Tamara Fountain

Past President, American Academy of Ophthalmology; Professor of Ophthalmology and Section Chair Emeritus, Oculofacial Plastic Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Illinois, USA

What is an interesting or little-known fact about you?

I would have been an Air Force fighter pilot like my dad if I hadn't become myopic in early childhood (which back then banished a person from military aviation). 

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Stevie Wonder, Malala Yousafzai, former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Adern, the divers that rescued the Thai soccer team, and Captain "Sully" Sullenberger, who landed the plane in the Hudson river, saving all on board. 

Do you have any strong opinions with which the rest of the field tends to disagree?

I am not as enthusiastic as some people about periocular filler injections in the aesthetic patient. Aside from the very rare but also very catastrophic risk of CRAO, I have concerns over the chronic or late-onset immunogenic-related soft tissue swelling that patients can have.

In 10 years, I would like to see an ophthalmic workforce that has more of the gender, ethnic, and cultural diversity that is reflected in the rich diaspora of the patients that we serve because I believe this will lead to better physician-patient relationships that lead to better clinical outcomes.