My name is Eugene Shildkrot. I am the director of the ocular oncology services here at UVA. I specialize in complex diseases of the retina, which is the membrane in the back of the eye that is responsible for seeing. My other hat is more rare conditions, and that is being an ocular oncologist. I specialize in cancers that affect the ocular surface, surface of the eye, and the internal structures of the eye. One of the main things that lured me into medicine and kept me excited about it is the ability to provide care and really make a difference in the lives of my patients, and also to build the lasting relationships with both patients and their families. One of the best things about my specialty, something that really keeps me going, is the perfect marriage of clinic and clinic relationships and really high-tech surgery. There are several procedures that I think are the core of my practice. The repair of retinal detachments, especially the complex detachments, such as those we see in diabetics with advanced vision-threatening disease, and the treatment of uveal melanomas, and ocular cancer in children. I think UVA is one of the few institutions, definitely in the state of Virginia, that provides this comprehensive, collegial approach to patient care, and I think that is one of the main draws that brings patients to UVA, and often brings them for generations.