PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR BACKGROUND.

I was born on the East Coast, but my family soon moved to Pittsburgh, where we stayed for several years until my father’s work eventually took us to Cincinnati. As a child, I was unenthusiastic about the move, as I had done my research and found that the frequency of tornados was (and still is) higher in Cincinnati than in Pittsburgh. I had no childhood aspirations of becoming a physician and instead wanted to do one of three things in life: become a storm chaser to study tornados, specialize in marine biology to study sharks, or become a paleontologist to study dinosaurs. My fascination with and trepidation of extreme weather was realized in 1999 when Cincinnati was devastated by an EF4 tornado that missed my family’s house by just over a mile. I remember seeing the widespread destruction and debris and being in awe of the power of nature. This, combined with an early exposure to traveling and hiking on family vacations, gave birth to a lifelong love for science.

My parents had friends in Pittsburgh who had put their son in taekwondo classes and wanted me to start taking martial arts classes as well. I started training in Shotokan karate at Japanese Karate-Do under Sensei Sonny Kim in 1997 and never stopped. Karate has remained a constant in my life, and this year marks 25 years of training. Studying martial arts is immediately humbling as one very quickly realizes that there is always someone bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic, more strategic, more intuitive, more technically proficient, and more perceptive. The path of a martial artist is individual, personal, and perpetually in flux, as one must constantly adapt and recalibrate as they learn and age. Martial arts are a way of life that involve the pursuit of continuous self-growth and unattainable perfection. Throughout my journey in medicine, I have found many similarities between martial arts and surgery.¹

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WHAT DREW YOU TO OPHTHALMOLOGY AND, SPECIFICALLY, TO YOUR FIELD OF INTEREST?

I was very interested in neurophysiology and entered medical school thinking I would pursue neurology. I then briefly considered emergency medicine, explored dermatology, almost committed to applying to plastic surgery, and then ultimately discovered ophthalmology relatively late as an M3. The first time I saw a stereoscopic optic nerve at the slit lamp, I felt a quiet understanding that I had discovered my future specialty. As a technophile, I love that ophthalmology so strongly embraces cutting-edge innovation in technology. I was instantly drawn to the clinical examination, slit lamp, lenses, lasers, various parts of the eye, and microsurgery. I especially felt that I was able to spend meaningful amounts of time with patients relative to other specialties. Although I found all of medicine intellectually stimulating, I was disillusioned with the way I saw most of care being practiced in the modern health care system. However, I was excited whenever I had the opportunity to be in an ophthalmology clinic or observe cataract surgery, and loved looking at eyes and studying their anatomy and pathology. Ophthalmology is one of the most visual fields in medicine, and I found myself enraptured by the variations in irides, angles on gonioscopy, optic nerves, and fundus vasculature. I liked the ability to transition between private practice and academia (or do both simultaneously) and that many advancements in research and clinical trials come from the private sector and through collaboration with industry. I also found ophthalmologists to be happy, kind, collegial, and supportive people who loved their profession. Patients are incredibly grateful for the care of their eyes and vision, and I felt that I would be able to positively impact people’s lives every day as an ophthalmologist.

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PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR CURRENT POSITION.

I am a refractive, cataract, and anterior segment surgeon in private practice at the Maloney-Shamie-Hura Vision Institute in Los Angeles. My practice is exclusively devoted to refractive and cataract surgery, and I am proud to offer the entire spectrum of vision correction to my patients, including refractive cataract surgery, refractive lens exchange, implantable collamer lenses, LASIK, SMILE, and PRK. I am committed to providing my patients the best in technology and outcomes, and I frequently travel and attend conferences to exchange ideas with colleagues, produce surgical videos to help teach other surgeons refractive surgery, closely follow new developments and advancements in industry, and embrace opportunities to be involved in research and development and clinical trials that align with my interests and vision. I enjoy being on the cutting edge but am also never afraid to let a patient know if they are not a good candidate for a given procedure. My practice is committed to providing excellence in patient care as well as contributing to refractive and cataract surgery research to help advance ophthalmology and medicine at large.

WHO ARE YOUR MENTORS?

I have been blessed with many mentors and friends who have guided me and provided opportunities for growth. There are too many individuals to fully acknowledge here, but I have done my best to highlight those who have had a particular influence on my early life and career. I hope this tribute conveys my deep gratitude for them.

I would also be remiss to not recognize my parents, both of whom have supported my every interest and endeavor. My mother has always believed I could achieve anything I pursued, and my father kept my aspirations grounded.

Sensei Sonny Kim. I started training in Shotokan karate under Sensei Sonny Kim in 1997 shortly after my family first moved to Cincinnati. Sonny was an officer for the Cincinnati Police Department and, outside of work, an instructor of traditional Shotokan karate classes. His dojo was true to Japanese and eastern martial arts culture in that certain formalities and hierarchies were observed. Like many children, I was rambunctious, but learning karate under Sonny surely served as a guiding and calming influence. Sonny was stern, disciplined, level-headed, down-to-earth, kind, humble, and humorous. He encouraged his students to visit other dojos, study other martial arts, train with other instructors, and bring back our best learnings to share and incorporate into our training. Sonny was as much a student as he was a teacher, and he trained as hard as he taught. To this day, I am amazed at how Sonny balanced working as a police officer with teaching and practicing karate and being a loving husband and father.

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Prabir Roy-Chaudhury, MD, PhD. My first true research experience came during my summer breaks in Cincinnati as an undergraduate student. I had the pleasure of spending three summers working under Dr. Roy-Chaudhury in his nephrology lab and learning the basics of histology and immunohistochemistry. Our work at the time focused specifically on examining vascular morphologic changes in patients with dialysis access stenosis, and outside of the clinical aspects of the research, provided me with insights into managing a large lab, obtaining grants, and writing manuscripts. I enjoyed looking at the various multicolored stains under high magnification on slides, and later found histology much easier to formally learn in medical school thanks to this experience. Dr. Roy-Chaudhury also allowed me to lean into my experience with image editing software to rewrite the lab’s morphometric analysis protocol, a methodology that I would later use multiple times in ophthalmic research. I am grateful for the guidance and mentorship Dr. Roy-Chaudhury provided at such an early stage in undergrad and carefully followed his wisdom even through the ophthalmology residency interview trail.

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Raouf S. Amin, MD. During my M1 and M2 summer in medical school, I was fortunate to receive an NIH-funded research grant to work with Dr. Amin on obstructive sleep apnea and cystic fibrosis research in the Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. It was a lot of fun working in the lab, but what was unique about this research experience was that I was able to see patients in clinic, watch procedures in the OR, and then see how what we were working on in the lab translated to patient care. This was also my first exposure to multidisciplinary collaboration, as we partnered with engineers and statisticians. A regularly scheduled didactic series also gave me exposure to national experts throughout the summer. The work being done for pediatric pulmonology at Cincinnati Children’s is incredible and it was a pleasure being able to join the team for a short time. I fondly remember conversations with Dr. Amin about clinical medicine, and he undoubtedly helped shape my journey through medical school. I am especially grateful for his mentorship in helping me understand complex immunologic processes, which later translated to better understanding ocular surface disease and conducting related research during my internship.

Robert W. Neel, MD. I applied to medical school spurred by an interest in neurophysiology and anticipated becoming a neurologist. I joined the Neuroscience Scholars program at the start of medical school and was paired with Dr. Neel because of my interest in neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases. It was this interest in neurology that led to an interest in neuro-ophthalmology and then eventually ophthalmology at large. I had the privilege of shadowing and observing Dr. Neel in clinic over the first 2 years of medical school and observing EMGs and EEGs in the epilepsy monitoring unit. Many of my early observations of exemplary bedside manner were of Dr. Neel as he is a wonderful, caring, and empathic physician who truly provides thoughtful and personalized care to his patients. Some of my favorite memories from medical school involved debating him on the legitimacy of bowties and working together over the winter holidays in the hospital seeing patients. When Chris Riemann, MD, and I devised a project to take intraoperative EMG measurements of posterior chain postural musculature during ophthalmic surgery, Dr. Neel was the first person that came to mind to help guide the neurological aspects of the study. He was perhaps my first mentor in medical school, and I am grateful for his guidance, which included navigating a near-last-second application to neurology residency!

Robert H. Osher, MD. I discovered ophthalmology relatively late in medical school, and given the early Match, I knew I had little time to put my application together. Ophthalmology is one of the most competitive specialties in all of medicine and surgery to match into, and although I had previous research experience, I knew that ophthalmic specific research was going to be necessary to maximize my chances of matching. I reached out to numerous ophthalmologists at UC, Cincinnati Children’s, and the Cincinnati Eye Institute (CEI) to see if there was any ongoing research that I might be able to help with. Most of my emails went without response, and the few conversations I had proved unfruitful as the surgeons were too busy on projects with fellows, residents, and M4s. I truly had no leads until one person reached out with an opportunity—Dr. Osher.

When we first met, my understanding of ophthalmology was rudimentary, and I barely had any idea what we were discussing regarding toric lens alignment and astigmatism correction at the time of cataract surgery. Dr. Osher was patient and guided me through several research ideas, and we eventually settled on one that again allowed me to utilize my experience in image editing software to compare two intraoperative toric lens alignment technologies. His love for teaching and research, his patience, and his passion for ophthalmology and patient care led to him becoming one of the most meaningful and impactful mentors and friends I have been fortunate to have.

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Alice T. Epitropoulos, MD. I first met Dr. Epitropoulos during my fourth year of medical school right before the ophthalmology residency interview season was about to kick off. She was visiting Cincinnati as the guest speaker for the evening Cincinnati Society of Ophthalmology meeting and was presenting on a new non-monofocal IOL that had just launched. I was fascinated by the technology and enjoyed talking with her before and after her presentation about all things OSU and Columbus. Several months later, on Match Day, I found out that I would be heading back to Columbus for my transitional year internship. I reached out to Dr. Epitropoulos to see if she was still working on research for the IOL and eventually went and visited her once I moved. In the interim period, she allowed me to help with some of her ASCRS presentations during my last several months of medical school. Once I was in Columbus, we started to work on a research study looking at meibomian gland structure and function after vectored thermal pulsation. Ironically, the protocol I developed for our study used the same principles of morphometric analysis I had utilized when doing nephrology research! After finishing work at the hospital every day, I would drive to her office to review charts and collect data, often until 10 PM and on the weekends as well.

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Lisa D. Kelly, MD. After realizing that neurology was likely not the path I would pursue for residency, I was at an impasse. I decided to reach out to individuals within the specialties I had thus far not been exposed to in medical school, one of which was ophthalmology. I remember meeting Dr. Kelly on a summer afternoon, just minutes after I had met with the dermatology chairman to explore what applying to dermatology residency might look like. During the first meeting, I was told that dermatology is very competitive and that the applicant pool includes Olympians and NASA astronauts. Whether I could match into dermatology would essentially be a coin flip. We discussed opportunities to get dermatology exposure and what research opportunities were available, but it seemed the selection criteria were objective and fairly impersonal. My subsequent conversation with Dr. Kelly could not have been in more stark contrast. Rather than a brief meeting reviewing my credentials, we spent an hour talking about my experience thus far in medical school, my extracurricular interests, and my vision for the future. By the end of our meeting, I felt I had a solid plan in place to learn more about ophthalmology, gain exposure to the department, and start research.

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Adam H. Kaufman, MD. I have been fortunate to have many mentors in ophthalmology, but none are quite like Dr. Kaufman. He serves as program director of UC’s Department of Ophthalmology and was undoubtedly my biggest advocate in residency. His commitment to the residents, the program, the department, and his patients is outstanding. He was constantly working on ways to improve the residency across the university, Cincinnati Children’s, CEI, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and was available at all hours for patient care. A program director can have a big impact on the trajectory of a residency program and the department as a whole. The number of improvements during my few years as a resident were remarkable, including UC having one of the first and most expansive integrated intern years for an ophthalmology residency in the country (before the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology limited the number of ophthalmology months during intern year to 3), an increase in volume of cataract surgeries at the VA, the introduction and regularization of residents having the opportunity to utilize multifocal and extended depth of focus IOLs, new clinic equipment, wetlabs for almost every subspecialty, new mission trip opportunities, and various significant resident quality of life improvements.

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Karl C. Golnik, MD. I first met Dr. Golnik through a mutual recommendation by Dr. Kelly and Aurora Bennett, MD, PhD. Dr. Golnik is in high demand as he is chairman of UC’s Department of Ophthalmology and is also one of the only neuro-ophthalmologists in the tristate area. Thus, medical students, optometrists, ophthalmology residents, neurology residents, and even ophthalmology residents at other regional ophthalmology residencies are always trying to spend time with him. He is heavily involved in international education, works closely with the International Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology, and travels often to teach and lecture. In fact, it was one of his neuro-ophthalmology lectures on cranial nerves during my M2 year that initially piqued my interest in ophthalmology. I had no clinical exposure to ophthalmology prior to M3, and it just so happened that after my general surgery rotation ended, Dr. Golnik was not traveling and was working in clinic through the end of December, unaccompanied by any learners. I jumped at the chance to work with him and was fortunate to spend my winter break essentially on an unofficial 2-week neuro-ophthalmology elective.

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Edward J. Holland, MD. UC residents have the opportunity to work with Dr. Holland as PGY-3s, but that time is typically limited to the 3-month cornea rotation. Knowing that I was most likely going to pursue a cornea or refractive surgery fellowship, I asked my program director, Dr. Kaufman, if I could spend extra time with Dr. Holland over the summer and as a PGY-4 to gain more exposure to private practice cornea. Dr. Holland is an incredible cornea specialist who specializes in cornea, external disease, and cataract surgery, and he attracts worldwide referrals for his pioneering work in ocular surface stem cell transplantation. It was eye-opening to spend time with him in clinic and the OR and to observe highly refined and efficient care for simple to incredibly complex corneal and anterior segment pathology. It was also insightful to see the incoming cornea fellow get started and observe their learning curve and process of getting acclimated to a new practice and institution.

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Christopher D. Riemann, MD. I still remember one of the first conversations I had with Dr. Riemann, which was at the 2018 Cataract Surgery: Telling It Like It Is! conference that I was able to attend during my intern year. One of the evening sessions to close the day involved the attendees wearing 3D glasses and then Dr. Riemann showing off 3D vitreoretinal surgery videos and explaining the ergonomic benefits of untethering from oculars by utilizing 3D heads-up display technology in the OR. At the close of the session and nearing midnight, I approached Dr. Riemann as the audience was clearing to ask a couple of questions regarding his presentation. He then proceeded to sit down with me for 45 minutes and go over an additional presentation covering 3D heads-up display technology in depth and then told me about a research idea he had and tasked me with championing it. I agreed and walked back to my Airbnb excited about the opportunity (both ergonomics and technology are passions of mine) but also slightly confused about what had just transpired as I had not approached Dr. Riemann with any intent other than the couple of questions I had.

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My medical training in Cincinnati spanned a decade, and there are so many individuals whose advice, guidance, and mentorship I am grateful for and that I must acknowledge.

• My most steadfast attending who staffed most of my early resident clinics: Michael M. Gaynier, DO
• My first teacher in refractive surgery: Gary A. Varley, MD
• The attendings who first staffed my cataract surgeries: Michael J. Prokopius, MD; Bandana Waikhom, MD; Aubrey R. Tirpack, MD; Faiz M. Khaja, MD; Michael A. Hater, MD; Daniel J. Hammer, MD; Brian M. Marek, MD; and Gregory B. Mecoli, MD
• My VA attendings: David W. Brounley, MD; Howard D. Melvin, MD; E. Radhika Ramenaden, MD; Richard S. Kerstine, MD; and Mark A. Cepela, MD

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WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE OF YOUR CAREER THUS FAR?

I am blessed to have had two once-in-a-lifetime opportunities in my career thus far. The first was doing a high-volume private practice refractive and cataract surgery fellowship with William F. Wiley, MD, and Shamik Bafna, MD, at the Cleveland Eye Clinic and Clear Choice Custom LASIK Center in Cleveland, and the second was joining Robert K. Maloney, MD, and Neda Shamie, MD, in private practice in Los Angeles.

William F. Wiley, MD. My first meeting with Dr. Wiley was by chance. I was slowly beginning to realize that I was gravitating toward refractive and cataract surgery in residency and sought to broaden my understanding of the subspecialty. I happened to see a Twitter post for the 2019 Advanced Refractive Congress, a collaborative MD-OD meeting in Florida, and upon reviewing the meeting agenda decided to take a week of vacation during residency to attend. After hearing Dr. Wiley give a presentation, I went up to him during the session break and introduced myself. I was a resident in Cincinnati, and his practice was just a few hours north in Cleveland. I told him that I had been using all of my free time in residency to attend meetings but that I was thinking of redirecting that time toward visiting private practices to see different practice environments and learn from other surgeons outside of my residency program. Dr. Wiley was immediately agreeable to the idea of me visiting his practice, and we exchanged contact information. In retrospect, even though my fellowship application cycle was still another year away and not at the forefront of my mind, it was Dr. Wiley’s easygoing, humble, positive, and down-to-earth energy during that first conversation that made me confident that the conduit of communication, teaching, and learning between us would be optimal for fellowship.

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Shamik Bafna, MD. Dr. Bafna was also at that same Advanced Refractive Congress meeting where I first met Dr. Wiley, but the first time I met Dr. Bafna was on fellowship interview day at the practice. I learned a lot from him during my fellowship year, both clinical and nonclinical in nature. Like Dr. Wiley, Dr. Bafna is a renowned refractive and cataract surgeon, and if there is one thing that I feel epitomizes him, it’s equanimity. Observing how he would handle various situations with patients or in the OR was informative, as was learning a very different way of doing cataract and refractive surgery in a manner separate from Dr. Wiley or from the way I was used to operating in residency. There are many ways to perform cataract surgery and many ways to perform refractive surgery, and I feel fortunate to have spent as much time with Dr. Bafna as I spent with Dr. Wiley learning his specific preferences for certain clinical scenarios. Dr. Bafna taught me a lot about practice development, running a small business, managing staff, getting involved with industry and clinical trials, and career planning. He also taught me the importance of intensely focusing on work when at work and then just as intensely enjoying time outside of work sharing experiences with friends and family. While this may seem rather evident, actually implementing and maintaining this mindset for life is something else entirely. I learned just as much observing Dr. Bafna indirectly as I did directly from him.

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Robert K. Maloney, MD, and Neda Shamie, MD. I first met Robert and Neda at the 2021 AECOS Deer Valley Meeting. My ideal practice environment was to work alongside kind, knowledgeable, skilled, and ethical colleagues who are at the forefront of refractive and cataract surgery. I wanted to practice in a group that was involved with research and clinical trials and actively collaborating with industry to innovate and push forward the fields of cataract and refractive surgery. I also wanted to practice in an environment that offers a boutique and high-touch patient experience. I found all of this and more with Robert and Neda.

Robert is a pioneer in the world of refractive surgery and was involved with the early FDA clinical trials that eventually led to LASIK’s approval. He built an iconic and internationally respected practice in the heart of Los Angeles and the Beverly Hills area and has always been viewed as a gold standard for best-in-class patient experience. Neda is similarly a well-respected cornea, cataract, and refractive surgeon who is nationally recognized for her knowledge and skill in DMEK and involvement in early femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery trials, who joined forces with Robert in 2018 and now is widely recognized for her prowess in cataract and refractive surgery.

It has been an honor working side by side with Robert and Neda, and I look forward to actualizing our vision for the future.

WHAT ARE SOME NEW TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES THAT YOU HAVE FOUND PARTICULARLY EXCITING? WHICH ADVANCES IN THE PIPELINE ARE YOU MOST ENTHUSIASTIC OR CURIOUS ABOUT?

I look forward to advances in refractive surgery, including refractive indexing, lenticule addition and subtraction, and future iterations of phakic IOLs. I also look forward to the advent of modular IOLs, future variants on postoperative adjustment of IOLs, and treatments to reverse dysfunctional lens syndrome.

WHAT IS THE FOCUS OF SOME OF YOUR RESEARCH?

My research focuses primarily on refractive and cataract surgery and is thematically driven by four goals:

1. To help contribute to finding effective solutions for presbyopia;
2. To help discover a method to reverse cataractogenesis;
3. To help develop an IOL that is as good or superior to the natural crystalline lens; and
4. To help advance laser vision correction technology and improve access so its benefits can be experienced by the entire world.

WHAT IS A TYPICAL DAY IN YOUR LIFE? WHAT KEEPS YOU BUSY, FULFILLED, AND PASSIONATE?

My typical day varies wildly depending on what season of the year I’m in. There are times of year when I am incredibly focused on work outside of work, periods when I am focused on research, spans of time when I double down on physical training, and seasons when I spend my free time heavily socializing.

Before medical school, I heard the advice from physicians on medical school admissions committees that if there was anything else in life you could see yourself doing besides being a physician, you should pursue that instead and not apply to medical school. The sentiment being conveyed was that the path to becoming a physician involves great personal sacrifice and the practice of medicine can be all-consuming. I always felt that this was nonsensical advice, as people are not monochromatic and single-minded in life. All endeavors external to medicine only enhance one’s personal growth and development, which ultimately serves to enhance the level of patient care being delivered. I personally don’t tie medicine to my identity, and once I am out of the OR or clinic, I don’t view myself as only a physician. I have a lot of other interests and passions, including martial arts, weight lifting, business, travel, hiking, foreign languages, reading, writing, art, photography, audio and video engineering, filmmaking, podcasting, web and graphic design, technology, storm chasing, marine biology, and piano. There is more to life than just medicine.

Although my typical workday is dedicated to seeing patients in clinic and the OR and then working on presentations, creating surgical videos, or preparing for the next meeting, I make sure to stay relentless in my commitment to my other interests in life, and most of my evenings are spent on any of the above activities.

WHAT ADVICE CAN YOU OFFER TO INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE JUST NOW CHOOSING THEIR CAREER PATHS AFTER FINISHING RESIDENCY OR FELLOWSHIP?

Follow your vision. You are in your late 20s or early 30s and almost free of the system that you had to follow to become a physician. Your friends outside of medicine most likely have a decade-long head-start on life relative to you. Your responsibility outside of work and patient care is now only to yourself and your family. Pursue whatever subspecialty or practice environment your heart desires, spend your free time traveling or catching up with friends, take care of yourself, and invest in pursuits outside of medicine. Your whole life has led to this moment, and it is now time to execute. If you have the will and want, you will forge your path and create the life you desire.

1. Stodola E. A passion for karate. Eyeworld. October 2019. Accessed July 19, 2023.https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/1171786-oct-2019/72