So, you’ve done the initial hard work and graduated from optometry school, and now you’re officially an OD. No matter if you graduated five months or five years ago, wherever you practice and whatever the setting, the profession offers opportunities to make a difference in the lives of patients every single day.
What are some other ways that make optometry great? In this Q&A, Dr. Mark Schaeffer of MyEyeDr. shares his journey into optometry, inspirational advice for new ODs, and the many rewards the profession offers to its close-knit community.
You come from a family of optometrists, including your father, Dr. Jack Schaeffer, who is a legend in the profession. Was optometry a given as a career for you early on?
Dr. Mark Schaeffer: Optometry was never a foregone conclusion until it actually happened. I was raised in the practice and held just about every job you could, from inventory clerk, medical records filing, working in the lab, and even as a janitor. However, it wasn’t until after I graduated from college that I really found my place in optometry. I earned a marketing degree from the University of Georgia and ended up running a few clinical trials in our office, including one for a CooperVision® contact lens study (Thanks, Rose Britton!). That’s when I fell in love with optometry.
Ultimately, what made you choose optometry as your profession?
Dr. Mark Schaeffer: It’s a significant intersection of health care and a professional community that fosters collaboration and growth. I’ve watched the impact an optometrist can have on a personal, local and national level.
What aspects of optometry do you find the most rewarding?
Dr. Mark Schaeffer: Every day, patients trust us to be their eye care experts. They depend on us to give them the vision to see the world they live in and to recommend products and services to preserve, protect, and treat their eyes. These experiences are the moments we remember. Whether it’s a child seeing clearly in vision correction for the first time, a dry eye patient getting through a day without thinking about their eyes, a patient successfully wearing contact lenses, or a cataract patient seeing clearly for the first time in years, every encounter leads to the moments we, as practitioners, cherish.
What advice would you give to a new optometrist just starting out?
Dr. Mark Schaeffer: You’ve joined a fantastic community of professionals who are here to support you. Every day may feel “routine,” but each individual exam is how each patient will experience their world for the next 12 months….if we’re lucky and they come back on an annual basis. It’s an awesome responsibility, but one we have to remind ourselves of when we are running behind or distracted by our own offices.
Was there anything early on in your career that you think helped position you for success when you first started as an OD?
Dr. Mark Schaeffer: I’ve been lucky to have a phenomenal set of mentors early in my career to help guide me in both my clinical and practical knowledge. I also adopted a mindset of continuing to learn how to educate my patients and how to become more efficient, and I sought out feedback from others to do so.
Finally, in your opinion, what makes optometry great?
Dr. Mark Schaeffer: Taking care of people is the core of what we do. We are experts in delivering exceptional care and discussing cutting-edge technologies to improve vision, comfort, and overall eye health. We also live in a relationship business, whether it’s a one-on-one with the patient in the chair, our local and national community, or even our industry partners. We can’t survive without these relationships. All of this makes coming to work fun because no two days are the same!
Dr. Mark Schaeffer serves as Clinical Excellence Captain at MyEyeDr. in Birmingham, AL, where he practices full-scope optometry. In addition to his clinical work, he lectures and consults nationwide on ocular disease and contact lenses. He writes for multiple journals on patient care and the optometric industry. Dr. Schaeffer is a founding member and vice president of the Intrepid Eye Society and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, a member of the Alabama and American Optometric Association, and the Contact Lens and Cornea Section. Dr. Schaeffer earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from University of Georgia, his Doctor of Optometry from Southern College of Optometry, and completed a residency in Ocular Disease at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, FL.
