European Board of Ophthalmology

EBOD 2005: Eighty-Five New Fellows and Fellows-to-Be

The 11th European Board of Ophthalmology Diploma Examination (EBOD) was held in Paris on May 6 to 7, 2005.

The EBOD is a test of excellence in ophthalmology. It is designed to assess the knowledge and clinical skills requisite to the delivery of a high standard of ophthalmologic care both in hospitals and in independent clinical practices. It is now accepted as a replacement of the national specialist examination in Belgium and Switzerland.

More candidates than ever, over a hundred, registered to the examination and 97 candidates eventually sat the written and oral part of the examination in Le Palais des Congrčs de Paris. For the first time, candidates were present from Iceland, Malta and Slovenia.

Ivan Haefliger (Switzerland), who is the Chairman of the Education Committee that is responsible for organising, supervising, scoring and developing the EBOD, masterfully matched the candidates with more than 50 examiners representing the same countries than the candidates. This was not an easy task, given the multitude of languages spoken and some last-minute changes in the examiners present.

The examination commenced with the written paper, consisting of 52 multiple-choice questions (MCQ), each with a stem followed by five statements that had to be marked either "true" or "false". Some candidates felt that the test was hard, however, upon scoring very good answers dominated. Alexander Stangos, representing Switzerland, got the higest score, 247 points out of a maximum of 260 and, hence, he received the price for the Best Written Exam.

After a lunch break, the oral part of the examination, known as viva voce, was ready to start. In the meantime, candidates were busy with rehearsing and giving a final touch to their knowledge.

The viva voces were conducted simultaneously in six groups, each with eight examiners and four candidates. Advent of modern technology had replaced slide viewers with laptop computers loaded with fundus images, visual fields, corneal topography, histopathology, and other clinical data to accompany questions related to diagnosis, management and therapy in clinical practice. Four rounds of viva voces were needed to accommodate all candidates.

In the meantime, officers of the Education committee were busy scoring the MCQs, headed by Alan Ridgway (United Kingdom) who maintains the question bank.

Saturday commenced with the Meeting of the Jury, composed of all the examiners and chaired by Ivan Haefliger, Chairman of the Education Committee. The EBOD is not a language examination and, hence, the Jury discussed all failed scores also to verify that failure was the result of lack of knowledge and not the result of being examined in a foreign tongue. It was found that the majority of the candidates, 85 out of 97, had successfully passed the examination (pass rate, 88%).

According to the rules of the EBOD, candidates who were specialists were awarded their Diploma in Paris, and they immediately became Fellows of the Board (FEBO). Candidates who were residents must first be registered as specialists in a country of the European Union, whereafter they will receive their Diploma from their National Delegate.

The President, Tero Kivelä (Finland), addressed the candidates and the examiners, congratulating them for an examination well done. Some examiners like José Menezo(Spain; left on the image) and Fred Hendrikse (The Netherlands) had been with the Board from the conception of the EBOD, while others had been attending their first EBOD (e.g. Marja-Liisa Vuori, Finland, right on the image). This continuity and renewal both are mandatory for the success of the meeting.

The price for the Best candidate went this year to Slovenia: Dr. Martina Jarc-Vidmar won a grant for a one-month stay in another University Eye Clinic within the European Union.

The successful candidates and, hence, the new Fellows and Fellows-to-Be of the European Board in 2005 are (in alphabetical order by country):

BARILE Stefano; BARLET Tania; BLAISE Pierre; CABAY Laurence; COBUT Olivier O. F. H.; COLLAER Nanny J. O.; CZUPPER Maďte, De BLAUWE An E.; DELAUNOIT Lise; DETHINNE-DELPLANCHE Boris Y. M.; DUCHATEAU Florence; FRANKEFORT Nathalie; HERMANS Isabelle; HOUBEN Nathalie M. F.; KOLACNY Dagmar A. M.; KORCZEWSKI Fabrice J. A.; LEKEU-HINOSTROZA Jean-Pierre; MARIS Karolien M. J.; OEHRENS Ana Maria; QUERTINIER Anne-Laure; STRAGIER Magali; VERSTRYNGE Katrien (Belgium); ŘTHER Anders (Denmark); MOILANEN Jukka A. O. (Finland); DÉRIOT Jean-Baptiste; DOUCET Christian; LAFONTAINE Pierre-Olivier; RACOUSSOT Florent (France); BECKER Klio A.; KARAKOULAKIS Charalampos; KOLONA Savva; LANG Peter J.; LEHRER Elfriede-Berenice; SBEITY Zaher H.; SHERIF ABDEL RAHMAN Zacharias; WALTER Andreas F.; VOGEL Antje; VOIGT Matthias (Germany); GUNNARSDOTTIR Thora (Iceland); HOGAN Aideen Clodagh; MALOOK Saiful (Ireland); SPITERI Philip (Malta); JARC-VIDMAR Martina; MACAN Krešimir (Slovenia); FÁBREGA Jorge; SCHARGEL PALACIOS Konrad; VALLDEPERAS Xavier (Spain); AUSTENG Dordi Kristine; HASAN Yousef Abdulla Mohamed (Sweden); AMSTUTZ Christoph; ATIPO-TSIBA Pepin-Williams; BÜRGE-FUCHS Marco; BÖSCH Martina; De HALLER Raoul; DIOLAIUTI Sara; DREIFUSS Sylvain; ESTERMANN Stephan; HATZ Katja; HIRSCH-HOFFMANN Sven; HRUBES Barbora; KANDEKE Lévi; KLOOS Patrik; KOESTINGER Armin; LANDERT Monika; MARCHIONDI Sandro Mario; MONNERAT Nicole, MORMILE David; NGUYEN Christophe; NJOH WILSON Akem; OUEGHLANI Evelyne; PELLANDA Niccolo; PITCHON Elie M.; RONCORONI Dina; ROTH Mischa; RUTISHAUSER-ARNOLD Yvonne; SIMMEN Barbara Claudia; STANGOS Alexandros; STEMMLE Jonas; TRICK Alexander Jeroen; VARSORI Michael; WIDMER Stefan (Switzerland); CRAMA Niels; DIJKMAN Frederik C. A. P.; van der MAESEN Karin (The Netherlands); and HILDEBRAND Göran Darius (United Kingdom).

The European Board welcomes candidates who, unfortunately, were not successful this year to attend the examination again in Paris, May 2006.

Unsuccessful candidates are also reminded that they have the right to appeal to the Education Committee if they believe that they have not been judged fairly. The Education Committee must receive such appeals within three (3) months of the date of examination and it will respond to the Candidate in writing within three (3) months of the receipt of the appeal.

Swiss candidates are reminded that the Board is an educational body and not responsible for registration of candidates as specialists. Queries and appeals to this effect are to be sent directly to the FMH Swiss Medical Association after having received an official letter from that body.