Inder Paul Singh

President, The Eye Centers of Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA

What industry trends are catching your attention right now?

A big trend for me is interventional glaucoma. This is really a mindset or a philosophy. It is about being proactive and not having to choose between a high quality of life and addressing IOP aggressively. It allows us to intervene earlier, getting people off medications and thus improving compliance and taking more control of their disease. We now have a number of new technologies to allow us to diagnose earlier and treat safely without having to sentence our patients to a lifelong course of topical glaucoma medication that can cost money, cause ocular surface disease, and affect daily functioning. This is also a mindset that traverses other subspecialties, such as cataract and retina.

What is a little-known fact about you?

My father, along with his full time job as an ophthalmologist, was also an Elvis impersonator. I would actually hear Elvis on the radio and think it was my dad singing! His influence on me was paramount in helping me become a better provider, but also how to incorporate multiple passions in your daily life. Today I am the keyboardist and one of the vocalists for a world beat band called Funkadesi. We mix Indian, funk, and reggae. Our motto is “One family, many children.” The idea there is more than connects us than separates us. Just like a family, we all have differences, but we are still part of one big family! Our band has opened up for Prince, Shaka Khan, Los Lobos, Kool and the Gang, Aaron Neville, and many others.

Make a bold prediction for the future of ophthalmology.

My bold prediction is home monitoring and remote check up will be a significant part of the care for our patients. This will allow us to focus on surgery. There is going to be a shortage of ophthalmologists in the not-too-distant future. The population is growing faster than we are producing trained eye surgeons. We will need to be more efficient and allow for extenders and home monitoring to allow us to focus the time we will need to offer procedural services to our patients in the high quality fashion we are used to. Office based surgery is one of the many changes in this context I think will be needed to allow for us to handle the influx of patients we will be helping.

If you weren’t an ophthalmologist, what would you be doing instead?

If I wasn’t an ophthalmologist I would be a musician heading a nonprofit organization that focuses on self discovery and inclusion. I would educate and spread awareness through the power of music.