On Friday October 18th 2024 SOA-USA met in New York as part of the annual Investiture of the Priory of St John in the USA
Established in 2015, the SOA is formed of 11 chapters across five international hubs, and includes iYouth, the Young Professionals’ group.
The American chapter of the Ophthalmic Association of the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group (SOA-USA) held its ninth meeting in October 2024 at the InterContinental New York Barclay in New York. This was the fourth such meeting at a US Priory Investiture, and the second to be open to all Investiture delegates.
The event was led by Dr Charles Mostellar (US Council, and Hon Sec, SOA-USA), with opening addresses and talks from Mr Nigel Heath (Prior, Prior in the USA), Sir Andrew Cash (Chair, SJEHG), and Dr Ahmad Ma’ali (CEO, SJEHG).
Dr James Lehman gave a keynote lecture on his work as a volunteer and corneal surgeon for SJEHG, and cases were presented virtually by two SJEHG trainee doctors, Zaina Saleh and Mohamed Nasereddin.
Dedicated to promoting the profile and reputation of the St John Eye Hospital Group, the SOA has now run over 38 events across the world. This meeting in New York, attracting over 100 Investiture attendees, brought experts together from a range of specialties to discuss both the service work of the Hospital Group, our clinical and research projects, and two case reports from Jerusalem.
The Eye Hospital Group aspires to being a regional leader in ophthalmic research and education. In the future the Group is looking to establish an academic research centre in Jerusalem, with wide international support base. SOA-Global is grateful to our USA Chapter, and our CEO and doctors in Jerusalem and Gaza, for staging yet another a high-quality meeting, bringing these objectives one step closer.
Thank you.
Excerpt from ‘Eyes on the Future’, a publication of the Priory of the USA
