2025 BASIC SCIENCE COURSE - Registration is now open

Registration is open for the 2025 online course. ACVO is collaborating with North Carolina State University to support this course for our attendees. We thank NCSU for their support! As such, NCSU is providing registration services through their registration portal. You may register here to secure your seat and pay for the course. In order to register, you will need to open a ‘Brickyard Account’. Select the course, select ‘Add to cart’, and ‘login’ to continue. Select ‘Create New Account’ and follow the instructions. NCSU will provide you receipt and confirmation, and next steps will be provided soon after.

The 2025 Basic Science Course will again be offered solely as a series of online lectures and discussions following the now traditional 8-week format comprised of three consecutive parts. First, pre-recorded (“asynchronous”) lectures and notes will be available for self-directed preview for about 3 weeks. This will be followed by an approximately 3-week period of at least once-daily live (“synchronous”) online discussions, online image recognition sessions (“slide rounds”), and online social events. Then, for the final 2 weeks, all materials (including recordings of the lectures, online discussions, and image recognition sessions) will remain available for self-directed review. No further access will be possible after that and no in-person options are possible in 2025

Dates for the 3 periods of the 2025 BSC are as follows:

Asynchronous Preview Period: Friday May 9th through Friday May 30th, 2025
Synchronous Live Sessions: Saturday May 31st through Sunday June 22nd, 2025
Asynchronous Review Period: Monday June 23rd through Monday July 7th, 2025

This format provides each attendee maximum flexibility in the way they learn. Over the 8 weeks, you can watch all recorded lectures and discussions as many times as you wish – and on your own schedule. In addition, you can log-in live to any discussion sessions to hear new and additional material and to have your questions answered by the course speakers. Likewise, you can participate in live image recognition sessions (slide rounds). All discussions and slide rounds are recorded so that you may watch them on delay if the timing is not good for you, or watch them again at any time throughout the course.

Please Note: The lectures you will be viewing if you register for the 2025 online course were – in the majority of cases – recorded live at the 2024 Basic Science Course, which was held in person. As such, there are interactions with the audience and questions from the audience that may not be audible to you. If the speaker used a laser pointer on the screen, then this is not visible. However, most used the mouse as their pointer and this will be visible. Also, lecturers did not always break on the hour and so lecture durations are uneven. (2024 Content Delivered )

Because the online course attracts attendees from almost every major time zone around the globe, live discussions are scheduled at times suitable for as many attendees as possible. But, if you are unable to attend any sessions live, recall that they are all recorded and available for you to view at your convenience until the end of the course. An outline of the course can be accessed. (2025 Course Outline)

2026 BASIC SCIENCE COURSE

The 2026 Basic Science Course is planned in the traditional in-person format over 3 weeks at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA, June 8th through July 3rd, 2026. An example of a prior in-person BSC syllabus can be accessed. (2024 Content Delivered)

BSC CONTENT:

In both the online and in-person formats, the ACVO Basic Science Course includes instruction in the core basic sciences of anatomy, embryology, genetics, physiology, microbiology, immunology, pharmacology, and pathology. In addition, the course covers certain clinical and research topics less frequently encountered in a residency program including neuro-ophthalmology, retinoscopy, advanced imaging, phacodynamics and principles of microsurgery, and laboratory animal ophthalmology. Instruction and content of the course is directed at the principal audience of ABVO and ECVO residents, is delivered entirely in English, and emphasizes the basic - not the clinical - sciences relevant to Comparative Ophthalmology.

The ACVO Basic Science Course is not a degree-, certificate-, or diploma-granting agency. Likewise, it is not a stand-alone credential that should be used to suggest to the public that an attendee is more highly trained in veterinary ophthalmology than someone who has not attended the course. The course is not intended to introduce or train veterinarians in clinical skills of veterinary ophthalmology, and is in no way equivalent to residency training; rather it is supplemental to it.

BASIC SCIENCE COURSE OBJECTIVES:

To further the understanding of basic scientific principles, pathophysiology of diseases, and principles and applications of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities in veterinary and comparative ophthalmology
To enhance patient care in the practice of veterinary ophthalmology
To improve the ability to obtain funding, perform research and advance the science of comparative ophthalmology
To build relationships and promote collegiality among comparative ophthalmologists and other vision scientists
To encourage life-long learning in comparative ophthalmology

WHO MAY ATTEND?

Enrollment is open to individuals in ophthalmology residency training programs as well as graduate students in veterinary ophthalmology, university faculty teaching veterinary ophthalmology, international trainees in veterinary ophthalmology, and individuals with an interest in veterinary ophthalmology.

REVIEW A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BSC

Future Courses

Since 2022, the ACVO has offered the Basic Science Course annually in an alternating in-person and online format. Please note that this is still in the trial phase and may be changed. It is expected that each of the course formats will appeal to different groups. The online course typically provides 8 weeks’ access to recorded (asynchronous) lectures, and live (synchronous) discussions and image recognition rounds, as well as virtual social events. The in-person course is an intensive 3-week residential experience with opportunities for live interactions with the speakers, attendance at the retinoscopy and cytology labs, and live image recognition rounds, as well as in-person social events.

2023: Was offered online (see the syllabus here)

2024: Was offered in-person (see the syllabus here)

2025: Online event - May 9th, 2025 - July 7th, 2025

2026: Currently planned as an in-person event from June 8th, 2026 – July 3rd, 2026