My name is Fred Davidorf and my specialty is retina vitreous and ocular oncology.
I was born in Lima, Ohio, and my family moved to Columbus when I was five years old. And
we lived in Bexley, and I graduated from Bexley High School, and went to Ohio State University
for undergraduate school and for medical school. And did my internship at Los Angeles County
General Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Came back to Columbus to do my residency
at Ohio State. And then did my retina fellowship at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary which
is the Harvard teaching hospital for Ophthalmology in Boston.
I started thinking about medicine when I was like a little kid, and we had some family
members that were ill. I remember the feeling that, gosh, I wish I could do something. So,
and it was kind of a hopeless feeling, or a helpless feeling when you, when a loved
one is ill and you can't do anything. So I said, I think I want to be able to fix people
and that's where it started.
Well, ophthalmology was a something that I sort of became interested in when I was doing
some research as a undergrad. Actually, a cataract in a mouse believe it or not. So
I knew a fair amount about ophthalmology just because I had done research then medical school
I sort of knew more than the next guy about ophthalmology and it was fun and that kind
of was my origin.
Well retina really was, that interest was piqued during my residency, so my mentor is
Bill Havener, and he was a superstar. And one of the few retina people in the country
at that time. So I had strong training in retina and I just loved it. It's such a, you
know, such a creative feel and you do a lot of good. So that's how I got into retina.
When I was doing my fellowship, Bill Havener said "Why don't you come back to Columbus?",
and at that time, Bill Havener was one of the busiest retina people in the world, really,
and he needed help. And so when I came back here, I remember coming in the doors and he
said, "Hey Fred, I'm going to take off" and here he dumps this huge practice on me. So
from the very minute I got back here, I have this huge practice, which is still huge. It's
been fun.
So academic medicine is the best of all worlds. You get to practice medicine, you get to fix
eyes, you get to teach medical students and residents and fellows. There's nothing like
having inquisitive minds around you. There's always someone over your shoulder saying "Why
did you do that?" And you got to have an answer. And so it just makes you a smarter doctor.
What we've, I've been interested in ocular melanomas since I started my practice. And
actually Dr. Havener didn't really like melanomas, so he said, "Fred, I think you'll be interested
in melanomas". And in those days, you sort of did what our mentors told us.
So I took over sort of handling melanomas. And we actually established the standard of
care for melanomas in the country using radioactive plaques. And that's the standard of care and
was first done at Ohio State.
So the changing face of medicine is primarily geared toward, because of molecular genetics,
so that the human genome, which was finished in 2006, it took fifteen years for experts
throughout the country to define the human genome of twenty-five thousand genes. Now,
you can do the human genome with the next gen technique, that's what it's called, in
two months. The information that you know is just unbelievable. So the point is if you
know a disease goes from A to B to C because of genes, we can now identify it and attack
those. That's called target therapy. So the medicine of the future is going to be target
therapy, affecting and altering of the genes that are causing the problem.
Well I deal in sight, sight the most precious of sense, and people come in, they can't see.
Operate, and they can see. So, what greater gift can you give to people.
I always tell the patient that I work for you, you don't work for me, so, you know,
I'm here to serve you. And I believe that. And so they can expect me to give them my
best, just like I would a family member.