From Joe Smith, Graduate Representative for BIOS.
At the end of 2019, a very kind donation was left to BIOS by an Orthoptist named Jane Fitzsimmons who sadly passed away. Jane was very proud of her career as an Orthoptist and we decided to honour her legacy by supporting four new graduates to attend a chosen day of the 14th Congress of the International Orthoptic Association. We received a number of outstanding applications – it was a true shame that we could not support all applicants. After much deliberation, we decided to award the prizes to Aneesa Hussain, Charlotte Smith, Emma Rowett and Rebecca Flynn.
The respective applicants’ statements demonstrated a clear passion for orthoptics and a desire to improve patient care and add value to their orthoptic department.
Unfortunately, in wake of the World Health Organization’s decision to declare COVID-19 a global pandemic, the International Orthoptic Association and associates, decided to postpone the congress until 2022. However, prior to knowing this we had put out an advert in Parallel Vision and awarded the prizes – the recipients will therefore now have to use the prize money for another activity in relation to their continuing professional development.