DR . WHO
about the eyes in medical school .” Realizing this , he decided to take it upon himself to fill the gap . During an already busy residency , he created the course “ Ophtho 101 ” formatted as a “ boot camp ” for all second-year medical students at UofL .
“ It ’ s a YouTube series that I created and then an in-house clinic and group discussion seminar that they go through to see critical patterns that they should identify and refer and figure out on the front line ,” he said . “ There are so many other specialties out there , so if we can train a few family medicine physicians , pediatricians , OB-GYNs , neurologists , any of them , to get a little bit better recognition of ophthalmology problems and get them referred quicker , we can really achieve some economies of scale .”
Also during his residency , a program was developed with Johnson & Johnson where residents were able to get certified on the VISX Star S4 Excimer Laser , the laser used for LASIK surgery . Dr . Mugavin was the first resident and his class the first in program history to be granted this opportunity .
After finishing residency in 2018 , Dr . Mugavin joined private practice in Louisville for a year before going to Indianapolis for a cornea fellowship . The fellowship year provided him with new skills , techniques and procedures that he would ultimately be able to bring back to town . In 2020 , he joined Kumar Eye Institute after being connected by a mutual friend .
“ He [ Dr . Sushil Kumar ] started the practice over 40 years ago and has a wonderful legacy in the community . I ’ ve joked that I ’ m the little brother – Rishi [ Kumar ], his son , is the owner and Ashima [ Gupta ], his daughter , is a partner as well . I ’ m the little brother that joined a bit ago ,” he said , laughing . “ It just felt like the right fit and the right people and it ’ s been great , such a family atmosphere .”
One of the things that he brought back from his fellowship is
Intense Pulse Light therapy , an innovative treatment for dry eye disease , a condition effecting 7 % of the U . S . population , he said . As the only practice in the area currently providing IPL treatments , patients come from all around for this service . Technology like this is huge in the field of ophthalmology . There ’ s always a new innovation or paradigm shift , he said , so it ’ s important to stay up to speed on how to treat different conditions .
“ One of the most impactful technological advances that has occurred in ophthalmology in the last 20 years has been the evolution of Ocular Coherence Tomography , which can image the back of the retina in just a few seconds to provide a wealth of information about the overall health of the patient . That scan can be really useful in counseling patients with things like macular degeneration , diabetic eye disease and glaucoma ,” he said . “ The resolution of the image is up to five microns . We can really show patients the fine details like damaged blood vessels from diabetes or the damaged retina photo receptors from macular degeneration . It ’ s a powerful thing to establish a concrete , visible target for the patients when it comes to patients understanding the disease process and how to focus their treatment .”
In addition to the fascinating technology , he also values the continuity of care that he sees as a physician primarily in the clinic . He sees his role as the physician as the primary communicator . “ I really like to help patients understand their disease . As physicians , I get the feeling that we can do a better job of explaining what ’ s going on to the patient in their own terms . When we do that , we get better buy-in and better outcomes . I try to always emphasize that I ’ m a doctor who cares and who will take the time to break down some of the complex language to the patient in a way they can appreciate it .”
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