Douglas J. Rhee

Professor and Chair, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University Hospitals Eye Institute, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

What major industry trends are catching your attention right now?

The treatment of glaucoma, based on the evidence, is evolving towards procedural intervention as first-line therapy.

What is a little-known fact about you?

Some people have asked me if I had ever tried to do standup comedy before. I did try in college once, and I was a failure; no one laughed. Although, that might not be little known about me.

Make a bold prediction for the future of ophthalmology?

I am so excited by the advancements in foundational knowledge, diagnostic, therapeutic, and decision support technologies. I predict that these will enable us to continue ophthalmology’s leadership in the future of medical care delivery. As we know, a few decades ago, the vast majority of ophthalmic surgeries involved an in-patient hospital stay. Technology advancements, combined with brave and pioneering clinicians, moved nearly all of our procedures into the outpatient setting. I believe that the evolutionary and revolutionary advancements made in all four of the aforementioned domains will allow us to develop disease modifying treatments, cures at the genetic level, and shift even more care into physician offices and patients’ homes, providing better outcomes and greater convenience for our patients.