About 10 years ago, an ophthalmology resident joined my hockey team. At the time, I really didn’t know much about ophthalmology, but through conversations before and after games, he started telling me about the field and what his training was like.

What caught my attention was the combination of medicine, surgery, technology and the ability to make a real difference in someone’s quality of life. The more I learned, the more interested I became. It’s funny looking back now because a chance meeting through hockey ended up introducing me to the specialty that became my career.

Receiving the Thomas J. Guttuso Award is incredibly meaningful to me because it recognizes something that has always been at the center of why I wanted to become a physician: caring for patients.

Throughout residency, I’ve learned that some of the most important things we do for patients happen outside of the exam itself. Taking the time to listen, understanding what they are going through, explaining complex diagnoses in a way that makes sense, and helping them feel heard can have a lasting impact. I have always tried to approach patient care with empathy and compassion, and to treat every patient the way I would want a member of my own family to be treated.

While I am grateful that the award also recognizes research, what means the most to me is being recognized for the way I care for patients. It reinforces the values that drew me to medicine in the first place and that I hope will continue to define my career as an ophthalmologist.

I feel very prepared and, more importantly, confident in the foundation that my residency training has provided. The program has exposed me to a wide variety of patients, pathology and surgical experiences across multiple clinical settings, which has helped me grow tremendously as both a physician and surgeon.

At the same time, residency has taught me that no one ever truly stops learning in medicine. I feel ready to begin the next stage of my career, but I also appreciate that continuing to learn from colleagues, mentors, and patients will always be part of being a good ophthalmologist.