Geographic atrophy and future plans: What residents should consider

During interview earlier this year, we asked leaders in the retina field would tell residents and medical students as they train for the next decades in retinal care. Here's what 2 of them had to say.

Video Transcript:

Editor's note: The below transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Durga Borkar, MD, MMCi:

I think geographic atrophy is one of the most devastating retinal diseases, because there is slow progressive vision loss. And I would say this is something that, you know, we as retina specialists could spend more time doing, it's hard within the constraints of clinic, but I would give the advice to really understand how this disease impacts patients' function. The vision doesn't always tell everything in geographic atrophy. Sometimes we see patients with pretty good vision, 20/30, 20/40, but they will tell you that they have difficulty reading, driving. And those are questions that I would encourage medical students, trainees, and young ophthalmologists to really ask patients about to understand the impact of this disease on their lives.

Jaclyn L. Kovach, MD, FASRS:

Being a retina specialist has been an amazing journey for me, and it's such a privilege to take care of our patients and to be able to offer them new and better treatments as time goes on. So, you know, I would encourage any medical student to really look at the field of ophthalmology and retina in particular, because it's a really exciting field to be a part of.