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As a child, Pratik Shah, OD ‘22, ‘23Resident, experienced issues with his eyes. He visited a lot of doctors and never seemed to get any answers to his problems.
Then he went to an optometrist and received some definitive answers. And, it turned out that’s what ultimately convinced him he wanted to become an optometrist one day.
“That’s why I’ve always wanted to pursue optometry,” said Dr. Shah. “I wanted to make sure I was able to provide answers to people about their eyes the way someone did for me.”
And, that’s what he’s doing — not only for his patients but for others wanting to be optometrists — as one of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Salus University’s Class of 2023 residents specializing in Cornea/Contact Lens.
Dr. Shah, from Cedar Grove, New Jersey, completed his undergraduate work at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, where he earned a degree in biochemistry. He chose PCO/Salus because of the early clinical exposure students receive and because it “doesn’t hand-hold” its optometrists but offers guidelines within which to work.
“The clinic — The Eye Institute — is full of a wide variety of patients, so I feel like I got a large background in diseases and was able to handle tough cases when I was out in the real world during my fourth-year rotation,” said Dr. Shah.
The residency experience to this point, he said, is “a little weird” because he’s now serving as a preceptor to some of his friends since he was a student at the beginning of this year.
“Them calling me Dr. Shah is super-weird, but I’m getting used to it,” he said. “But a sense of responsibility also comes with that title. It’s nice to be back at home base, but with a different perspective. I’m working with people that I aspire to have as fellow colleagues one day. That truly has been an eye-opening experience.”
Being in cornea/contact lens residency hasn’t been easy to this point, said Dr. Shah, because it challenges him to learn more and more each day.
“I talked with my fellow residents at a recent meeting we had for only cornea/content lens residents and one question we all had was, ‘Do you feel like you’re more busy now than you were in grad school?’” said Dr. Shah.
As he mentioned, there is so much that comes with the responsibility of being a resident. According to Dr. Shah, a resident is a liaison between the students and the faculty members, going to conferences, and learning as much as possible.
“You have to kind of grow into this adulthood during your residency year,” he said.
When he has some time to himself, Dr. Shah enjoys hiking, traveling, visiting coffeehouses and spending time with his family. He admits, however, that even in his free time, he does research on cornea/contact lenses because of his intense interest in the profession.
As for the future, Dr. Shah is thinking he might try teaching part-time while working at a group practice, eventually hoping to work with contact lens companies in the development of products.
“Clinical trials and research do interest me as well, especially since recently I talked to a doctor who told me about the importance of clinical trials. I might dabble in that with contact lens companies,” he said.
For now, Dr.Shah is going to concentrate on completing his residency and learning as much as he can.
“It’s been an amazing experience. I’m happy I’m doing it. I don’t regret it a single bit. It’s making me a stronger doctor for sure,” he said.
