Research Day 2024

Our Research Day will be held on May 24, 2024

The Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences holds an annual Research Day to showcase the outstanding research conducted by our graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and residents over the past year.

Please join us on Friday, May 24th, 2024 for the Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Research Day held at the Learning Centre - Robbins Pavilion, Royal Alexandra Hospital.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Edward J. Holland, Director of Cornea Services from the University of Cincinnati.

“Management of Severe Ocular Surface Disease: Limbal and Conjunctival Deficiency”

Edward J. Holland, MD is the Director of Cornea Services at Cincinnati Eye Institute and
Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Cincinnati. He attended the Loyola-Stritch
School of Medicine in Chicago and trained in Ophthalmology at the University of Minnesota.  He completed a fellowship in cornea and external disease at the University of Iowa, and then
completed a second fellowship in ocular immunology at the National Eye Institute, National
Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He returned to serve as Director of Cornea and
Refractive Surgery Service at the University of Minnesota. He was promoted to the position of Professor and was granted the Elias Potter Lyon Chair in Ophthalmology. He also served as President of the Minnesota Academy of Ophthalmology.


Dr. Holland formerly served as the President for the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery from 2011-2012 and now served as the Program Chair for 12 years. Dr. Holland was a former member of the Board of Trustees for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He has also served on numerous committees and as the Secretariat of the Annual Meeting for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Dr. Holland has served as the
Chair of the Eye Bank Association and was the former Chair of the Medical Advisory Board as well as a longtime member of the Board of Directors. He is the past President of the Cornea Society and previously served many years on its Board of Directors.
Dr. Holland has received numerous national and international awards including the Castroviejo Award from the Cornea Society in 2013. He has received both the Honor Award, Senior Achievement Award and Life Achievement Honor Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He was awarded the Binkhorst Medal by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in 2008. He was a recipient of the 2002 Paton Society Award given by the Eye Bank Association of America. Dr. Holland was awarded the Asian Cornea Foundation Medal of Honor in 2016.


Dr. Holland has published extensively in both basic and clinical research and is the author of
over 330 articles in peer review journals. Dr. Holland was the co-principal investigator of the
Cornea Donor Study, the largest clinical trial conducted in the field of cornea. He has co-edited five editions of Cornea, the most widely read textbook on corneal disease and surgery.


Dr. Holland serves as an ex officio member of the Holland Foundation. This organization’s
vision is “To ensure those suffering from corneal blindness have access to life-changing
treatments and lifetime follow-up care” and its mission is “To establish 'Centers of Excellence' that will provide patient access and sustainability of care for the treatment of corneal blindness.”