The Eye Institute of West Florida
I received the Ming Chen Foundation scholarship to visit a mentor in my area of interest- so I
chose to visit Dr. Rob Weinstock and Dr. Neel Desai at The Eye Institute of West Florida. In the
days that I visited the clinic and operating rooms, I saw the world of cornea, cataract, and
refractive surgery open up to me like I had never seen before.
The practice was started by Dr. Rob Weinstock’s father, Dr. Stephen Weinstock, in 1974. Dr.
Rob explains that when he joined the practice over 20 years ago, they were a high-volume
practice focused primarily on cornea-refractive procedures. He explained to me that their
practice has always aimed for perfection in patient outcomes, and created a system to make
the process safe and efficient, while providing an excellent level of customer service. A few
minutes in clinic shows what makes the practice so special. The technicians, nurses,
optometrists, and physician assistants function as a cohesive team: discussing aspects of care
among one another, asking each other questions, and carefully triaging the cases to the
subspecialists. When Dr. Rob or Dr. Desai walk into the patient’s room, there is a palpable sense
of presence and attention, coupled with a comfort that puts the patient at ease.
Dr. Rob explained to me that over the years he applied the same principles of meticulous
attention to detail he learned from his father in LASIK and PRK to the area of cataract surgery.
When a patient checks in to the in-house operating room, the coordinated dance really begins,
as the anesthesiologists, scrub techs and nurses prepare each patient for their procedure.
There is a system orchestrated so that any team member at any time can immediately
identifying the patient’s name, operative eye, medical conditions, allergies, all the way down to
the biometry and lens calculations. This works so each member of the team can function to
safely and efficiently treat each patient.
Observing surgery with Dr. Rob and Dr. Desai, and also with their fellow Dr. Caroline Watson,
was truly inspiring for me at this stage in my career. In between cases the doctors were
extremely generous with their time in answering my questions about their surgical techniques
and preferences. All of the cataract surgeries I observed were performed using bimanual
phacoemulsification, which differs from conventional coaxial phaco by separating the irrigation
from the aspiration for a two-handed technique. This technique allows for micro incisions,
excellent chamber stability, and well-controlled fluidics. In the proper hands and with the right
parameters the surgery is extremely safe and efficient.
Dr. Rob has distinguished himself as a pioneer. He is an early adopter and inventor of multiple
technologies including micro-incisional cataract surgery, 3D visualization, microinstrumentation
and accommodative implants. When I ask him about how he got involved with these projects,
he humbly explains that he started out sharing about medications and devices he was using at
conferences, always being careful with his assessments. Over time he was invited to try more
new devices, eventually leading to his collaboration in inventing some of these himself.
I was extremely grateful to all of those at the eye institute for their time and goodwill in taking
me under their wing for a few days. Having this experience at the end of my second year of residency was the boost I needed to inspire me toward greater excellence in cataract surgery. I
am also extremely grateful to Dr. Ming Chen and the foundation for making the experience
possible. While I couldn’t visit Dr. Chen in Hawaii this time due to the difficulty of traveling such
a long distance, I am very grateful to him for his guidance and helpfulness- he is an inspiring
physician, pioneer and humanitarian.
Since I was first exposed to the world of ophthalmology I have been fascinated with the
prospect of improving a patient’s vision surgically. Whether it be in the world of cornea,
cataract and refractive surgery or another subspecialty, I highly recommend this scholarship
experience to anyone.