Queenstown’s centrally located Crowne Plaza will once again host the Snowvision conference. Credit: Crowne Plaza

After a five-year hiatus, Snowvision is back, offering four days of optometry education and skiing in Queenstown from 2-5 August. Hosted at the Crowne Plaza, the conference has retained its popular format of dedicating mornings and afternoons for optometry learning with the middle of the day left free for skiing and other activities.

This year’s line-up includes American keynotes Associate Professor Matt Bovenzi from State University of New York (SUNY) and Professor Steve Ferruci from the Southern California College of Optometry at the Marshall B Ketchum University.

A/Prof Matt Bovenzi

A/Prof Bovenzi is the head of advanced care of the State University Eye Centre and a clinical instructor at SUNY, where his subjects include glaucoma and primary care clinics. A 2014 SUNY graduate, he completed a residency in ocular disease and family practice optometry at the East New York Diagnostic and Treatment Centre and was the 2015 recipient of the American Optometric Foundation’s Douglas W Hopkins Primary Care Residency award. Prior to optometry, he served as a surface warfare officer in the US Navy after receiving bachelor’s degrees in both biological sciences and music from Cornell University, which he attended on a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps scholarship.

Prof Steve Ferruci

Prof Ferruci is the head of optometry at the Sepulveda Veterans Affairs Medical Centre in California. With special interests in diabetes, diabetic eye disease, age-related macular degeneration and fluorescein angiography, he has lectured and published extensively. Prof Ferruci is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and currently serves as president of the Optometric Retinal Society.

The 2023 Snowvision conference also welcomes returning speakers Associate Professor Daryl Guest from the University of Melbourne and Drs Trevor Gray (Auckland) and Logan Mitchell (Dunedin), plus optometrists Richard Johnston from Greenlane Clinical Centre and Alex Petty from Tauranga.

A bus service will shuttle delegates to and from Coronet Peak ski field for a small fee, and organisers have promised to put on additional activities. The registration fee (to be announced) will include the Wednesday evening opening cocktail function, Thursday dinner, the final Saturday dinner and pre-lecture breakfasts.

Organised by Hamish Caithness, Dave Robinson, Grant Watters and Catherine Small, the conference funds Snowvision’s annual scholarships for one graduate and one optometrist to attend SUNY to further their ophthalmic knowledge.

More details will be announced soon. Meanwhile, expressions of interest can be sent to: cushandgrant@gmail.com