Eyeworld

64 | EYEWORLD | JUNE 2019 O UTSIDE THE OR Contact information de Luise: vdeluisemd@gmail.com by Liz Hillman EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer that a curriculum of humanism can help 'immu- nize' physicians from the stresses and burnout that have become endemic to various degrees in all fields of medicine." In 2013, Dr. de Luise completed a fellow- ship at Harvard University where he curated "The Course in Compassion," a curriculum in what he described as "caring and empathy for medical schools through the humanities." The curriculum includes sensory and motor skills in art, music, dance and movement, writing, meditation, and compassion training, Dr. de Luise said. Around this time, Dr. de Luise also began formally writing in the humanities. He pub- lished an essay about his father's loss of cog- nition to Alzheimer's disease, program notes for the Opera Brooklyn and Connecticut Lyric Opera productions, and he began a blog. He V incent de Luise, MD, comes from an Italian family so for him, music and art were an early part of his life. "Opera and Neapolitan songs on my father's turntable, paintings on every wall, frequent summer trips to Italy and its glorious museums and architecture, museum trips and Lincoln Center music events in NYC," he listed. It turns out that medicine was a family affair as well. "My father, three uncles, and grandfathers were physicians," Dr. de Luise said. But he didn't initially think he would follow in their footsteps. "When I entered Princeton Universi- ty as an undergraduate, my sights were set on a career as an astrophysicist." Summers spent in the departments of pathology and nuclear medicine at a New York community hospital is what changed his mind. He initially planned to enter cardiology, but an elective rotation in ophthalmology spurred a new interest. Though his higher education and career took a more scientific route, Dr. de Luise, who started playing clarinet in the fifth grade, continued his education and interest in the arts and humanities. He took art courses while at Princeton, where he was also president of the symphonic and marching band. At Weill Cornell Medical College, he continued practicing clar- inet and played occasionally with the Doctor's Symphony. Even throughout internship, resi- dency, and fellowship, Dr. de Luise took lessons from clarinetists in symphonies in those cities. In practice, Dr. de Luise said he would lis- ten to classical music—Mozart, Vivaldi, Haydn, and Beethoven—during cataract and corneal surgery. "This type of music allowed me to focus and it calmed down the patients," he said. An interest in humanities is something he thinks all physicians should foster. "Having compassion and empathy and being an authentic caregiver are absolute and essential qualities of a physician," he said. "I strongly believe that the humanities should in- form every physician's life and practice. I think Bridging the humanities and medicine Dr. de Luise in October 2012 before a performance of the Mozart Requiem at St. Bart's in New York About the doctor Vincent de Luise, MD Assistant clinical professor of ophthalmology Yale University School of Medicine New Haven, Connecticut

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