Last year I used two of my hard-earned vacation days to attend the inaugural meeting of Millennial Eye Live in Austin, Texas. The meeting was unlike any scientific conference or medical meeting I had ever attended, and as soon as

Recently I met a boy, a boy with leukemia, a young boy with comic-book worthy superpowers. This boy, this superhero, is one I will never, never forget. When I entered the exam room, I was immediately struck by the sight of a

Introduction Ever since I began residency I have been encouraging, prodding, and at times, persistently pestering department leadership of my belief that our ophthalmology department should have a dedicated Twitter feed. After months of persistence combined with good timing and

In May 2015, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology held its Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, and the Twitter feed was active, informative, entertaining, and engaging. Here are the highlights of the #ARVO2015 Twitter feed. How many tweets were

Think about the last time you asked a friend for a recommendation. Maybe you were looking for a new restaurant, a good book, or a trusted mechanic. While you undoubtedly took into account your friend’s recommendation, chances are you then

Have you ever had a professional photo shoot? I have had many…but not because I particularly enjoy being photographed. Actually, it is quite the contrary. Photo shoots have always been a traumatic experience for me. You see, for some reason,

My mother-in-law texted me about The Dress, random friends are blowing up my inbox, and the nurses in the Emergency Department were huddled around the computer at 2 AM debating the color of the dress. Everyone in the world seems to

All I remember is sprinting across the rugby field at full speed to tackle a runner charging in to score. From what others later told me, the opposing player’s knee struck my head as I went in for the tackle and I was

Do you remember learning about mutualistic symbiotic relationships in fifth grade biology? The zebra and the oxpecker bird, the bee and the flower, and the bacteria in the human digestive tract, wherein two distinct groups mutually benefit from the relationship

Several months ago, I was browsing my Twitter feed and came across a tweet from @MillennialEYE, encouraging millennial ophthalmologists to attend the inaugural MillennialEYE Live meeting, designed for the “future leaders in ophthalmology.” As a current ophthalmology resident, I figured what

Originally published in YOInfo, the American Academy of Ophthalmology monthly newsletter for young ophthalmologists. Social media is NOT new to today’s young ophthalmologists. You millennial generation eye doctors probably began using Facebook in college to stay in touch with old friends,

Let’s create the world’s best medical search engine. This search engine must have a basic knowledge of human anatomy and an understanding of physiology and mechanisms of disease. It must be able to create a broad differential diagnosis including the

This weekend I will be giving a six-minute presentation on “Twitter” to my ophthalmology colleagues at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting in Chicago. That’s right. I will have exactly 360 seconds to encourage my colleagues to join the Twitter

You may be a medical student spending late nights in the gross anatomy lab and early mornings pre-rounding on general surgery patients, or an intern sharing bad news with the families of your patients for the first time as a

Every morning at 8 AM, medical students, residents, and faculty of the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences meet to discuss various topics within ophthalmology in what is known as “Morning Rounds.” Significant time and energy goes

By now you’ve seen so many videos of everyone from friends to famous taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. In the past few weeks, awareness of ALS has reached an all- time high and tens of millions of dollars have

Predicting the future is a dangerous game. Just ask the Vegas gamblers, the Wall Street Bankers, and the Federal Reserve economists. Better still, ask the meteorologist who confidently forecasts sunny, blue skies but miscalculates mother nature’s scheming, leaving the sunny-weather-dependers

Ophthalmology residency has officially started. Well, technically it started at the beginning of July, though the first two weeks were spent becoming (dis)oriented on how to use the electronic medical record, how to be compliant with hospital policies, and other

Every year about this time, fourth year medical students realize they will soon be submitting residency applications and (hopefully!) be invited to interview at residency programs around the country. One of the most common questions surrounding residency applications is how

All his life, Isaiah Austin had dreams of playing in the NBA, until this week, when he was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome, forcing him to quit competitive basketball due to increased risk of serious vascular injury. Austin’s experience with Marfan’s

President Obama made headline news this week by announcing he will use executive power to extend the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) student loan repayment program to millions of Americans with student loan debt. This repayment plan, passed into law on

Imagine hundreds of people dressed in their finest seated in a dining room. All of a sudden, the lights go out. Darkness. Complete and total darkness. The ballroom cheers, the waiters serve, and the sighted see how life might be

As I watched this year’s NFL draft, I wondered what it must be like to be an athlete in the draft…the excitement of being drafted to your favorite team and realizing your childhood dreams, the validation of thousands of hours

Welcome to the EyeSteve Tweep of the Week. In this new section of EyeSteve.com, I will give a “shout-out” to one of my new twitter follower’s (“tweeps”) from the previous week or one of my current followers whose twitter feed,

Ophthalmology is one of the most highly competitive specialties within all of medicine, and for graduates of osteopathic medical schools, matching into ophthalmology seems not only statistically unlikely, but virtually impossible. I recently had dinner with two good friends, both

I recently completed the Indiana University Basic Microsurgical Course,  an absolute highlight of my transitional year residency at IU Health Methodist Hospital. During the three-day course, I was taught one-on-one by a highly skilled plastic surgeon to perform microsurgical vessel

Can I let you in on a big secret to matching into a competitive specialty? No, this secret does NOT involve studying more for Step 1 or kissing the hindquarters of attending physicians on your least-favorite rotations. Let me tell you about a

My childhood sports hero was John Stockton. His poster was in my room, his trading card in my wallet, and his signature #12 on my uniform for every sport I played. When asked what I wanted to be when I

Just a few weeks ago, over 600 medical students nervously waited for a phone call or email from ophthalmology residency programs around the United States, congratulating 460 of those students on having secured a residency position in an ACGME-accredited ophthalmology

The days surrounding January 15th are of little calendar importance to the majority of physicians, but for ophthalmologists, mid-January will forever be remembered for the Ophthalmology Residency Match Day and the countless hours of hard work, sacrifice, and dedication represented