Eyeworld

EW IN OTHER NEWS 118 February 2017 of America (OORCA), a resource for others to send in cases that they may have questions about for review. "If someone in another country has a case, they can upload information to this website and we will read it out for them," Dr. Carol Shields said. It's HIPAA protected and a nice way to help patients who can't make a long trip to Philadel- phia, she said. In addition to seeing many patients and taking referrals, they have been instrumental in training residents and fellows in ocular on- cology since they first began practic- ing. There have been more than 100 international residents and fellows since the late 1970s who have gone on to practice ocular oncology in their own countries. Additionally, Dr. Jerry Shields estimated that there are around a dozen practicing full time in the U.S. "We've contributed to the development of oncology and have spread our tentacles all around the world and have a big following where all of us get together once or twice a year to discuss our cases from different parts of the world," he said. Balancing work and home life The Shields stay busy, working 5 days a week. They start by driving to work around 5:00 a.m., and each day brings a different variety of surgeries, research, or other work. On Mondays—the "new patient day"—they could see up to 50 new patients, Dr. Carol Shields said. The Shields are very family oriented and like to spend time on their farm. They have seven chil- dren, who are grown now, with several pursuing careers in medicine. Working and having a fam- ily was challenging at times, Dr. Carol Shields said, because they had to decide when to and when not to attend meetings. "Of all the things that I've done in my life and career, the thing that makes me the proudest are my children," she said. "That's the legacy that carries on." Dr. Jerry Shields agreed that having a family and raising children was a challenge while also having an academic career. "We accepted the challenge and did our best to work our way through everything." He added that working with his wife has given him many opportunities and said that he probably would have dropped out of the practice years ago without her. EW Contact information Carol Shields: carolshields@gmail.com Jerry Shields: jerryashields@gmail.com But gradually, doctors started asking for their tumor patients to be treated at Wills Eye. Even more referrals came in as the Shields were lecturing more. "The field was in its infancy when we first started in it together," Dr. Carol Shields said. There were only a few people around the world interested in ocular oncology, and these were cases that doctors usually wanted to get in and out as fast as possible because they can take a lot of time. "We focused just on treating these cases," she said. More and more, expertise in therapies caused the patients to Drs. Jerry and Carol Shields with their seven children during the Melanoma Research Foundation Gala in 2015. Dr. Carol Shields introduces her husband as recipient of the Laureate Award at the 2014 American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting. Source (all): Carol Shields, MD want to stay with them and get treatment on the oncology service, she said. Their clinic also had many new technologies. "When ultrasound first came out, we were one of the first to get it because it was so important for tumors in the eye," Dr. Carol Shields said. Fluorescein, OCT, and OCT-A were also important in their clinic. Before long, the Shields started training other fellows to start their own ocular oncology centers either back in their country or in the U.S. One portion of ocular oncology that's made giant steps, Dr. Carol Shields said, is the management of retinoblastoma. In the last 10 years, there have been new methods of chemotherapy and injecting it di- rectly into the eye, she said. "We're all learning from each other in the U.S. and around the world." Retino- blastoma is the perfect example of listening and learning and moving forward together, she said. "The newest focus is to try to nail melanoma, and everyone needs to work together on this," Dr. Carol Shields said. Recently, Wills Eye started the Ocular Oncology Reading Center Building continued from page 117

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