The Jules François Memorial lecture. The collaborative ocular melanoma study and management of choroidal melanoma.

Baron Jules François was the preeminent ophthalmologist in a generation that included a number of notable colleagues. Throughout his distinguished tenure as Professor and Director of Ophthalmology at the University of Ghent, he combined intellectual and scholarly achievement with extraordinary energy and global vision. Scientific interests ranging from genetics to glaucoma culminated in authorship of hundreds of articles, chapters, and books. His boundless energy permitted an intense work ethic at the University of Ghent, leadership as President of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium (1969) and a broad commitment to international ophthalmology. Central to all activities, Jules François had a vision of ophthalmology as a global community. While President of the International Council of Ophthalmology from 1974 to 1982, he presided over the XXIII International Congress of Ophthalmology in Tokyo, Japan, during 1978 and the XXIV International Congress of Ophthalmology in San Francisco, United States, during 1982. At the Closing Ceremony of the latter, Jules François stated that ’’friendship has gained as much as science and we have felt close to one another, both in heart and in mind.’’ At the conclusion of his term, grateful colleagues elected Jules François Honorary Life President of the International Council of Ophthalmology. In 1975, Jules François initiated formation of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis to encourage interaction among academic ophthalmologists. In recognition, he was accorded the title of Honorary Life President of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis. Illustrating the global vision of Jules François, in April 2001, the International Council of Ophthalmology and the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis, working together, published the International Ophthalmology Strategic Plan to Preserve and Restore Vision Vision for the Future. Presented simultaneously in print and full-text on the Internet (www.icoph.org and www.acad-ophthal-int.org), this is a multiyear blueprint for improving eye care throughout the world. zzzzzz