Live from Octane OTF 2024

Eyeluminaries

In this episode, John A. Hovanesian, MD, FACS, and Jim Mazzo are live from the Octane OTF with Euan Thomson, PhD, Barry Kuppermann, MD, Jeffry Weinhuff, Ehsan Sadri, MD, FACS, and a special announcement from Rich Small.

• Welcome to the Eyeluminaries podcast :05
• Review of episode 24 1:38
• Intro of Euan Thomson, PhD 2:10
• What kind of companies did you like working for the most? 3:14
• Can you comment on why adoption of digital solutions is slow and what we can do about it? 4:15
• Geographically speaking, what is the area that is doing the best to incorporate new practices in medicine? 6:04
• Can you talk about any real-world evidence of the value of using digital ophthalmic workflows being realized today? 7:51
• Intro of Barry Kuppermann, MD, PhD 13:06
• Before his passing, you had several years where you worked with one of the most beloved people in ophthalmology, Roger Steinert. What it was like to work with him? Tell us a fun or inspiring story. 15:51
• What are the biggest challenges today in resident/fellow education? What advice would you give graduating residents/fellows? 18:05
• GHEI has a strong research program. Does it get tougher each year to fund quality research? 20:01
• Where do you want to see GHEI in the long-term? 23:55
• Intro of Jeffry Weinhuff 26:02
• Tell us about your career before entering eye care investing. What is different about our unique specialty within healthcare? 26:38
• Tell us about the Visionary Ventures Fund. Is it looking for new physician investors? 30:24
• Announcement from Rich Small 34:12
• What does Neurotech do? 36:56
• Intro of Ehsan Sadri, MD, FACS, FAAO 38:48
• Doctors frequently get asked to make investments in start-up companies. How do you decide if an investment is a good one? 42:13
• What do you think have been the most innovative companies in eye care during your career? 45:09
• Preview of episode 26 49:33

John A. Hovanesian, MD, FACS, is a faculty member at the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute and in private practice at Harvard Eye Associates in Laguna Hills, California.

Barry Kuppermann, MD, PhD, is the Roger F. Steinert professor, chair of the department of ophthalmology and director of the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at the University of California, Irvine. He also holds a joint appointment with the department of biomedical engineering at UC Irvine.

Jim Mazzo is an ophthalmic industry veteran with over 40 years as CEO/chairman of both public and private companies, including Allergan, Avellino Labs, Carl Zeiss, Neurotech Pharmaceuticals and AMO. Additionally, he is an advisor for Bain Capital and CVC Capital Partners and sits on numerous industry boards such as MDMA.

Ehsan Sadri, MD, FACS, FAAO, is board-certified, fellowship-trained in treating LASIK, cataract and glaucoma surgeries with locations to serve patients in Newport Beach, Santa Ana and Orange. He is also CEO and founder of Visionary Eye Institute and general partner and co-founder of Visionary Ventures Fund (Visionaryvc.com).

Rich Small is CEO and member of the board of directors for Neurotech.

Euan Thomson, PhD, is the president of ophthalmic devices and head of digital business unit at Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc.

Jeffry Weinhuff is the chief investment officer and managing partner of Visionary Ventures Fund, a later-stage venture fund focused on investing in drugs and devices for the eye.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to [e-mail]. Follow John Hovanesian on X (formerly Twitter) @DrHovanesian.

Disclosures: Hovanesian consults widely in the ophthalmic field. Mazzo reports being an advisor for Anivive Lifesciences, Avellino Labs, Bain Capital, CVC Capital and Zeiss; executive chairman of Neurotech, Preceyes BV and TearLab; and sits on the board of Crystilex, Centricity Vision, IanTech, Lensgen and Visus. Sadri is the CEO and founder of Visionary Eye Institute and general partner and co-founder of Visionary Ventures Fund. Weinhff is the managing partner of Visionary Ventures Fund. Small is chief executive officer and member of the board of directors for Neurotech. Thomson is the president of ophthalmic devices and head of digital business unit at Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc. Weinhuff is the managing partner of Visionary Ventures Fund.