History

History of OSWI

Founded in 1990, the Ophthalmological Society of the West Indies (OSWI) brings together ophthalmic clinicians, regional representatives, and nurses, as well as government, corporate, and affiliate partners in its quest to eradicate and prevent blindness in the Caribbean.

A regional voice for ophthalmology in the West Indies, OSWI’s annual conferences provide a global platform for ongoing exchange of ideas and subsequent implementation in ophthalmic practice. OSWI is also working toward bringing regional training programs to international standards.

OSWI hosted the ICO’s Teaching the Teachers program at their 2016 Congress in Barbados and offered workshops for residents and a joint symposium with the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at their July 2017 Congress in Georgetown, Guyana. Furthering their footprint, OSWI is also presenting a session at the 2018 World Ophthalmology Congress® in Barcelona, Spain. OSWI also presented at an AAO Congress held in Mexico in 2016.

In addition to their work with ophthalmologists, the OSWI introduced the Ophthalmic Nurses’ Program in 2016 to train ophthalmic nurses in the region. The Allied Health Program in collaboration with the Joint Commission for Allied Health in Ophthalmology has been running since 1990. The intention is to improve eye health of the community by improving training of eye care professionals at all levels.

HISTORICAL FOOTPRINTS OF OSWI IN THE CARIBBEAN

 Precursor meetings: the idea of putting on a Caribbean conference originated in St Croix as a means of providing a forum for Caribbean-based ophthalmologists to review and express their cases and work on a regional basis. John Merritt, Claude Cowan, Jr. and Fred Anduze organized the first Caribbean Eye conference under the sponsorship of Howard University College of Medicine which specifically invited local and regional ophthalmologists to the Virgin Islands. The first “unified” ophthalmic conference was held on the island of St Thomas, Virgin Islands, March 12-13, 1986, entitled, Uveitis in the Caribbean. It was sponsored by Howard University under the guidance of Claude Cowan, Jr, MD. At this first time conference, Alcon Pharmaceutical was invited to attend. They did not sponsor. Juan Gonzalez, Alcon representative for the Caribbean, saw it was a good program and he requested to co-sponsor with Howard for the following year, which was held on St Croix, Virgin Islands, Symposium on Glaucoma, March 13-14, 1987.  Claude Cowan Jr, John Merritt, Kevin Greenidge, Carl Kupfer of National Institutes of Health, and Douglas Gaasterland of Georgetown University, were the main speakers;  Anthea Connell of Barbados, Hugh Vaughan of Jamaica, and  Alfred Anduze of St Croix, represented the  Caribbean.  Roger Mason was a resident and presented on his visual fields in glaucoma work in St Lucia for first time;  Alcon sponsored two Puerto Rico speakers (Juan Nevarez & Jose Berrocal) ; CME credits were provided by St Croix Hospital, CME Committee, Alfred Anduze, Chairman;  also attending this meeting were Cyril Reifer and Clive Gibbons of Barbados, and Sonja Johnston, Deo Singh and Anirudh Mahabir of Trinidad.

In 1988, Dr Anduze accompanied Juan Gonzalez to Port of Spain with a Universal Phaco machine for demonstration surgical cases sponsored by Alcon.  It was on this return trip, that Juan Gonzalez and Alfred Anduze discussed the possibility of setting up an annual Caribbean conference on a different island each year. This discussion led to the creation of OSWI.

The third conference was the Second Symposium on Glaucoma, St Thomas, VI, March 16-17, 1989.  Alcon sponsored the coffee breaks, sent a pharmaceutical representative and sponsored a speaker; Howard University sponsored the meeting & provided the CME credits issued by Dr Claude Cowan Jr, then Chief of Ophthalmology.

   The fourth conference had already been scheduled before OSWI was conceived.

OSWI takes shape:   At an AAO meeting in Dallas, Texas, Juan Gonzalez met with a small group all of whom had been to the previous meetings in the Virgin Islands and came up with the OSWI name (Ophthalmological Society of the West Indies) and set a time and place for the first comprehensive meeting to be held in Kingston, Jamaica, and from each year onward, a different island in the Caribbean region. (It was supposed to be “Ophthalmic Society of the West Indies” and somehow morphed into “Ophthalmological”). The original goals of the Caribbean Ophthalmic Conference became the same goals of OSWI:

1. To introduce and bring together eye care practitioners in the region.
2. To provide a platform for Caribbean views, experiences and opinions.
3. To influence the policies of eye care in the region.

The Third Caribbean Glaucoma Symposium, St Thomas, March 8-9, 1991, was held as scheduled. Mansour Armaly of Georgetown University was the main speaker, James Tielch, PhD in Visual  Physiology gave two lectures; Ed Burney ( visual fields), Robert Copeland ( future Chief of Ophthalmology of Howard University) and  Eve Higginbotham(Glaucoma specialist and University Administrator) were presenters;  Hugh Vaughan and Alfred Anduze represented the Caribbean.)