DR. WHO
( continued from page 29) able,” said Dr. Payne, who was accepted and began her studies in August of 1993. She was inspired by the beauty of the city, by the new opportunities in front of her, and by the community of Canaan Christian Church, which became her spiritual home when she arrived.
“ I believe the number one key to success is exposure. A lot of intelligent people have trouble reaching their full potential. Exposure will give you the confidence in how to direct your intelligence.”
Coming to Louisville gave Dr. Payne a new world of knowledge to explore. One of her guides along the way was Dr. William Kean the only practicing African-American ophthalmologist in Louisville at the time, whom she first saw on television during her sophomore year.
“ I called up Dr. Kean and asked if he could mentor me,” Dr. Payne said matter-of-factly.“ He agreed and I became his mentee through residency. Just by seeing how Dr. Kean treated patients in his office, I had exposure to the clinical side of ophthalmology. Seeing a successful physician in action was really meaningful for me.”
In residency, she found new challenges.“ Every time I was elevated in my career, God would ask me to serve more. For example, the same year I became chief resident, my church started a liturgical dance ministry and asked me to lead that. They are the exact opposite and I wasn’ t sure I could lead that liturgical dance group, but the Lord said do both. I ended up loving the experience!”
Louisville is a city still growing, and Dr. Payne saw untapped opportunities in ophthalmology as she was finishing her residency.“ UofL didn’ t have a medical retina fellowship, which is what I wanted to do. I was praying and asking God,‘ What am I supposed to do?’ The Lord said,‘ You’ ll do retina, and you’ ll ask the new chairman, Dr. Henry Kaplan, for a retina fellowship.’” And that’ s just what happened.
Meeting by chance in a university elevator, Dr. Payne said to Dr. Kaplan,“ I need to talk to you. I’ ve been praying, and the Lord told me to ask you about a medical retina fellowship.”
Dr. Kaplan listened to what she had to say. UofL had actually just created a retinal surgery spot as a two-year fellowship.“ He said that since I wanted to go medical, he would open a medical retina one-year fellowship to me. I became the first person to do that fellowship, and Dr. Kaplan has been my mentor ever since.”
Once she graduated, Dr. Payne chose to stay in Louisville. She had been touched by a visit to the VA Medical Center when she was in her third year of medical school. As she was leaving her fellowship, a physician who practiced medical retina care was retiring from the VA. The spot was open and waiting for Dr. Payne’ s arrival.
“ Veterans uphold to me the values which America says she believes in. They put in the sacrifices. To see and hear those who survived World War II or Korea or Vietnam, and see their loyalty to their values and their family, it does something for me.”
Although both her father and uncle served in Vietnam, they never talked about the experience. Dr. Payne’ s love of veterans emerged simply by rotating through the VA.“ We believe in excellence from the bench to the bedside and everyone working there has the goal of offering the best to veterans. I don’ t like people thinking the VA is doing esoteric or second-class medicine. The ophthalmology department is made up of UofL graduates. We’ re constantly striving to make sure we have the best products, that we’ re giving veterans the best service. Anything but excellence is not an option,” Dr. Payne said.
In her practice, Dr. Payne sees the worst of the worst. She’ s dealing with diabetic eye disease, the leading cause of blindness, as well as age-related macular degeneration. Typically, her work involves intra-ocular injections, a relatively
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