Eyeworld

JUN 2016

EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.

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93 EW IN OTHER NEWS by Ellen Stodola EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer and it's hard to tell what's actually going on inside the software. After someone from a small film studio in Los Angeles purchased the book on Amazon, read it, and liked Dr. Clarke's sci-fi book has also been adapted into a film F or Gerald Clarke, MD, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, writing has always been a passion. Though he went into medicine and has been practicing ophthalmology for several decades, he has continued to keep up with his writing. "I've always been a writer," he said. Initially, Dr. Clarke was focused on mathematics, and as a child, he was sent off to be a child prodigy in mathematics. However, he said that he burned out on that quickly. Mathematics can be similar to writing, he said, because you have to concentrate and shut the whole world out. "I can concentrate hard for hours and hours on a problem to solve it." After giving up mathe- matics, he focused his interests on writing and contemplated becoming a playwright. Though Dr. Clarke wrote several plays in high school and college, he knew it was more of a hobby and didn't think he would be successful at it, so he decided to go into medi- cine when he went to college. At first, he started off in pediat- rics, but then switched to ophthal- mology. There's that "wow factor" in ophthalmology, he said, and generally, there are very successful outcomes. "I've been in ophthalmol- ogy for 35 years and never regretted 1 day of it," he said. Dr. Clarke said he loves to innovate and bring out new ideas. His practice is currently busier than ever. "I'm operating on all my friends now," he said. "We've gotten into [the] baby boomer surgical years." This means that Dr. Clarke often finds himself putting in 50- hour weeks. The business side of ophthalmology has become much more time consuming, he said. With a busy practice, there is less time to write, but Dr. Clarke said that when he is alone at home, he will sit down and write. He also en- joys listening to audio books to hear how other people write to help with his own process. Most notably, Dr. Clarke wrote a book titled The Drone Virus, which was also adapted into a movie. Dr. Clarke explained that he wrote the book around 2000. "The initial writ- ing is easy for me," he said. Though it only took him about 3–4 months to write the story, the process was then prolonged with the editing. It went through around 7 edits, he added. Dr. Clarke's book is a sci-fi medical mystery, which he said he wrote around the time that comput- er viruses were becoming common. The story came from the possibility of a virus being able to infiltrate an MRI machine, either by someone introducing it or by spontaneous evolution. In Dr. Clarke's story, the scanner uses its own artificial intelli- gence pattern recognition software, June 2016 Ophthalmologist writes sci-fi medical mystery and more Index to Advertisers Abbott Medical Optics (AMO) Page: 5 Phone: 714-247-8314 Fax: 714-247-8682 www.amo-inc.com APACRS Page: 61 Phone: 65-63278630 www.apacrs.org Alcon Laboratories Inc. Page: Cover 2, 3, 94, and Cover 4 Phone: 800-862-5266 Fax: 800-241-0677 www.alconlabs.com BRASCRS Page: 65 www.Brascrs.com.br Bausch + Lomb Page: 36 and 37 Phone: 585-338-6536 Fax: 585-338-0898 www.bausch.com Clarity Medical Systems Page: 35 Phone: 925-463-7984 Fax: 925-463-7992 www.claritymsi.com ESCRS Page: 88, 89, and 90 Phone: 941-751-0588 Fax: 941-752-4738 www.escrs.org Katena Products Page: 31 Phone: 973-989-1600 Fax: 973-989-8175 www.katena.com Marco Ophthalmic Inc. Page: 7 Phone: 904-642-9330 Fax: 904-642-9338 www.marcooph.com MicroSurgical Technologies Page: Cover 3 Phone: 888-279-3323 Fax: 425-556-0437 www.microsurgical.com Movu Page: 19 Phone: 408-216-9705 Fax: www.movu-inc.com Oasis Medical Page: 47 Phone: 909-305-5400 Fax: 909-305-9987 www.oasismedical.com Rhein Medical Inc. Page: 17 Phone: 813-885-5050 Fax: 813-885-9346 www.rheinmedical.com Shire Pharmaceuticals Page: 27 Phone: 617-349-2020 www.shire.com Stephens Instruments Page: 42 Phone: 800-354-7848 Fax: 859-259-4926 www.usiol.com ASCRS•ASOA Information 2016 COS Meeting Page: 14 and 15 www.cos.ascrs.org ASOA On Tour Page: 41 www.asoa.org/ontour 2017 ASCRS•ASOA Housing Page: 21 AnnualMeeting.ascrs.org ASCRS Center for Learning Page: 9 www.ascrs.org/learn ASCRS•ASOA Webinars Page: 38 www.ascrs.org/ www.asoa.org ASCRS Membership Page: 39 www.ascrs.org YES Residents & Fellows Page: 33 and 67 AnnualMeeting.ascrs.org ASCRS 2016 Film Festival Winners Page: 51 www.AnnualMeeting. ascrs.org EyeWorld at AAO Page: 73 www.eyeworld.org/ meetings/go EyeWorld Hub Page: 43 Ophthalmology Business Page: 54 Digital.ophthalmologybusi- ness.org EyeWorld Replay Page: 59 www.replay.org Cornea Society/ Cornea Ed Page: 45 Cornea Society at AAO Page: 55 Cornea Society Page: 69 continued on page 94 Gerald Clarke, MD Do you have a hobby, interest, or sideline work that might be of interest to your fellow ophthalmologists? Please contact Amy Goldenberg, amy@eyeworld.org, with your idea for possible future inclusion in the "In other news" section. In other news

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