ECP Viewpoints recognizes that optometrists have more options than ever in terms of how they practice. And we’re exploring those options with practitioners who work in those different settings every day. In this first episode of the series, Dr. Jennifer Palombi spoke with Dr. Michael Shaheen from Hills and Dales Vision Care about his path to independent private practice.

For Shaheen, eye care is in the blood; it’s a family thing. His uncle is an optometrist with fifty years of experience. Through a school career shadowing project in the sixth grade with his uncle, Shaheen knew something about optometry he wanted to pursue. “I thought it was so neat. I sat in the back office with him, saw what he did, and what I remembered the most is he mentioned every single person is like a puzzle, and I’ve always had the knack of wanting to fix little things here and there. And since that day, I got interested in it, and it was at the top of my list, and I never swayed from it.”

Shaheen pursued his dreams of becoming an optometrist, but when it came time to set up practice, he didn’t need to look any further than his Canton, Ohio roots. He went to work at his uncle’s practice and continues his work through Hills and Dales Vision Care.

Being in a private practice environment provides many benefits. “We’re 100% independent,” Shaheen said. And that gives his practice freedom. “You can practice any way you want. You can specialize in sports vision; you can do general optometry; you could be a ped’s specialist; you could be a geriatrics specialist; you could add whatever equipment you want. There are always little aspects of the profession that you could open to and start, whether it’s dry eye treatment, more advanced dry eye treatment, therapies, OTC scans…you can get as medical as you want, non-medical as you want. The choices are the beauty of private practice for us.”