I can remember driving into Fresno on the 41 freeway with a few belongings stashed in the backseat and trunk of my black Volvo sedan. Fresno, California was an unknown to me. No family, no friends here. The only thing I knew for sure was that I was going to be working for a group of ophthalmologists that I clicked with immediately and that resonated with how I wanted to practice medicine. I started providing retina services for the patients of Vision Care Center of Central California which 5 years later was to become EYE- Q Vision Care.

During my tenure there, EYE-Q became a household name under the brilliant marketing and leadership of Scott Bridgeman, its former CEO. In 10 years, EYE-Q doubled its number of employees, doubled the number of partners and almost tripled revenues. They earned 2008 Best Company to Work For in Central California and invested in the community.

“Why Fresno?”

What are some of my favorite memories? It starts when I interviewed for the retina position and was “abducted” by one of my former partners to his house to perform an impromptu piano concert. I pulled the “Rach 2” out of the hat…or should I say fingers. (I was a classical concert pianist prior to my medical school days.) One question I was constantly asked was “Why Fresno?” Growing up in Connecticut and finishing my retina fellowship in Boston, I was a long way from home. The question would surprise me because I loved my life in Fresno— the weather, the cherry blossoms, the fig trees, the lack of traffic, the easy parking, and the people. I spent 80% of my waking hours centered on my work. I learned Spanish from my patients….enough so I could finally conduct an eye exam completely in Spanish. I was dancing a jig in the hallways with a 90 year old adorable and spry patient. He may have had some eye issues but nothing was wrong with his legs! I accumulated a repertoire of jokes told to me by patients that I still draw on for party jokes. “Why did the chicken cross the road?…to get to the other side!” I’m kidding. The jokes were funnier than this.

I began practicing when I was 34 years young and naive about the art of medicine. I had patients reluctant to let me laser them because I looked like I was still in high school. I could name you the nine layers of the retina but not what it was like to slowly lose your vision to one of the most prevalent blinding diseases of this country’s over 50 population- Macular Degeneration. It used to be called Senile Macular Degeneration but that terminology was dropped because it was not PC (politically correct). Did you know that according to the US census that 11% of the population of greater Fresno County is 65 years of age or older or that treatment of wet macular degeneration in the last decade has evolved from treatments that only slowed down vision loss to vision-improving and stabilizing treatments? Yes, this is predominantly in the form of injections into the eye. Not fun… especially since it’s on a continual, chronic basis… but it’s effective. I was glad I could offer an effective treatment to help my father, a recently retired cardiovascular thoracic surgeon still operating at the time he developed wet AMD. He needed those injections to stabilize his vision. I flew him to Fresno from Connecticut once a month for 6 months so I could stabilize his wet AMD before I referred him to a local retina specialist in Connecticut for maintenance care.

So here I am almost 17 years later, still loving Fresno and its people. And about to embark on a new adventure with my new practice, Advanced Retina Care. I’m doing what I love best: helping people, caring for patients with potentially blinding eye conditions, and in so doing, making people’s lives better.

Please follow along on my journey as I get going. And for my patients past, present and future, thank you for the privilege of caring for you and making a difference.