If there’s a reason why a group of sleep-deprived residents might volunteer to attend non-obligatory, back-to-back lectures, it’s Geoff Broocker. Minutes after the March 10 Grand Rounds lecture ended, several residents quickly circled right back into the Calhoun auditorium to hear this retired director of the Eye Center’s residency program tell them everything he knows about ophthalmic pharmacology.
For. Two. More. Hours.
“They’re here because they are prepping for their Ophthalmology Knowledge Assessment Program (OKAP) exams, and Dr. Boocker knows all there is to know,” said Emory Eye Center chair Dr. Allen D. Beck, himself a former Broocker protege.
“But it’s not just pharmacology. Geoff has the perspective and the knowledge to teach them anything they need to know about being a good ophthalmologist. And he’s retained the passion for doing just that.”
Broocker served as Emory Eye Center’s residency director for more than 10 years before retiring in 2014. But for successive generations of young doctors-in-training, it’s almost as though he never left. Broocker predictably returns at key points in the residency program – like OKAP season – to give lectures and connect with residents.
And then there’s this: every ophthalmology resident in the Emory Eye Center program is gifted with a 20 diopter lens (or other examining lens) that has Geoffrey Broocker’s initials carved into it. This years-long tradition was itself started by Broocker, who paid for the lenses out of his own pocket when he took over the residency program.
“I could see that medical school can leave you with some pretty big debts to pay, so I decided to give [residents] something forward, something practical, that they could use for the rest of their lives -- at least if they continue in ophthalmology.“
Once Broocker retired, a group of his former residents banded together to continue the tradition, adding the engraving as a tribute to their mentor.
Geoffrey Broocker’s professional resume could have easily intimidated his young audience during his most recent visit to the Emory Eye Center. Mentored and trained at Wills Eye Hospital, he has chaired committees within the AUPO, and even served on the Residency Review Committee of the ACGME. But when he took to the lectern, Broocker had one overarching lesson he wanted to drive home: practical wisdom matters.
“When you talk to new doctors about ophthalmological drugs, it’s important to tell them that some of them can cost up to $10,000 a dose, which is more than a lot of patients can afford. So the real question is not whether or not you can just write for it, but whether or not your patient is going to get it. You have to lay out more than one solution, whenever possible,” he said.
“If it’s a matter of prescribing a pill or eye drops and your patient has an unsteady hand, you have to think about what’s practical. It’s very easy for anyone to miss the eye with those drops. That’s how you end up using up your drops before your insurance will pay for another prescription. So, again, which do you prescribe?”
Broocker paused.
“They don’t always teach you this stuff in school.”
But Geoffrey Broocker won’t let you forget it. And that’s one of the reasons he’s etched into the culture of the Emory Eye Center.
-Kathleen E. Moore