The 20/20 Podcast

With so much change in the geopolitical landscape and in the world of optometry, it is natural that many current and prospective optometry students may be worried about studying in the United States. In this episode, I sat down with two current students at the New England College of Optometry, Nyah Miranda and Ewan Kelly, about their journey as pre-optometry and current optometry students. Learn about what life is like in Boston and how NECO is supporting students through these tumultuous times.

Big thanks to NECO for providing space and organizing these conversations!

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Dr. Howard Purcell is one of the most well-known names in the optometry community. From his vast experience working in industry (from Johnson & Johnson to Essilor) and now his role as the President and CEO of the New England College of Optometry, Dr. Purcell truly is an influential figure in the industry.

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Purcell at NECO about a variety of topics that are affecting both students and optometrists. From changes in board exams to navigating student debt, there are a lot of topics on top of students' minds at this time. Beyond optometry school, there are questions about the future of the profession including how to continue attracting high-quality candidates and improving access to care. Is the answer more schools? Does increased industry involvement help? How much industry involvement is ok?

This conversation will bring a lot of value to students, new grads, and veteran optometrists who are interested in thinking of new ways to improve optometry school and elevate the profession as a whole.

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Conor Heaney is an optometrist based in the UK who has mastered the business and marketing side of his business. His practice - which happens to be located in a large, old bank building - generates over $2 million dollars in revenue while only running one exam lane and despite Conor having completely stepped away from patient care himself.

Sounds too good to be true?

In this episode, Conor shares his path to optical success as well the systems other business owners can put into place to help their practices grow. He also shares how he developed the Optical Success Academy, which has helped over 300 optometrists elevate their practices.

Learn more about the Optical Success Academy:

https://opticalsuccessacademy.com/

Connect with Conor:

https://jonesand.co/about/founder-conor-heaney-jones/

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What is the biggest regret you have in your life? Is it something you said? Something you did? That time you lost your temper?

Or perhaps is it something you didn't do? An opportunity missed?

In this Eye2Eye episode of The 20/20 Podcast, Harbir shares his thoughts on regret... what causes it and what we can do to avoid it.

The answer is to be bold and take action.

Here is the quote from Trevor Noah (Born a Crime):

I don’t regret anything I’ve ever done in life, any choice that I’ve made. But I’m consumed with regret for the things I didn’t do, the choices I didn’t make, the things I didn’t say. We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most. Failure is an answer. Rejection is an answer. Regret is an eternal question you will never have the answer to. “What if…” “If only…” “I wonder what would have…” You will never, never know, and it will haunt you for the rest of your days.

Here is the quote from William Hutchinson Murray:

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back — concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:

that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

Connect with Harbir:

Instagram.com/HarbirSianOD

The2020Podcast.com

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QUAY Australia was started in the music festival scene, as brand to bring art, music, and eyewear together. In its first decade, QUAY grew to become a popular, global brand that could be seen on the faces of countless celebrities around the world.

While QUAY initially began as direct to consumer sun brand, the company is now re-launching as an optical brand that wholesales a full line of ophthalmic and sun frames to ECPs.

In this episode, QUAY CEO, Katherine Cousins share the origins of the brand and how they have approached this new chapter in the brand's journey. In addition, Katherine shares thoughts on the pros and cons of what she sees happening in the optical industry from a CEO's perspective. As well as some sage advice for other CEOs and business owners out there.

Learn more about QUAY Optical:

Website - https://www.quay.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/quayaustralia/?hl=en

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@quay

Wholesale - [email protected]

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What if you were told that what you learned in optometry school was wrong? What if you learned about ways to treat your patients that not only different, but sometimes the opposite of what your training has taught you? Would you be open to these new ways? Would you be skeptical?

Dr. Amrit Bilkhu is a residency trained, behavioural Optometrist based in Toronto who specializes in pediatrics, binocular vision disorders, and visual processing challenges. The area of behavioural binocular vision takes into account many of a patient's past health and developmental issues/milestones when developing a treatment plan. Amrit calls this holistic approach to vision Functional Optometry.

In this episode, we explore Dr. Bilkhu's journey from being a new grad to specializing in BV to opening her own private practice. The part of the discussion that really sets this episode apart is our dive into the BV world. Much of what BV docs do seems to be a bit of mystery to majority of the eyecare world. Is this deliberate or is it an accidental result of poor communication? It turns out that its a bit of both.

This episode will change the way you look at binocular vision, how it can help our patients, and how it can be more accessible to all of us.

Learn more about Dr. Bilkhu's Pediatric Eye Care Masterclass: 

https://dramritbilkhu.thinkific.com/products/courses/pediatric-eye-care-masterclass

Launching Wednesday March 12th 

Save $100 on registration with code: READYSETSEE 

Connect with Amrit:

Instagram.com/dr.amritbilkhu

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We all know that passion is important. We've been told to find what we are passionate about in our work. Successful entrepreneurs romance about how passionate they were about the idea that sparked their growth.

But what happens a few years... a few months... sometimes just a few days into the process... When things start to get hard, mundane, boring? Passion can fizzle. How do we stay motivated then?

In this episode, we discuss the idea of the long term goal and vision being the real driver of success... and happiness. Always having something to work towards and and look forward to is what keeps us happy and motivated when times get tough. It is the pursuit of growth, not passion, that will help us achieve our goals.

Connect with Harbir:

Instagram.com/HarbirSian.OD

LinkedIn.com/in/HarbirSianOD

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Dr. Brianna Rhue is the owner West Broward Eyecare, co-founder of Dr. Contact Lens, and self-proclaimed Pop Tart (that last one makes sense if you've met Dr. Rhue in person or if you've heard her speak before).

In her second appearance on The 20/20 Podcast, Dr. Rhue helps us better understand how we can be more intentional about our interactions with our industry partners. Brianna makes the comparison of walking the floor of a trade show as optometrist/business owner to being like a Shark on Shark Tank. We have the ability decide who we want to invest in.

Given her unique perspective as an optometrist and someone who is trying to introduce her other business to optometrists, Brianna has a deep understanding of how to maximize the interactions between buyer and seller. So much so, in fact, that she wrote a book on the topic!

Dr. Rhue has a wealth of knowledge on many topics related to the business of eyecare... from her passion in myopia management to her ideas on leaderships styles and productivity, this episode is loaded with great info to help each of us improve.

Connect with Dr. Rhue:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannarhue/

Connect with Harbir:

Instagram.com/HarbirSian.OD

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Ask "what can I do for my profession?"

Dr. Martin Spiro, current President of the Canadian Association of Optometrists, joins the podcast to discuss some of the most pressing topics that are at the forefront of optometry in Canada.

Dr. Spiro had just returned from the Optometric Leadership Forum in Ottawa, which is an event held by the CAO to bring leaders in Canadian optometry together to discuss the future of the profession. Not surprisingly, the primary topic of discussion this year was scope expansion. Dr. Spiro share insights and data from the meeting to help us understand why scope expansion is necessary for our profession, the healthcare system and, most importantly, for our patients.

We also dive into some of the different ways that CAO is support optometry and optometrists across the country. But, no matter how much our associations do for us, ultimately it comes down to each of us to continue to work to make the profession better.

Learn more about CAO resources:

http://www.opto.ca/

Book your hotel for CAO Congress:

https://events.canplaninc.ca/cao2025/home?lang=en

Connect with Harbir:

Instagram.com/harbirsian.od

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Dr. Matthew Nagra is a doctor naturopathic medicine, a staunch believer in the benefits of a vegan diet, and a defender of scientific integrity.

A brief scan of Dr. Nagra's Instagram page will tell you he is dedicated to sharing helpful nutritional information that is back by science. In the process, he has found himself fighting back against the mountains of nutritional misinformation (and disinformation) that is shared every day on social media.

This episode was recorded almost 5 years ago, in the early days of COVID lockdown. It was somehow lost shortly after recording but I was luck enough to recover it very recently. I was impressed by the fact that the discussion we had about nutrition, veganism, and making decisions based on science was all still very relevant 5 years later. So I decided it was still worth sharing it.

Connect with Dr. Nagra:

Instagram.com/dr.matthewnagra

Connect with Harbir:

Instagram.com/harbirsian.od

Watch on YouTube:

youtube.com/harbirsianod

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