Tim Page, MD, knew from a young age that he wanted to work in medicine. While his peers daydreamed about becoming lawyers or police officers, he wanted to learn how to save lives. A freak water skiing accident at the age of 12 cemented his ambition not just to be a doctor, but to be an ophthalmologist as well.

“A beetle hit me right in the eye while I was on the water, and its legs broke off and got stuck in my cornea. I was screaming, crying like an infant, begging my parents not to take me to the doctor because I just couldn’t imagine how he was going to get those things out of my eye,” Dr. Page says.

An ophthalmologist put numbing drops in, turned off the lights and took the legs out of his cornea. “It didn’t hurt, and I felt great afterward. It was almost a religious moment, a revelation, and after it was done, I told my mother that’s what I want to do when I’m grown up,” Dr. Page recalls.

Ever since that fateful day, Dr. Page has dedicated much of his time as an ophthalmologist to giving back to those less fortunate. He always felt it would be a long shot to become a doctor, so he made a spiritual promise that should he succeed he would never forget the less fortunate.

The means by which he has held to his promise have been twofold.

PRACTICAL

Dr. Page spends much of his time practicing at Oakland Ophthalmic Surgery in Troy, Mich. He’s particularly focused on patients who have had trauma to the crystalline lens, from car accidents or ocular injuries, and those affected by genetic disorders as well as complex presentations that require great skill to treat.

Beyond local patients, Dr. Page gives back by treating the less fortunate and most in need abroad as well, particularly in East Africa. Some of these cases in Tanzania, for instance, have been particularly harrowing.

“I remember a boy of 5 called Brian whose arms were no bigger than pencils, but his head was swollen to bigger than a watermelon,” Dr. Page says. “He had retinoblastoma, and the mother had gone to Nairobi and received a diagnosis but had not received great care.

“There was so little we could do because his case was so advanced, but we could provide as good a palliative care process as possible. Instead of dying alone with his mother in a hut, we made sure he received proper treatment in a clean and comfortable environment.

Because of Brian, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret now has an established means of providing palliative care for suffering terminal patients that Dr. Page says they never had before, ranging from chemotherapy to play therapy.

ACADEMICS AND INDUSTRY

When he’s not operating on patients, Dr. Page gives back in other ways. He is a prodigious educator whose lectures on eye surgery, including an annual invitation to the Harvard University Intensive Cataract Surgery Course, reach into the hundreds. He also wrote a chapter for “Advanced IOL Fixation Techniques: Strategies for Compromised or Missing Capsular Support,” a comprehensive and well-received textbook, and describes this process as an “honor.”

“As I went through my schooling years, I would make petitions in my daily prayers that I might reach my goal of being an ophthalmologist. Along the way, I encountered incredible mentors and came to appreciate and understand how important it is for those with knowledge to pass it on to those who come after them,” Dr. Page says.

In addition, Dr. Page can often be found helping to develop new technology for ophthalmology and optometry. One project he’s working on is a new eyeglass frame manufacturing company called Spoke by Ales & Page. Based in Detroit, the enterprise will help provide employment in the economically challenged city and provide cheap, high-quality frames for those most in need.

CONCLUSION

What’s next for Dr. Page? Along with becoming a fellow at the Advanced Comprehensive Ophthalmology Fellowship, set up by EyeCare Partners, he has an eye on his future closer to home and how he and his family can continue to contribute to the community around him.

“My son is now studying ophthalmology; maybe one day I’ll pass my torch on to him.” OM