On Friday October 2nd 2026 SOA-USA met in San Francisco 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 is affiliated to iYP, the Young Professionals group.
The American chapter of the Ophthalmic Association of the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group (SOA-USA) held its eleventh meeting in October 2026, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. This was the sixth such meeting at a US Priory Investiture, and the fourth to be open to all Investiture delegates.
The speakers were introduced by the Prior, Mr John Macaskill, and presentations given by Mr David Pyott (Hospitaller, and event organiser), Dr Charles Mosteller, Sir Andrew Cash (Chairman, St John Eye Hospital Group),and Dr. David Verity (Order Hospitaller).
Interesting video case presentations were presented by two of our Jerusalem Eye Hospital residents, Dr Manal Taha MD and Dr Bilal Alqam MD, and moderated discussions ensued after each case by Dr. Suzanne Freitag and Dr. Bita Esmaeli, academic advisors for the SOA-USA.
Dedicated to promoting the profile and reputation of the St John Eye Hospital Group, the SOA has now run over 42 events across the world. This meeting in San Francisco attracted many Investiture attendees, and 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.
SOA-Global is grateful to our USA Chapter, and to our Eye Hospital staff for staging yet another a high-quality meeting, bringing these objectives one step closer.
Thank you.
