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THE ENTERTAINING SIDE OF OPTOMETRY

Q&A

Many years ago, at an AAO meeting in Orlando, Fla., Murray Fingeret, O.D., F.A.A.O., and Lou Catania, O.D., asked me to join them on the podium to speak about epithelial basement membrane dystrophy and recurrent corneal erosions.

It was my first lecture on anterior segment disease, and it was a great thrill to share a stage with these gentlemen. (Incidentally, Dr. Fingeret was featured along with Jill Autry, O.D., R.Ph, Marc Bloomenstein, O.D., F.A.A.O., Ben Gaddie, O.D., F.A.A.O., and Kirk Smick, O.D., in the October 2014 issue of “O.D. Scene.” They all survived an earthquake together.)

This month, I speak with Dr. Catania, one of a few credited with catapulting optometry into a recognized medical profession. Specifically, he started an optometry residency program at the Joseph C. Wilson Health Center in Rochester, N.Y. The program taught O.D.s to expand their modes of practice. In addition, Dr. Catania travelled to several states to testify for the purpose of expanding optometry’s prescription and treatment rights.

Further, Dr. Catania’s “Cornea, Cornea, Cornea” lecture was always the hottest lecture ticket, packed at each and every CE meeting.

Dr. Catania challenges us to be our best and, as a result, has helped to build the profession’s confidence. And so it comes as no surprise that he was inducted into the National Optometry Hall of Fame at last month’s Optometry’s Meeting in Boston.

Please join me in learning more about my mentor, teacher and friend.

Jack Schaeffer, O.D., F.A.A.O.,
Editor-in-Chief
O.D. Scene

KEY OPINION LEADER WEIGHS IN...

LOUIS J. CATANIA, O.D., F.A.A.O., D.SC., Jacksonville, Fla.

Q: WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME AN OPTOMETRIST?

A: In 1965, I was rejected from Marine aviation school due to myopia. Not having a clue what it was, I investigated and wound up having a phone conversation with John Crozier, O.D., then dean of student affairs for the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO). He said to me, “No more Marines, so you have nothing to do for the next four years. Why not come to optometry school?” And as the old adage goes, “The rest is history.”

Q: CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE MANY WAYS YOU HAVE PRACTICED OPTOMETRY?

A: I started in a non-dispensing, relatively successful private practice in Rochester, N.Y. I also worked in the early ’70s as a visiting O.D. at the Attica Correctional Facility in New York. But from my beginning in practice, I worked for the Joseph C. Wilson Health Center of the Genesee Valley Group Health Association, where optometry was given complete authority for all eye care, including making all referral decisions to ophthalmology. (Incidentally, because of the nature and success of this model, the Center introduced the first primary eye care residency.) In 1980, I became director of CE and postgraduate education at PCO and a part-time lecturer and module clinical instructor. I also had a private practice in the Philadelphia area, and over subsequent years became a visiting clinician-at-large at several ophthalmological groups and clinics around the country, working on lasers and new technologies. From the mid-1970s to 2013, an increasing amount of my professional time was dedicated to domestic and international optometric education. Now, I work at Nicolitz Eye Consultants, a large multi-specialty ophthalmological group practice, in Jacksonville, Fla.

1: Feeding a “Roo” in Adelaide, Australia. 2: Camping in Norway.
3: Visiting with my 94-year-old mom, who passed away in December 2015.

Q: YOU CREATED ONE OF THE FIRST MEDICAL MANAGEMENT RESIDENCIES IN OPTOMETRY. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT IT?

A: It started in 1975 with fellow optometrists Murray Fingeret, Linda Casser, Ted Woodcome and other great O.D.s. The goal was to recruit the most talented O.D.s for a two-year rigorous, post-doctoral clinical training program at which they’d become experts in primary eye care, and teach, encourage, proselytize and represent the philosophy of primary care optometry. Thanks to the quality and passion of the participating O.D.s, we met our goals beyond our wildest dreams, and I think the profession advanced as a result.

Q: HOW IMPORTANT IS A RESIDENCY FOR A RECENT OPTOMETRY SCHOOL GRADUATE?

A: I think it’s important only if the O.D. graduate wants to teach or subspecialize. Otherwise, I believe the best primary eye care experiences are in the real world under real-world conditions.

Q: YOU ALSO HELPED PIONEER THE STATE LAWS GOVERNING OPTOMETRY. CAN YOU TELL US ANY RELATED STORIES?

A: One comes to mind. After I spent 20 minutes providing, what I felt was, compelling testimony to half-listening, relatively uninterested committee members during a Nebraska hearing, they immediately perked up and locked eyes on a very young male Nebraska O.D. who took the stand next. After about five minutes, the committee chair asked the young O.D., “Which was more intimidating for you, facing this committee or facing an Oklahoma fullback?” Turned out the young man was a beloved past all-star linebacker for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The young man could have recited, “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and the committee would have loved it. Incidentally, Nebraska passed their bill.

Q: SPEAKING OF LEGISLATION, WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF OPTOMETRY AND LASERS?

A: Lasers are an intermediate disruptive technology. I think they will be replaced in coming years by early and preventive care through stem cells, nanotechnologies and, ultimately, genetic engineering. That’s where optometry must focus its future education and goals.

Q: WHERE DO YOU SEE THE PROFESSION OF OPTOMETRY HEADING WITH REGARD TO DIAGNOSTIC TESTING AND THE TREATMENT OF EYE DISEASE?

A: Optometry will go wherever our educational process takes us. Practitioners are ready to move to whatever level their patient needs take them to, but they have to rely on the profession’s educational and post-graduate/CE education process, which must step up to the challenge.

Q: YOU HAVE SPENT SO MUCH TIME GIVING OPTOMETRIC LECTURES. WHY?

A: I never thought of myself as a lecturer. I’ve always felt that I’m just sharing experiences that I believe could help optometric practitioners and the general public health.

1: Dr. Catania with granddaughter Charlie.
2: Dr. Catania with grandsons Andrew and Benjamin.

Q: WHAT WAS THE FIRST LECTURE YOU EVER GAVE?

A: The first lecture I ever presented was on the Joseph C. Wilson Health Center model at an AOA volunteer meeting. To me, the lecture was nothing more than a discussion with a bunch of colleagues. I had a passion for what I was talking about, and the audience felt it, especially the North Carolina delegation — whether the rest accepted it or not at the time is history now.

Q: WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE LECTURE TO DELIVER AND WHY?

A: My favorite for its “audience fun” value was “I’ll Take Anterior Segment for $200,” which I gave for 10 years in the early 2000s. Audiences really got into the “Jeopardy” format and the prizes, which were Twinkies and Ho Hos that I threw to those who yelled the right (and wrong) answers. My favorite lecture for “true educational” value has to be the clinical immunology one I gave in the ’90s. I really felt (and lots of people told me) that I was truly helping O.D.s understand a complex science of enormous clinical importance.

Q: WHAT IS THE BEST LECTURE YOU HAVE EVER ATTENDED AND WHY?

A: The best lectures in optometry I ever attended were given by Larry Gray. He had more knowledge, humor and passion for his subject (neuro-ophthalmic disorders) and his audiences than anybody who’s ever turned on a projector, in my opinion. We lost a great guy much too early with Larry’s untimely passing. Rest well, Larry.

Q: YOU’VE PUBLISHED QUITE A BIT. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ARTICLE YOU HAVE PUBLISHED AND WHY?

A: Believe it or not, I feel it was “The ABCs of OTCs” in the 1970s. That was the article (and eventual lecture) in which I presented the “reservoir effect,” which is using OTC polysporin on the external lid and getting a full therapeutic effect on the ocular surface in 90 seconds. I think it was a true turning point in O.D.s’ “comfort level” for treating eye disease.

Q: HAS ANYONE TOLD YOU YOU’VE GONE TOO FAR WITH THE MEDICAL ASPECT OF OPTOMETRY?

A: Are you kidding?! For the first five to 10 years, a large percentage of O.D.s attended my lectures solely for the entertainment value. I was a circus act more than an educator. After West Virginia and North Carolina passed their laws in the late ’70s, the mix probably started to change from 50% to 75% enthusiastic agreement for the therapeutics in optometry and by 1990, I would say it was almost 100% enthusiastic agreement. But for 15 years plus (1975 to 1990), I had lots of professional critics.

Q: THE AOA RECENTLY INDUCTED YOU INTO THE NATIONAL OPTOMETRY HALL OF FAME. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU?

A: To me, giving means a lot more than receiving, and the feeling of having given some level of service to my profession, to eye care and to humanity means a lot more to me than receiving awards for it. Don’t misinterpret this as arrogance or a casual indifference to the recognition. In fact, when I read the list of previous National Optometry Hall of Fame inductees, my reaction was, as Mike Myers of “Wayne’s World” would say, “I’m not worthy. . . ”

Q: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE OPTOMETRIC MEETING, AND WHY?

A: The Heart of America meeting. It’s run entirely by O.D. volunteers who treat their guests with dignity and class. As a matter of fact, the meeting was run for years by a guy named Peter Brungardt who to me personifies professional class.

Q: WHO IS YOUR OPTOMETRIC HERO (MENTOR) AND WHY?

A: The real hero, at least in my mind and heart, is the optometric practitioner who provides good quality optometric care to patients every day. If there were ever to be an optometry statue in a park, it should be a simple structure thanking and honoring all competent and caring optometric practitioners who ever served a patient.

1: Visiting Greece’s Parthenon.
2: On break from scuba diving in Mexico.

Q: WHAT PROFESSION, OTHER THAN YOUR OWN, WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY, AND WHY?

A: If we are talking about health-related professions, I probably would have enjoyed being a veterinarian. If we are talking “blue-sky,” I would have loved to be a marine biologist. Finally, if I wanted to be a rich man, as “Fiddler on the Roof’s” Tevye would say, I’d be a venture capitalist.

Q: WHO ARE THE MEMBERS OF YOUR FAMILY, AND WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO FOR FUN?

A: My wife of 46 years, Stephanie; a son with developmental disabilities, Russell, whom we lost to cancer five years ago; a second son, Brian; a daughter, Lauren; and three grandchildren. For fun, I enjoy seeing my grandchildren, running, working out, swimming, ocean kayaking, surf-fishing and volunteering as a guide for the National Park Service. And, from May to November, my full-time job (almost) is working with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Florida’s Sea Turtle Patrol.

Q: IF YOU COULD HAVE DINNER WITH ANYONE, LIVING OR DECEASED, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY?

A: Warren Buffet to better understand (and learn how to adopt) his magnificent, unselfish philanthropic philosophy.

Q: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE, BOOK, BAND AND ADULT BEVERAGE?

A: Movie: “Gunga Din” and “When Harry Met Sally;” Book: Most of David McCullough’s books; Band: Eagles (rest in peace, Glenn Fry); Adult beverage: Anchor Steam Beer and KetelOne vodka (“dirty”). OM