DOG 2023 (English)

Welcome Address of the DOG President

Prof. Dr. Nikolaos E. Bechrakis

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,  
Dear Colleagues, 

I would like to cordially invite you to the 121st Congress of the DOG, which will be held in Berlin from September 28th to October 1st, 2023. 

The congress will take place in the familiar surroundings of the Congress Center at the Estrel Hotel and will make use of the well-known and proven conference venue with new and state-of-the-art equipped rooms and foyers for symposia, courses, workshops, poster exhibitions, as well as an extensive industrial exhibition. 

The German Society of Ophthalmology is the oldest ophthalmological society in the world and as such has a very long history of collegial knowledge transfer in the tradition of Albrecht von Graefe. A major focus of the congress will be “Leadership in Ophthalmology through Humanity and Competence”. We thereby want to live up to our tradition and emphasize that even in times of global far-reaching ecological, economic and geopolitical changes, the human being must nevertheless and always remain the focus of our attention and care.  

As ophthalmologists, we are bound by our profession to the health of the visual system. To live up to this commitment, we need an intensive and collegial exchange of knowledge in order to be able to adequately use the proven but also ever-expanding knowledge of our discipline supported by the best and most modern technologies. 

To this end, the annual congress of the DOG is the ideal forum for the extension of our technical authority in a pleasant congress atmosphere, since it offers the direct contact with the participants of different subspecialties of our subject and in particular the stimulating discussions, whether in the plenum, courses, or informally in the numerous foyers, as well as in the industrial exhibition.  

For the first time, a leadership academy of the DOG intended to support younger or future ophthalmologists in the development of their leadership skills is to be initiated within the framework of the 2023 congress.  

To paraphrase Max Weber, it is not only our fate but also our duty to ensure that we are scientifically but also professionally overtaken by the younger generation. I believe that the annual congress of our German Society of Ophthalmology with its tried and tested tradition has an important contribution to make in this regard. 

With this in mind, I would like to invite you all to our upcoming congress in 2023. 

With warm, collegial regards,   

Prof. Dr. Nikolaos E. Bechrakis
President of the DOG