Bertil Damato awarded Bjerrum medal by Danish Ophthalmological Society

On the 25th November 2006, Professor Damato delivered the 2006 Bjerrum Lecture in Copenhagen. He was also awarded the Bjerrum medal by Professor Jan Ulrik Prause, President of the Danish Ophthalmological Society. The lecture and medal are named after the famous Danish Ophthalmologist, Jannik Bjerrum, who in the late nineteenth century, greatly advanced visual field examination and our understanding of glaucoma.

The lecture was entitled 'Can visual field screening improve the survival of patients with choroidal melanoma? In his presentation, Professor Damato described a variety of visual field tests, which he has developed with the aim of making visual field examination more widely available in situations where conventional methods are impractical. These include a disposable paper chart for examining central vision and a portable test for use in the community. A computerised test has also been developed, together with Carl Groenewald, and this is freely available on the internet (www.testvision.org). Some results obtained with these tests can be seen at flickr.com.

Professor Damato also gave an overview of intraocular melanomas and their treatment, summarizing the research performed at LOOC and reporting exciting new developments, which promise to improve treatment of patients with these tumours.