My best summer read for 2017 is a non-fiction book by the brilliant young author Robert Moor, who has crafted an amazing exploration of those trails shaped by the paths we walk and the lives we live. Part nature-logue and part scientific exploration, part philosophy and part psychology, “On Trails: An Exploration” provides a pitch-perfect metaphor for exploring our relationships with nature and each other, including our relationships with work, career, and enterprise.

Taking me on a vicarious through-hike of the International Appalachian Trail, Moor engaged me emotionally and intellectually. Like a companionable hiking partner, Moor relates each footfall to yet another way of thinking about the meaning of trails. His words inspire mine as I write this column.

While putting finishing touches on the program for the 2017 OOSS Symposium at AAO/AAOE in New Orleans, I found myself re-reading his epilogue with mental sparks a-flying. Now, who re-reads epilogues?

Moor illustrates that the best trails, the wisest trails, are both time tested and world tested, and that they adapt successfully even as conditions change. The theme of our 2017 Symposium — Envest: Breaking Through to 2020 — reflects Moor’s theories. Our Symposium keynote speaker, Elizabeth Nelson, a bioengineering researcher and author of “The Healthy Office Revolution,” is blazing new trails toward more productive and balanced workplaces. The experts who will guide us through the “envisioning” process are defining paths for successful entrepreneurial investment — or “envestment,” as we like to say.

At the OOSS Symposium, we will also launch our fledgling OOSS Scholars program, which features a small but select cadre of accomplished, spirited, and promising young ophthalmologists eager to forge paths to ASC ownership and practice. I use the term “fledgling” mindful that just as our scholars are new to surgical practice, OOSS also is new to the responsibility of mentoring. Our commitment to OOSS Scholars goes well beyond sharing common practices and paths. As Moor describes, just as we shape the paths we leave, the paths we take will shape the essence of who we become. That is a heavy responsibility.

In this issue of The Ophthalmic ASC, we explore four important and timely subjects: compounding pharmacy selection, infection control, payer contracting, and charitable surgery. Each article is informed by experts who have trod well-worn footpaths and diverged to blaze newer, better trails. We hope you find value in their wisdom as you cut your own paths.

Near the end of the book, Moor observes:

As I think about what unites the wisest of ophthalmic outpatient surgery centers, these same three values apply. And as I think about the role and mission of OOSS, so, too, do these values apply. It is our singular purpose to advocate for and support the development of outpatient ophthalmic surgery as a medical practice, including the people, processes, and places that ultimately determine our durability, efficiency, and flexibility as a model for the delivery of quality surgical care. ■