Alumni Focus on Margaret "Liz" Moore (OD'18)
DR. MOORE'S STORY
Hometown
Germantown, Maryland
Which institution did you attend for your undergraduate degree? What was your major?
University of Notre Dame, Biological Sciences. Go Irish!
Which degree(s), related to optometry, did you earn at Ohio State?
OD'18
Who were your mentors at the College of Optometry? Who had a positive effect on your education?
Too many to count. My first Ohio State mentor was Dr. Phil Yuhas - he was a year ahead of me at Notre Dame, and we mopped floors together at the dining hall with his wife Emily! Others who had a big impact on my education include Dr. Dawn Goedde, Dr. Cayti McDaniel, Dr. Karla Zadnik, Dr. Jackie Davis, Dr. Vondolee Delgado-Nixon, Dr. Kate McClure, Dr. Kelsy Steele, Dr. Alex Nixon, and last but not least, Dr. Richard Frick.
DR. MOORE'S CAREER IN OPTOMETRY
Name of your employer(s) and title, including location.
ReFocus Eye Health in Hamden and Branford, Connecticut (just outside of New Haven) and Scarsdale Ophthalmology Associates in Scarsdale, New York.
Give us a glimpse of your typical day as an optometrist.
In my Connecticut offices, I see 25-35 patients per day, mostly comprehensive care, emergency visits, glaucoma, ocular surface disease, and retinal concerns. In my New York office, I primarily provide peri-operative cataract and glaucoma care alongside my good friend, cataract-glaucoma surgeon Dr. James Murphy, including Light Adjustable Lens treatments.
Which optometric issues concern you the most?
Eyecare accessibility. Every person should have access to ocular health and vision care in order to learn, work, and enjoy life to the fullest. I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to discuss current eyecare and healthcare issues at the federal level at this year’s AOA on Capitol Hill in DC, where I will be representing the executive board of the Connecticut Association of Optometrists.
Why did you choose a career in optometry?
I worked in a lab at Notre Dame that studied the genetics of retinal degeneration, which I found fascinating. After a tour of duty as a technician in an optometry practice, which married the amazing eye to working with people, I was hooked!
Where do you hope to see your optometric career in five years?
I feel fortunate to say that I love my current practice modality (MD/OD) and hope to be in similar shoes in five years. That being said, there is always room for improvement in workflow and practice patterns. And shoes.
What is one piece of advice you can give OPT-IV students as they prepare to graduate and begin their optometric careers?
Dr. McDaniel offered a mantra that I still think of, to never become complacent. My other piece of advice is to move to Connecticut, we have lots of great jobs and lobster rolls!
What does eye health, and eye care, mean for you?
Healthy eyes are often taken for granted, but they allow us to do and experience so much of our lives. I love offering solutions to patients to help them see and feel their best, including discussing the relationships between systemic and ocular health that many patients are unaware of.
DR. MOORE'S OHIO STATE EXPERIENCE
What do Ohio State and the College of Optometry mean to you and your family?
The Ohio State University College of Optometry has opened many doors for me, taken me places I didn’t anticipate traveling to, and has given me much that I hope to pay forward. On a family note, my father passed away halfway through my first year at Ohio State, and I still think back to how fortunate I was to have been surrounded by caring faculty and classmates who warmly supported me through that time.
How do you stay connected with the College of Optometry?
I primarily travel back to Ohio for classmates’ weddings and regret that I haven’t re-visited the campus more often, but I always enjoy the latest Ohio State Optometry news and feel lucky to have attended a school at the forefront of vision and ocular health research.
DR. MOORE'S FUN FACTS
What are your current hobbies, volunteer work and interests?
Outside of the clinic, I’m usually working on my fixer-upper house, cooking, traveling, doing anything outdoors or hanging with the Connecticut Association of Optometrists. We recently had a board member paint night at a winery, where we each painted … an eye!
What is your nickname?
All of my friends and family call me Liz. My parents called me by my middle name growing up and I never shook it off!
What’s the best eye pun you’ve ever heard?
What do you call a deer that has no eyes? No eye-deer.
If not an optometrist, I would be …
A pilot, like many in my family. Another profession with an appreciation for vision!