Members: Jean-Philippe Colliac, MD, Han Bor Fam, MD, Nino Hirnschall, MD, and Jack X. Kane, MD. Invited Lecturers: Naoyuki Maeda, MD (Osaka, Japan), Dimitrii Dementiev, MD (Milan, Italy), and Peter Fedor, MD (Traverse City, MI). Haigis was unable to attend. Industry: Changho Chong, PhD (MOVU), Alessandro Foggi (Topcon EU/Visia), Owaki Hirofumi (Tomey), Jörg Iwanzcuk (Oculus), Oliver Klaproth (Zeiss), Melanie Polzner (Heidelberg), Gregor Schmid, PhD (Ziemer), Joris Snellenberg, PhD (Cassini), and Gabriel Vestri (CSO).

A poster titled 2017 I O L Power Club Meeting 13. The lower part reads Marcia Hoffer, spouse.
An illustration presents 2 photographs of the 2017, Thirteenth I P C Meeting, Athens, Greece. The photographs present the speaker and the attendees of the business meeting.

Here is a photo of Joerg Iwanczuk (Oculus), Oliver Klaproth (Zeiss) and Gregor Schmidt (Ziemer) with the Parthenon in the background in Athens. Our 7th Election voted Aramberri as President, Shammas as Vice-President, Hoffer as Secretary, and Savini as Treasurer. The meeting was very productive for everyone.

2018: 14th IPC Meeting—St. Pete Beach, FL, October 22–25 Tradewinds Island Grand Resort

This meeting was our return to the city where we held our fourth meeting in 2008. It wound up being uniquely different, in that I had persuaded Wolfgang Haigis to get to this meeting, which he wanted to very badly even though things were not going well for him. It turned out to be his last meeting.

An illustration presents 2 photographs of the 2018, Fourteenth I P C Meeting, St. Pete Beach. The photographs present the attendees seated in the lecture hall and the invited speakers.

Attendees: Members: Edmondo Borasio, MD, Massimo Camellin, MD, Claudio Carbonara, MD, Jean-Philippe Colliac, MD, Han Bor Fam, MD, and Jack X. Kane, MD. Honorary Member: John Retzlaff, MD. Invited speakers (above L-R): Petros Aristodemou*, MD (Cyprus), David Flikier*, MD (Costa Rica), Filomena Ribeiro*, MD (Lisbon), David Cooke*, MD (Berrien Springs, MI), and Tun Kuan Yeo*, MD (Singapore).

Industry: Changho Chong, PhD (MOVU), Steven Frisken* (Cylite), Sandro Gunkel* (Heidelberg), Jonas Haehnle (Haag-Streit), Naoko Hara (Tomey), Jörg Iwanzcuk (Oculus), Oliver Klaproth (Zeiss), Gregor Schmid, PhD (Ziemer), and Francesco Versaci (CSO) (*first-timers).

A chart presents 2 posters and a photograph of the 2018, Fourteenth I P C Meeting, S T. Pete Beach. A poster reads 2018 I O L Power Club Meeting 14, Kenneth Hoffer, co-chair, secretary, and past president. The photograph illustrates a speaker delivering a lecture.

A group shot of all the attendees with Wolfgang Haigis in the center (black shirt).

A group photograph of the attendees of the Fourteenth I O L Power Club Meeting with Wolfgang Haigis in the center.

Due to his declining condition, this became Wolfgang’s last IPC meeting, to our collective sadness. Below is the last EC Business Meeting Wolfgang attended and the last lecture he ever gave (right). A loss to all of ophthalmology.

An illustration presents 2 photographs Fourteenth I O L Power Club Business Meeting with Wolfgang Haigis. The photographs present the attendees seated and Wolfgang delivering a lecture.

2018: ESCRS—IPC IOL Power Calculation Course, September 23, Vienna, Austria

For several years now, IPC has been putting on IOL Power courses at the ASCRS and ESCRS meetings. There was a standing-room-only audience to attend the 2018 “IPC IOL Power Course” at the ESCRS Meeting.

A photograph of the attendees of the 2018 E S C R S, I P C I O L Power Calculation Course, Vienna, Austria.

2019: IPC EC Fourth Independant Meeting—La Jolla, CA, May 6–7 La Valencia Hotel

The EC held its fourth separate business meeting at the La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla after the ASCRS meeting to make plans for the upcoming meeting in Napa. Aramberri and Haigis were unable to attend.

2019: 15th IPC Meeting—Napa, CA, October 8–11, Archer Hotel

The 15th Scientific meeting was held at the Archer Hotel in downtown Napa prior to the AAO Meeting in San Francisco. It was obvious from the last meeting that our dear friend and colleague, Wolfgang Haigis, would not be attending future IPC meetings, so the EC instituted an annual Haigis Lecture in his honor. The 30-min two-part inaugural lecture was given on the morning of October 10, 2019, by David Chang, MD, of Los Altos, CA (below, third from left).

Attendees: Members: Edmondo Borasio, MD, Jean-Philippe Colliac, MD, Massimo Camellin, MD, Claudio Carbonara, MD, Han Bor Fam, MD, David Flikier, MD, Oliver Findl, MD, Nino Hirnschall, MD, Jack X. Kane, MD, Scott McClatchy, MD, Sabong Srivannaboon, MD, and Tun Kuan Yeo, MD. Honorary Member: John Retzlaff, MD. Invited speakers: David Chang*, MD (Los Altos, CA), Damien Gatinel* (Paris), Ron Melles*, MD (Redwood City, CA), Pablo Perez, PhD (Madrid), and Woong-Joo Whang*, MD (Seoul, South Korea) as well as the previous guests who also gave presentations: David Cooke, MD (Berrien Springs, MI), and Peter Fedor, MD (Traverse City, MI).

A poster of the 2019, Fifteenth Annual Scientific Session, Napa Valley, California. The poster includes a photograph of the wine growing region. The venue is the Archer Hotel.

Industry: Jacqueline Asam*, MD (Heidelberg), Thomas Bütler (Haag-Streit), Arkadiusz Chalecki* (Optopol), Naoko Hara (Tomey), Keith Holliday* (Staar), Jörg Iwanzcuk (Oculus), Oliver Klaproth (Zeiss), Thomas Padrick, PhD (Alcon), Gregor Schmid, PhD (Ziemer), Simon Schroeder, PhD (Zeiss), Michael Trost* (Zeiss), and Francesco Versaci (CSO).

A poster titled 2019 I O L Power Club Meeting number 15. The lower part reads Kenneth Hoffer, co chair, secretary, and past president.

At this meeting, we welcomed new participation by STAAR Surgical (Keith Holliday) and Optopol (Arek Chalecki) from Poland.

At our EC Business meeting, the eighth Election voted in Shammas as President, Olsen as Vice-President, Hoffer as Secretary, and Savini as Treasurer.

An illustration with 2 photographs of a lecture hall. The attendees are involved in the voting process of the eighth election for choosing President, Vice president, Secretary, and Treasurer.

Kristin Hoffer (below left) had been hired as Administrator and did an excellent job with our new policy of having all presentations put on one computer in advance of the session. This made it go much more smoothly than previous meetings. Thanks to Jim Mazzo (AMO, Zeiss) below left, we were invited for a Welcome Reception at his Jessup Cellars winery in Yountville, north of Napa. Mazzos's strong support of IPC as AMO Gold Sponsor had a immense effect on the quality and success of our meetings over these past years.

An illustration with 6 photographs of the attendees of the Fifteenth I O L Power Club Meeting. The photographs include Kristin Hoffer, Jim Mazzo, Jaime and Oliver Findl, Giacomo Savini and Jorg Iwanczuk, David Flikier, and Arkadiusz, and Simon Schroder and Pablo Perez.

Above (L-R): Jaime and Oliver Findl (Vienna); Giacomo Savini and Jörg Iwanczuk (Oculus); David Flikier, MD (Costa Rica), and Arkadiusz (Arek) Chalecki* (Optopol); Simon Schröder, PhD (Zeiss), and Pablo Pérez, PhD (Madrid) (*first-timers).

An illustration with 5 photographs of the attendees of the Fifteenth I O L Power Club Meeting. The photographs include Jonas Haehnle, Rich Cornwell, David Cooke and Oliver Klaproth.

Above (L-R): Jonas Haehnle (Haag-Streit) and Rich Cornwell* (Heidelberg); David Cooke MD and Oliver Klaproth (Zeiss);

Ron Melles* MD (Redwood City, CA), Jack Kane MD (Melbourne) and Guillaume Debellemaniere* MD (Paris); Whong-Joo Whang* MD (Seoul, South Korea): and Keith Holliday* (STAAR Surgical).

Four days after the meeting, Wolfgang Haigis died peacefully in his sleep at home on October 15, and his funeral was held in Würzburg on November 8. The three European EC members visited his wife Katrine and the gravesite the next day. The lecture has been renamed the Haigis Memorial Lecture. Below left is the robust Wolfgang Haigis I remember (1999), the Würzburg Cemetery where he is buried and the IPC’s final tribute to him at his funeral.

An illustration with 4 photographs. The photographs present Wolfgang Haigis with the author, the Wurzburg Cemetery where Wolfgang is buried, and the I P C’s final tribute to him at his funeral.

2020 16th IPC Meeting: Rockland, ME, May, Rockland Harbor Hotel and Farnsworth Museum was cancelled due to the pandemic.

2021: 16th IPC Meeting—Carmel, CA, July 28–31 Pine Inn Hotel (Site of our Second Meeting in 2006)

We were able to hold the meeting in August 2021 in Carmel after the live San Francisco ASCRS meeting. The venue was the Pine Inn on Ocean Ave (below left) where the second IPC Meeting was held in 2006 (15 years previously). Because of the continued pandemic travel restrictions we had less attendees and had to do our EC Business meeting on Zoom.

An illustration presents 3 posters and a photograph of the 2021, Sixteenth I P C Meeting, Carmel, California. The posters illustrate a thanks to the sponsors and details of the event. The photograph presents the Pine Inn Hotel.

We toured the MacDonald Sculpture Foundry (Famed artist/sculptor Richard MacDonald center)

and used their gallery in Carmel for the Welcome Reception (below). Our main dinner was at the Spanish Bay Country Club.

We didn’t really schedule it as a remote virtual meeting but because all our European members and speakers (in Red in the Program) were not allowed into the USA, we had 20 participants live (L) and 20 on Zoom (R), mainly in the early parts of the day due to the time difference.

A photo of a small meeting room captured from the back side. Men are sitting before the tables and watching a presentation screen in the front.

It turned out better than we had expected. It was there that we approved the publication of a new 72 chapter IPC textbook on IOL Power Calculation with Open Access to all including all aspects of all biometers and all formula authors. Over the ensuing year, members of the IPC helped foster the development of the free ECSRS All Formula Website Calculator developed by Dante Buosanti, MD, of Buenos Aries, Argentina which is a great benefit to ophthalmologists all over the world.

2022: 17th IPC Meeting—Stresa, Italy, September 21–24 Princess Regina Hotel

The 17th Meeting was held in Stresa on Lago (Lake) Maggiore in the Italian Northern Lakes region after the ESCRS Meeting in Milano, Italy, in September 2022.

2 photos. Left, a photo of the Regina Palace Hotel in Stresa, Italy. Right, a close-up photo of Graham Barrett standing before a podium.

There was an overwhelming response, and it was the largest meeting we have ever had with 75 attendees and many new people from around the world. The second Haigis Memorial Lecture was given by Graham Barrett, MD (above right), of Perth, Australia (below).

A photo of a meeting hall. People are sitting before the tables and listening to a man standing before a podium.

The Membership requested the President appoint a Subcommittee to prepare a general statement by the IPC requesting that all manufacturers comply with publicizing their IOL structural dimensions for the benefit of IOL power accuracy for patients around the world. This was done and led to a special publication in JCRS in 2023 [J Cataract Refract Surg 2023;49(6):556-557]. There was a boat tour of the Borromeo Islands and an ancient winery tour in a nearby town. Everyone was pleased to have a live meeting again.

A 3-part illustration. Top left. A timetable of the seventeenth I P C scientific session. Top right. A photo of the members of the session posing for the camera. Bottom. A screenshot of the article titled, surgeons need to know more about intraocular lens design for accurate power calculation.

This meeting really felt like the “world of IOL Power” had gotten together; it was inspiring for everyone who attended and bodes well for the future collaborative efforts of ophthalmologists, scientists, and industry to perfect the calculation of IOL power. I am not sure Wolfgang would be so happy seeing it become this big, but he sure should be proud of what has been accomplished.

2023: 18th IPC Meeting—Palm Springs, CA, November 8–11 Hotel Zoso Palm Springs

This meeting was held right after the AAO meeting in San Francisco and for the first time in the famed desert city of Palm Springs at the Hotel Zoso (below L). The EC held their usual Business Meeting. There were 65 attendees and for the first time topic discussion groups were help on specific controversies; Savini moderated one on “When to Optimize Constants” and Koch moderated the other on “Best Method to Optimize”. Douglas Koch presented the 3rd Haigis Memorial Lecture. The Membership meeting allowed a group photo (EC, Graham Barrett, Han Bor Fam, Doug Koch, David Flikier, David Cooke, Ron Melles, Jean-Philippe Colliac, and Pablo Perez.). It was extremely successful. The meeting led to the JCRS Special Report publication of a new system to classify IOL power formulas (see diagram). 

An illustration. The upper part has a chart, a badge, and a timetable of the eighteenth annual scientific session. The lower part has photographs of Hotel Zoso, 5 men sitting around a table, a group of people, a presentation, and the audiences in the presentation.

2024: 19th IPC Meeting—Rockland, ME, April 9–12 Rockland Harbor Hotel , Maine Lighthouse Museum and Farnsworth Museum

We held our 19th meeting, where we had originally planned our 16th 4 years ago (cancelled by the pandemic), in Rockland, ME, the “Lobster Capitol of America”.

Member Attendees: 6 EC Members, Jean-Philippe Colliac MD, David L Cooke MD, Damien Gatinel MD, Peter Hoffmann MD, Ronald Melles MD, Pablo Perez MD, Jascha Wendelstein MD and Tun Kuan Yeo MD.

Invited Speakers: Catarina Coutinho MSc (Bologna, Italy), Achim Langenbucher PhD (Homberg, German), Peter Fedor MD (Traverse City, MI), Enrico Lupardi MD (Bologna, Italy), Susana Marcos PhD (Rochester, NY), Seonghwan Kim MD (Seoul, Korea) and Woong-Joo Whang MD (Seoul, Korea).

New Attendees: Sutmei Chan MD (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Timothy Cooke (Berrien Springs, MI), Xiansong Dai MSc (Shenzhen, China, Moptim), Kamal Das PhD (Arlington, TX, Alcon), J Christopher Freeman (Oklahoma City, OK, J&J), Daniela Nicolosi (Sant’Antonio, Italy, SIFI), Brian Schwam MD (Jacksonville, FL, J&J). Patrick Shurk (Munich, Germany, Zeiss), Bryan Stanfill PhD (Mansfield, TX, Alcon), Martina Vacalebre (Sant’Antonio, Italy, SIFI), Sid Wei PhD (Irvine, CA, Medennium), Chris Wilcox (Irvine, CA, Medennium), Mengmeng Yang (Shenzhen, China, Moptim) and Peter Zieger PhD (Alcon).

Industry Attendees: Nicolas Bensaid PhD (Berlin, Germany, Zeiss), Thomas Bütler (Köniz, Switzerland, Haag-Streit), Arkadiusz Chalecki (Optopol), Richard Cornwell (Seattle, WA, Heidelberg), Alessandro Foggi (San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy, Visia Imaging/Topcon), Jörg Iwanczuk (Oculus), Gregor Schmid (Ziemer) and Steven Thomson (North Berwick, UK, Heidelberg).

A Program cover and a name badge.

A 2-part illustration. Left, a chart of the nineteenth annual scientific session of I O L Power Club has the details of the location, date, and time. Right, a photo of a small badge of meeting 19 of I O L power, 2024.

We stayed at the Rockland Harbor Hotel (Below Top) and our Scientific Sessions were all held at the Maine Lighthouse Museum about 6 blocks away (Below Bottom).

2 photos. Top, a photo of the Rockland Harbor Hotel. Bottom, a photo of the Maine Lighthouse Museum.

Our Welcome Reception was at the noted Farnsworth Museum (of Andrew Wyeth fame) with a guided tour by its Director (Below). Everyone had the chance to view some of Wyeth’s works.

A photo of people standing in a room with a few tables and chairs. A man is standing before them and talking.

At the start of the first scientific session, Marcia Hoffer (below left) welcomed everyone to Rockland where she was born and raised. I had the pleasure of showing the attendees the 1st mockup of our new 5.5 lb 1,000 page IPC textbook. The EC took a group shot in front of the Museum near the metal lobster sculpture.

3 photos. Left, a photo of Marcia Hoffere standing before a blank presentation screen. Center, a photo of a man holding a book. Right, a photo of 5 men standing before a museum and posing for the camera.

Lectures were held continuously for 2 ½ days. The 4th Haigis Memorial Lecture was given by Thomas Kohnen MD (Frankfurt, Germany) (below right) as part of a special session on Phakic IOLs.

3 photos. 3 different views of a small meeting hall with people sitting in rows and listening to the man speaking.

Filomena Ribeiro MD (Lisbon, Portugal) attended her 1st IPC EC business meetings since elected to fill Wolfgang Haigis’ seat.

2 photos of a meeting room with people sitting around a table and discussing.

The ALL Dinner was a classical “Maine Lobster Bake” at Archer’s on the Pier. Lynn Archer took care of everyone (Below right, with Dr. Wei). The weather was not ideal but improved with time. The Membership Meeting was held at the Camden Harbour Inn.

The person to the left of Jaime is his daughter who is now a practicing ophthalmologist; her photo as a child can also be seen in the photos at the 2008 IPC meeting in St. Pete Beach.

2 photos. Left, a photo of almost 7 people sitting around a circular table with food. They have napkins tied around their neck with a lobster image on them. Right, a woman helping a man to tuck the napkin in the neck.

Carl Woodman (left), a lifelong lobsterman (and Marcia’s high school classmate), gave an optional tour of his son’s lobster processing and shipping facility which was something quite different for many, especially for Dr. Chan (right) from Malaysia.

3 photos. Left, a photo of Carl Woodman. Center, a photo of people standing inside a factory setup and observing it. Right, a photo of Doctor Chan holding a big lobster.

A Panel was held on the possibilities and complexities of the IPC setting up a collaborative data base of PO cases for any Member to use for future studies. We heard the 1st presentations on the new Colombo II optical biometer from Moptim, Shenzhen, China. The caliber of the presentations and interactions were exceptional, maybe one of our best. To our surprise the meeting turned out to be an overwhelming success, even with the cold and rain. A group shot of everyone (in the rain).

2025: 20th Anniversary IPC Meeting—Santa Barbara, CA, April 29-May 2

We will celebrate our 20th Anniversary Meeting in the coastal beach city of Santa Barbara, CA right after the ASCRS Meeting in Los Angeles.

A photo of an aerial view of the coastal beach city of Santa Barbara. A waterbody is between a city and a mountain range.

We are ever indebted to Wolfgang Haigis, PhD, and Sverker Norrby, PhD, for helping all this get started in 2005 and their many years of efforts in bringing us to where we are now.

The IPC will endeavor to continue fostering development in IOL power prediction accuracy.