My name is Peter Netland. I am ophthalmologist here at UVA, and I'm also a glaucoma subspecialist. I was initially drawn to ophthalmology during medical school because it has a nice mix of surgical and medical care of patients. The outcomes are outstanding. We have a very high tech field, and the advances have been truly remarkable.

The number one public health issue in the United States is cancer and number two is blindness. So, it's an important problem, and it's also very prevalent. By going into the subspecialty that I've chosen, I've been able to focus on problems that I think are quite common and problems that are also important to people.

UVA is a great environment to practice ophthalmology. We have a tremendously collaborative environment, and so we do take very seriously our responsibility for teaching the next generation. We recognize that these problems are going to be continuing and we have to continue to make improvements. In my field, we see the same patients over many, many years.  Oftentimes, for their full life.

I have follow up on patients that I've seen from birth up through adulthood. I've seen them have children. Ultimately, we do like to be able to provide practical solutions to problems, and that's very satisfying when we can do something that really helps a person.