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  • Beyond the Clinic

    Ophthalmologists have a passion for their specialty and a strong desire to help patients. Yet throughout history we can also find physicians who felt a desire to put aside their medical training and pursue an unrelated career. This exhibit features ophthalmologists whose extraordinary efforts have been recognized by their colleagues – both in ophthalmology and in their lives beyond the clinic.

    Heroes

    In every age there are people who choose to act for the greater good even as their actions put their lives in danger. Some would say they are foolhardy but history has seen fit to call them heroes. Ophthalmology can be proud that it has these individuals in its past.

    José Rizal, MD (1861-1896)
    A blue line drawing of a young man. He has dark hair, almond-shaped eyes and a thin dark mustache. He wears a dark suit with a high, stiff white collar.Jose Rizal, MD published two satirical novels, the first published March 21, 1887. These found their way into the hands of disaffected Filipino nationalists and became a rallying cry for an independent Philippines.










    Charles Schepens, MD (1912-2006)
    A black and white photograph of an older white man in a white lab coat sitting in behind a table of medical equipment. He has a large forehead and wears a white coat and dark tie. The two instruments on the table appear to be made of dark metal.Charles Schepens, MD was an operative of the Belgian resistance during WWII. Dr. Schepens and his family’s miraculous escape from capture, not once but twice, is a testament to their belief in their work against Nazi Germany.

    Authors
    A green postage stamp with a black and white drawing of three men in the center. The men are all wearing coats, and one man wears a hat. There is also a circular logo with another man's face stamped on the left side of the image. The black text in the top green border reads: TURKS & CAICOS: Sherlock Holmes introducing Doctor Watson to Mycroft: Holmes. The black text in the bottom green border reads: The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter 85 centsIf the eyes are the windows to the soul, then ophthalmologists may be uniquely qualified to be writers – particularly if that soul is filled with secrets and mystery. Ophthalmologist and novelist Robin Cook once noted that medicine “gives you the experience of people in crises and all good writing is character driven.”

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)
    A bronze-colored plaque with a man's face. The man is wearing a soft brimmed hat, and has a thick mustache. He is turned lightly in profile towards the right.Arguably the most famous ophthalmologist-turned author is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930). He is, of course, best known for his fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, whose stories are still being told in movies and television today. Medical themes and personalities frequent Doyle’s stories. In addition to Dr. Watson, Doyle included over 27 physicians in his works. Two of the Sherlock Holmes stories relate directly to ophthalmology, as do several of his non-Sherlockian works.
    Twelve small surgical tools with white handles sit in a hinged case lined with red velvet.
    Cataract Knife Surgical Set, c1900
    In “Silver Blaze” (1892), Sherlock Holmes investigates the disappearance of a race horse and the murder of its trainer. In the story, a cataract knife is used to harm the leg of a horse. The knife, described in detail, is similar to ones in our collection: “an ivory-handled knife with a very delicate, inflexible blade marked Weiss and Company, London.”
    Sports
    A black and white photograph of a woman playing tennis. She has short dark hair in a bob hairstyle, and she is wearing a white and black striped tennis shirt and skirt. She is holding her tennis racket behind her shoulder preparing for a backhand swing. A tennis ball can be seen coming towards her.
    Renée Richards, MD
    While there have been many doctors in the ranks of amateur athletes, including several Olympians, there have been few physicians involved in professional athletics. Of those, most are like New York Yankee and cardiologist Bobby Brown, who began their practices after retirement from sports. In contrast, Dr. Renee Richards (b.1934) took a hiatus from her ophthalmology practice in 1977 to become a world renowned sports personality playing professionally until 1981.








    A black and white photograph of a woman holding a framed award. She has short dark hair in a bob hairstyle, and she wears dark rimmed eyeglasses and a long white sweater. She is holding a large wooden frame with an award certificate mounted inside. There is a long, thin black microphone in front of her.
    Helen Keller Services Award, 2001
    When Dr. Richards returned to practicing ophthalmology, she once again gained recognition for her work off the tennis court. In 2001 she received the Helen Keller Services Achievement Award from the Manhattan League of Helen Keller Services for the Blind.
    Visionaries
    A postcard with a classical-style drawing of a crowd of people in robes facing a white, angelic figure in robes at the top of a white staircase. There is a bronze-colored box in the middle with very small text and a green star.
    A social visionary strives to make the world a better place. The best known social visionary ophthalmologist was L. L. Zamenhof, MD (1859-1917). In 1887 Dr. Zamenhof created a universal language, Esperanto, so that the entire world could communicate and understand each other better. He then worked tirelessly for the rest of his life to promote its adoption. The first international Esperanto congress was held in 1905 and has continued annually under the auspices of the Universala Esperanto-Asocio.


    Struggles and Survival

    A zoomed-in drawing of a man's face on a postage stamp. He is an older man who is bald, but wears a beard and wire-framed eyeglasses. He is wearing a dark suit with a black bowtie. There is a diamond-shaped border of text around him, but it is cropped too tightly to make out then words.In 1922 and 1925 Adolf Hitler specifically denounced Esperanto as part of a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world, his so-called “Jewish peril.” Eventually, Esperanto was banned by the Nazi government. Later it would be periodically barred by other governments including the Soviet Union, Spain and Japan. Esperanto survived despite these episodes of repression and in 2009 it was given a coveted “Google Doodle” on what would have been Dr. Zamenhof’s 150th birthday.
    Hollywood

    A black and white photograph of an older white man. He has white hair and a high forehead, and he wears clear plastic-framed eyeglasses and a dark suit. He is smiling at the camera with his lips slightly apart.Dr. Julian (Jules) Caesar Stein (1896-1981) gave up a promising career in ophthalmology to establish the Music Corporation of America (MCA, Inc.) in 1924. When he started MCA, Stein was an agent for big bands like Benny Goodman and then in 1937 he took the company to Hollywood where it represented top actors including Shirley Temple, Ronald Reagan and Bette Davis. MCA went on to acquire Decca Records, Universal Studios, and Revue Productions, becoming a major producer of movies, television and music. Throughout his career, Stein never forgot ophthalmology. He helped to found Research to Prevent Blindness (1966), the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA (1966), and lobbied for the National Eye Institute (1968).


    Some Like It Hot

    A black and white photograph of a man and a woman on a boat. The man is wearing a white captain's hat and a dark suit, and he is sitting on the edge of the boat's desk. The woman sits across from him, and she is young, with blonde hair and long eyelashes, and she wears a white dress with a feathered collar. The photo is being taken from above, and they both look up and smile at the camera.During the making of the film, "Some Like It Hot" (1959), Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis were both represented by MCA/Universal. During this particular motion picture there is a scene in which Tony Curtis' character pops his head into the office of a talent agent asking for work. When he leaves, we see the lettering on the door which reads, "Music Corporation of America, Jules Stein." This little wink to the boss was the only time Dr. Stein ever made it into one of his motion pictures.





    Harry Grandle, MD

    A black and white autographed photo of a man in a suit. He is a middle aged man with gray hair and a gray toothbrush-style mustache. He is wearing a dark suit and patterned tie, and there is a signature in black ink written across his left shoulder.When Dr. Stein incorporated MCA, Inc. in 1924 he chose the first Board of Directors very carefully. It consisted of himself, his brother, and his then employer, Dr. Harry S. Gradle. Dr. Gradle was a prominent 20th Century ophthalmologist devoted to the improvement of ophthalmic education.
    Art

    Painters, sculptors and photographers make their work look intuitive, but art requires very methodical thinking and precise technical knowledge. It should be no surprise then that many physicians find art making an engrossing hobby. However, not many physicians become world-renowned artists. One exception is ophthalmologist Howard Schatz (b.1940).

    Howard Schatz, MD

    A black and white portrait of a ballet dancer. The dancer has dark hair, and appears to be nude except for ballet pointe shoes, and they have their arms wrapped across their body while they are leaning down in a ballet pose.Howard Schatz’s interest in photography began the same day that he realized he wanted to be an ophthalmologist. In 1964 he was a third year medical school student at a party when he was introduced to both a Nikon F camera and an enthusiastic first-year ophthalmology resident. Dr. Schatz would go on to become a world-renowned retina specialist and for the first twenty years of his practice, photography claimed only a small amount of his attention. Then in 1995 Dr. Schatz decided to take a one year sabbatical to devote himself full time to his art. He never looked back. To date, Dr. Schatz has published 20 monographs and his photography can be found in museums and galleries worldwide.