What's in store at CRU 2025: A day 1 wrap up

Image credit: AdobeStock/chaolik

There’s a lot more than wine sipping happening in wine country. The 2025 CRU Eye Symposium, running from March 28-30 in Napa, California, invites optometrists to learn the latest that is current, relevant, and useful to bring back to their practices. For CRU Cofounder John D. Gelles, OD, the opportunity to earn COPE or ACCME CE/CME credits pairs well with wine, having sat down with Optometry Times after a complimentary wine tasting event that wrapped up the first day of the conference.

Gelles said that the conference has moved to a new venue this year, providing a beautiful atmosphere for 6 lectures. “Our setup for this year really focused on trying to give us a little bit more afternoon free time while still providing that really high-quality education up front,” he said.

On March 28, lectures ranged from inherited retinal diseases to myopia management. The remaining CRU sessions range from neurotrophic keratitis and dry eye disease to glaucoma and keratoconus, all available to attendees who are logging on to view CRU’s educational material virtually. Then, a little bit of fun mixed in has kept attendees engaged so far. “When we look at the activities that we've had planned here, we've really been able to get that capture that collegial vibe that we've been going for with this meeting,” Gelles said.

Sessions that have stood out for Gelles include Emerging Opportunities in Inherited Retinal Diseases presented by Rachelle Lin, OD, MS, FAAO, and Retina Roundup, presented by Lin and Quan Dong Nguyen, MD MSc. “Having Dr. Nguyen join us was wonderful,” Gelles said. “His contributions to retina were very, very insightful.”

Additionally, Lin’s inherited retinal diseases talk provided insights into diagnostics and impact of patient quality of life, among other factors. “For someone like me who does not attend the retinal conferences, it really was giving me exactly what’s in the core of CRU, which is current, relevant, and useful information that I wanted from a lecture like that,” Gelles said.

Ultimately, what has kept CRU special is its focus on forming relationships in a smaller setting, according to Gelles. “You just don’t want that feeling that you have at the bigger meetings where there’s 2000 attendees. You can’t make time to see anybody. You’re running back and forth the whole time. This really gives you the opportunity to sit still, meet some people, enjoy some win with them. [Attendees] really enjoyed not just the environment, but also the education. Everybody has commented on how excellent the speakers are and just how great the content has been,” he said.