Dr Ulrich Spandaustudied medicine at the University of Würzburg in Germany before completing ophthalmology residencies at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Mannheim&Heidelberg. He continued his surgical training at the Eye Clinic in Koblenz and became a board-certified ophthalmologist in 2003. In 2004 he was appointed Consultant in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Mannheim&Heidelberg, later serving as Vice Director. He completed his PhD and received hisvenia legendiin 2005. Since 2008, Dr Spandau has been Consultant and Head of Surgery in the Department of Ophthalmology at Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden, and he has held the title of Associate Professor since 2013. He has published more than fifty peer-reviewed articles and is the author of multiple Springer textbooks, includingSmall Gauge Vitrectomy: A Practical Handbook,Complications During and After Cataract Surgery,Small Gauge Vitrectomy for Diabetic Retinopathy,27G Vitrectomy: Minimal Sclerotomies for Maximal Results,Cutting Edge of Ophthalmic Surgery: From Refractive SMILE to Robotic Vitrectomy, andTrocar Surgery for Cataract Surgeons.

Dr Zhaotian Zhang earned his medical doctorate from Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) in Guangzhou, China, in 2012. He subsequently completed fellowship training in vitreoretinal surgery at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, the national tertiary referral centre and consistently ranked as China&s leading eye hospital. He now serves as a consultant vitreoretinal surgeon (adult and peadiatric retina), with a focus on advancing and refining surgical techniques in the field. Dr Zhang has authored more than thirty original research articles as first or corresponding author and wrote the textbook Vitreoretinal Surgery: From Basic to Mastery, published in Chinese by People&s Health Publishing. His surgical work has been recognised with three Excellent Awards at the ZEISS Film Festival within the RETINA China forum in recent years.