15th Annual Eyes on a Cure: Ocular Melanoma Patient & Caregiver Symposium – Fostering Community and Hope
Blog post by Caroline Glavin, MRF Education Manager – Rare Melanoma Subtypes:
The MRF’s 15th Annual 2026 Eyes on a Cure Ocular Melanoma Patient & Caregiver Symposium brought together more than 75 patients, caregivers and clinicians at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (BPEI) and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Miami, FL for a weekend of education, connection and community.
The weekend began Friday evening with a welcome dinner at PRIMOS Restaurant, where the energy in the room was palpable. Attendees laughed, shared stories and connected so deeply that the night stretched well past 10:30pm. It was a powerful reminder of what this community means to one another.
Saturday featured a full day of scientific and supportive sessions covering uveal melanoma treatment, surveillance, genetics, clinical trials, metastatic disease management and patient support resources.
Throughout the day, attendees also had the opportunity to step away from the main sessions and join smaller open discussion groups facilitated by oncology social workers, offering a more intimate space for questions, reflection and peer connection.
The day closed with debrief sessions, where attendees gathered in smaller breakout groups by primary disease, metastatic disease and caregivers, each facilitated by members of the MRF team and social workers from BPEI and Sylvester.
A clear theme resonated throughout the entire weekend…hope. It came up again and again, in the sessions, in the hallways and at the dinner table, and nowhere was it more present than in Sunday’s session with Jon Davis, a retired Air Force pilot, engineer and 12.5-year ocular melanoma patient with eight years of metastatic disease.
Jon spoke with remarkable honesty and warmth about how to turn a life-threatening diagnosis into something purposeful. His talk, “I Have Cancer (yay!): How Can I Turn This Diagnosis Into Something Empowering?”, left the room moved and energized in equal measure.
Sunday’s programming closed with a provider panel featuring Dr. Basil Williams, Medical Director, Ocular Oncology Service and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, alongside MRF’s Miriam Kadosh and Caroline Glavin, focused on how to bring more clinicians and advocates into the ocular melanoma space and the concrete ways providers can better support this community. It was a fitting and forward-looking note to end on.
After a grab-and-go lunch, the group headed to loanDepot Park to cheer on the Miami Marlins, who delivered a win to cap off the weekend. A full recording of the symposium sessions will be available on YouTube soon, so stay tuned.