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Dr Wolfgang Cagnolati, a German optometrist from North Rhine Westphalia, has been elected the President of the European Council of Optometry and Optics (ECOO). He takes over from Dr Feike Grit of the Netherlands. Dr Cagnolati received the unanimous votes of ECOO’s General Assembly, meeting on 9 November 2008 in Istanbul.

 

Dr Cagnolati is a graduate of the University of Applied Sciences (TFH) in Berlin and Salus University/Pennsylvania College of Optometry. He is a leading member of the profession in his country and has been active for many years not only at Europeanbut also at world level, participating in the work of the American Academy of Optometry and the World Council of Optometry.

 

Also elected as Vice-President was Mr Armin Duddek, a practising optometrist from Switzerland. Mr Jesus Garcia of the Spanish College of Optician-Optometrists was re-elected Treasurer of ECOO.

 

Of his election Dr Cagnolati said, ‘I am honoured to have been elected by my European colleagues to this high office. I will endeavour to my best to serve the profession and to expand its influence throughout Europe.

 

‘ECOO has important work to do to help its member organisations to improve eye care services to European citizens.’

 

As part of this improvement, ECOO aims to raise the standard of optometric and optical education in European. For this reason, it has taken the final steps to launch a European Academy of Optometry and Optics, which will have its inaugural meeting on 16-17 May 2009 in Lausanne (Switzerland).

 

At the same time, ECOO has appointed The College of Optometrists of the UK to provide the secretariat of the European Academy.

 

ECOO has expanded and now consists of member organisations representing optometrists and opticians from thirty countries. The organisations which have joined most recently come from Iceland, Latvia and Ukraine.

 

 

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