Historical Remarks on Evolving GOIW Society

April 5, 2025.

I thank the newly elected GOIW Society officials Professor Soon Phaik Chee, Professor Shwu-Jiuan Sheu, and Professor Daniel Vitor Vasconcelos Santos for asking me to provide my perspective on the evolution of GOIW as a formally registered global society and its goals on the GOIW Society website initiation. I believe it is important to provide a few remarks on the formation of this organization and highlight the goals of the Society, which include advancing knowledge and clinical research in uveitis and related intraocular inflammations, fostering international collaboration, and improving treatment and prevention of these disorders with the aim of preventing vision loss and blindness from these maladies.

Serendipitously, the GOIW Society evolved from an international workshop on Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Disease (VKH) held on October 19-21, 1999, at Lake Arrowhead near Los Angeles. This workshop's aim was to formulate diagnostic clinical features of VKH by consensus of international uveitis field experts from Japan, USA, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. It was organized by me, supported by Professor Usui from Tokyo, Professor Gary Holland, Professor Ronald Smith, and Dr. Russell Read from Los Angeles. The success of the workshop led to the organization of biennial meetings on VKH diagnostic criteria, validation of its treatment, and the inclusion of other granulomatous uveitis entities in workshops organized by me and hosted by uveitis leaders from various parts of the world.

The second workshop was held in Tokyo, hosted by Professor Masahiko Usui, and included discussions on Sympathetic Ophthalmia's clinical and histopathologic features. The third workshop took place in Rome, hosted by Professor Paola Pivetti and Dr. Massimo Accorinti. Subsequent meetings took place in Monaco, hosted by Dr. Carl Herbort with a focus on Image of VKH; twice in Tokyo, hosted by Professors Hiroshi Goto and Manabu Mochizuki, which included discussions on Behçet's disease and Ocular Sarcoidosis; a workshop in Singapore, hosted by Professor Soon Phaik Chee, which included diagnostic features of Ocular Tuberculosis; and a workshop in Kaohsiung, hosted by Professor Shwu-Jiuan Sheu, which highlighted the main features of four granulomatous uveitides: VKH, Sympathetic Ophthalmia, Sarcoidosis, and Tuberculosis.

In April 2017, a workshop was held in Bali hosted by Professor Fatma Asyari and in this I included a planning meeting to formalize the workshops as the Global Ocular Inflammation Workshop Society. The meeting participants included Professor Masahiko Usui, Professor Shigeaki Ohno, Professor Manabu Mochizuki, Professor Hiroshi Goto, Professor Susumu Ishida, Professor Shwu-Jiuan Sheu, Professor Soon Phaik Chee, Professor Moncef Khairallah, Professor Fatma Asyari, Dr. Kalpana Babu Murthy, Dr. Soumayava Basu, and Dr. Hiroshi Takase. These participants unanimously approved the formalization of the GOIW Society and its registration in Singapore with help from Mr. Daniel Chen. The above participants, who had robustly participated in workshops since 1999, agreed to serve as board members of the organization. Additionally, Doctors Russell Read, Justine Smith, Daniel Vitor Vasconcelos Santos, and Massimo Accorinti joined the board. Moreover, the board members unanimously elected me as President, Professor Soon Phaik Chee as Treasurer, and Dr. Kalpana Babu Murthy as Executive Secretary of the GOIW Society. In 2017, the Society was officially registered in Singapore.

On June 28-30, 2019, a GOIW Society meeting took place in Sapporo, organized by Professor Susumu Ishida. Under the umbrella of the GOIW Society, the 11th workshop on VKH, 7th workshop on Ocular Sarcoidosis, 6th workshop on Ocular Tuberculosis, and 5th workshop on Behçet's disease were held. During the business meeting, the board members elected Professor Susumu Ishida as President, while Professor Chee and Dr. Kalpana Babu Murthy continued in their roles as Treasurer and Executive Secretary respectively, effective June 2020.

After the Sapporo workshop, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the GOIW Society could not hold biennial workshops but continued to play an educational role by holding sessions on granulomatous uveitides in conjunction with the International Ocular Inflammation Society in 2021 and 2023, and the Uveitis Society of India in 2023. Professor Ishida and Dr. Kalpana Babu Murthy organized these sessions.

In early April 2024, I took the lead in calling for elections for the GOIW Society, as the terms of Professor Ishida, Professor Chee, and Dr. Kalpana Babu Murthy were ending in June 2024. Electronically, the board members unanimously elected a vibrant group: Professor Soon Phaik Chee as President, Professor Daniel Vitor Vasconcelos Santos as Treasurer, and Professor Shwu-Jiuan Sheu as Executive Secretary. Also, the board established an honorary advisory post, naming me as Honorary President for life.

I thank the leadership and deeply appreciate the board members for bestowing upon me the honor to continue serving the GOIW Society and am glad that the rejuvenated GOIW Society will be holding its biannual meeting on VKH in 2025 in Bangkok.

Thank you.