Experts InSight

What's a mom-to-be to do if she's also an ophthalmologist? In part 2 of this two-part series, host Dr. Ben Young invites Dr. Fei Cai, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and obstetrician, to review the essentials of pre- and postnatal care, what to be mindful of if practicing while pregnant, and how your residency or fellowship training program can be expected to support you.

For all episodes or to claim CME credit for selected episodes, visit www.aao.org/podcasts.

Can becoming a mother be compatible with being an ophthalmic surgeon? In part one of this two-part series, Host Dr. Ben Young invites Dr. Jaya Kumar to discuss the challenging fertility and maternal health outcomes for female surgeons, her tips for how she practiced while pregnant and then returned successfully to work, and how physicians can support one another in the operating room.

Referenced during the episode:

• MotherToBaby
• Dr. MILK (Mothers Interested in Lactation Knowledge)
• Pregnancy Discrimination and Pregnancy-Related Disability Discrimination (US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
• ACGME Common Program Requirements
• Tools for Responding to Patient-Initiated Verbal Sexual Harassment (Eyerounds.org)

For all episodes or to claim CME credit for selected episodes, visit www.aao.org/podcasts.

For hundreds of years, ophthalmologists have known what glaucoma is—and yet, we still can't agree on its diagnostic criteria. In today's episode, Drs. Benjamin Xu and Sophia Wang join host Dr. Andrew Pouw to talk about the latest efforts to define glaucoma and the implications for both research and clinical decision-making.

For all episodes or to claim CME credit for selected episodes, visit www.aao.org/podcasts.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced more concerning proposals that will affect access to care and reimbursement. Host Dr. Andrew Pouw reconvenes last year's guests from the Academy's DC office—Dr. John McAllister, Brandy Keys, and Rebecca Hyder—to unpack the proposed 2027 Physician Fee Schedule and explain how the changes will disproportionately burden surgical specialties.

For all episodes or to claim CME credit for selected episodes, visit www.aao.org/podcasts.

In today's episode, host Dr. Ben Young is joined by Dr. Stephen McLeod, Academy CEO, and Rebecca Hyder, Vice President of Governmental Affairs. The panel discusses why we have a National Eye Institute (NEI), how it was successfully preserved as an independent, stand-alone entity within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and what threats to the institute remain on the horizon.

For all episodes or to claim CME credit for selected episodes, visit www.aao.org/podcasts.

In today's episode, host Dr. Amanda Redfern welcomes Dr. Madhura Tamhankar to discuss a new study using IRIS Registry and Komodo Health claims data that upends Rundle's 1940s biphasic model of thyroid eye disease (TED). Drawing on more than 34,000 patients with 5-year median follow-up, Dr. Tamhankar's study found that even among patients with initially mild disease, 1 in 3 progress within 5 years, with rates climbing from 12% at year 1 to 38% by year 8. Dr. Tamhankar reviews the study's methodology and its implications for patient care, including surgical timing, informed consent, and specialist referral.

For all episodes or to claim CME credit for selected episodes, visit www.aao.org/podcasts.

Host Dr. Jay Sridhar welcomes Dr. Steven Gedde, the incoming CEO of the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO), to discuss his outlook on medical education and the evolving board certification process. As medical knowledge now doubles approximately every 60 days, Dr. Gedde envisions the ABO shifting its focus from testing facts to assessing skills like communication, professionalism, and the use of technology. Although current surgical assessments focus on knowledge and decision-making, future evaluations may leverage AI and virtual reality to test technical competence.

For all episodes or to claim CME credit for selected episodes, visit www.aao.org/podcasts.

Host Dr. Jay Sridhar welcomes ophthalmology program directors Drs. Chris Alabiad and Alice Zhang to discuss the ophthalmology residency match, the rising pool of reapplicants to the field, and how to mentor and advise students pursuing reapplication.

For all episodes or to claim CME credit for selected episodes, visit www.aao.org/podcasts.

Do the benefits really outweigh the risks when it comes to the use of thrombolytic drugs for central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO)? Drs. Amanda Henderson and Michael Carper weigh in on the recently published Tenecteplase in Central Retinal Artery Occlusion Study (TenCRAOS) and how ophthalmologists should proceed in their management of CRAO with tenecteplase (TNK) or another tissue plasminogen activator (tPA).

For all episodes or to claim CME credit for selected episodes, visit www.aao.org/podcasts.

With an abundance of therapeutic options for managing diabetic macular edema (DME), what patient characteristics inform your treatment decisions? Does the number of loading doses influence long-term macular fluid outcomes? How are you managing insurance-mandated step-therapy in your patients? In today's episode, host Dr. Jay Sridhar invites Drs. Durga Borkar and Carl Danzig to share how they've integrated new anti-VEGF therapies into clinical practice.

For all episodes or to claim CME credit for selected episodes, visit www.aao.org/podcasts.