Dear Colleagues:

In an effort to prepare our research trainees to share their research achievements and to enhance their skills in public speaking and discussing their work, we would like to foster formal environments and provide educational opportunities at the Byers Eye Institute (BEI) for them, beyond the Friday afternoon research seminars and other teaching conferences.

Toward that goal, we have initiated the Byers Young Investigators Research Conference (BYIRC). The inaugural BYIRC occurred live in April 2019.  We were not able to host BYIRC in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic.  In 2021, the BYIRC occurred virtually over two Saturday mornings.  We have planned for the 2023 BYIRC to occur live on Friday, April 21, from 8 AM to 6 PM Pacific Time, at the Byers Eye Institute.

We would like to ask all colleagues to invite and encourage secondary school, undergraduate, medical and graduate students, residents, post-doctoral fellows, clinical fellows, and visiting scholars with whom they work and mentor to participate.  As discussed during our previous faculty meetings, we are inviting our BEI residents to submit their work and present as well.  It will be a wonderful opportunity for our trainees to present formally in front of an audience who may or may not be fully knowledgeable of their work.  Among the skills to be mastered is the ability to present information in such a way that can be comprehended by a broad audience. 

We will plan so that there will be different sessions throughout the Conference that will be moderated by Byers faculty members.  The faculty and the audience will provide feedback to the trainee that hopefully will be very productive and educational.  The Planning Committee and the Advisory Committee have suggested that each trainee is allowed sufficient time devoted to the oral presentation and discussion and comments.

In addition the young investigators, BYIRC has also hosted distinguished visiting professors to provide insights to our members-in-training.  Professor Patricia D’Amore and Professor John Fraser Wright were the Guests of Honor in 2021.   For 2023, the Faculty Advisory Committee has invited Professor Napoleone Ferrara, Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Pathology, who holds the Ben and Wanda Hildyard Chair for Diseases of the Eye at the Shiley Eye Institute, University of California, San Diego.  Dr. Ferrara is considered affectionately as the Father of Anti-VEGF Therapy throughout the world.  Our trainees will have the opportunity to meet senior faculty members and mentors outside of BEI/Sanford.  Dr. Ferrara will deliver the KeyNote Lecture on Friday, April 21, 2023. 

All faculty members, residents, and trainees are invited to attend the Conference, in full or in part, to help to provide feedback to the research trainees.  Faculty mentors of the research trainees are asked to be present to support their trainees.

As April 21, 2023 will be just a few days before the 2023 ARVO Congress in New Orleans, BYIRC will be a wonderful opportunity for research trainees to present their ARVO work before they have to do so in New Orleans.  Abstract submission for BYIRC is due no later than Sunday, March 26, 2023, so that a proper Program can be arranged. 

In another effort to prepare our trainees to be able to plan scientific programs so that in the future they may participate in the ARVO Planning Committee or that for another congress, we will have the research trainees plan this Conference together with the inputs from the Faculty Advisory Committee.  We will then invite the appropriate Byers/Stanford faculty members to moderate various sessions to stimulate discussions among the presenters and the attendees. Below is a link to the website to register and submit an abstract.

http://med.stanford.edu/ophthalmology/research/byirc.html

The website has been setup by Sohail Halim, MBBS, a scholar and collaborator at BEI. 

We thank everyone for your support of the Byers Young Investigators Research Conference to prepare and mentor our research trainees for their future careers.  Please let us know if we can provide you with any additional information. 

Best regards,

BYIRC Young Investigators Planning Committee
Amir Akhavanrezayat (Nguyen/Do Laboratory), Coordinator
Mohajeet Balveer Bhuckory (Palanker Laboratory)
Albert Bromeo (Nguyen/Do Laboratory)
Julian Garcia (Liu Laboratory)
Jennifer Haensel (Roberts Laboratory)
Lobna Hamed (Wang Laboratory)
Muhammad Hassan (Resident Service)
Kholood Janjua (Sepah Laboratory)
Anadi Khatri (Nguyen/Do Laboratory)
Karteek Kunala (Dubra Laboratory)
Liang Li (Hu Laboratory)
Negin Yavari (Nguyen/Do Laboratory)
Michael Yu (Resident Service)
Gaston Ali Ayubi Zavalla (Dubra Laboratory)

BYIRC Faculty Advisory Committee 

Diana Do
Alfredo Dubra
Jeffrey Goldberg
Yang Hu
Joyce Liao
Wendy Liu
Quan Dong Nguyen, Chair
Tawna Roberts
Jennifer Rose-Nussbaumer
Stephen Smith
Sophia Wang
Sui Wang