Arthur B. Cummings
The Power List 2019 – Emerging Leaders
Arthur B. Cummings
Consultant Ophthalmologist Beacon Hospital and Medical Director Wellington Eye Clinic, Dublin, Ireland.
What drives you in your day-to-day activities?
Patient satisfaction and endeavoring to surpass expectations on a routine basis. Keeping my amazing team busy and productive.
What are your goals for the future?
To expand the Wellington Eye Clinic into a more comprehensive eye care facility. Currently we are heavily specialized in the cataract and refractive space, and I would like to create a more comprehensive eye care facility, probably under a different name, as the Wellington brand is so strongly associated with vision correction. In my new role as a member of the board of directors with Alcon, I am in a position that I have not been before, and I would like to look back one day and reflect on a time that was well spent, good decisions were made, eye care was improved globally for all, and the entire market was expanded, so that more patients can be recipients of the amazing therapies we can deliver as ophthalmologists today.
What is your most exciting current project?
There are a good number of projects that I am very excited about, and I would not like to mention just one out of respect for the others. Ophthalmology is such a dynamic field, especially on the device and med-tech side of things. Selecting the correct IOL design is becoming more objective, our solutions for presbyopia with allografts are expanding our options in a very safe and effective manner; new technology in the refractive field and new surgical tools, lasers, planning stations, IOLs in the cataract space are all very exciting. The role that digitization is playing is growing, and the potential is to make ophthalmology safer, more efficient, better for surgeons, techs, nurses and patients. We have a lot to learn from the aviation industry in how to build and maintain trust in our systems, and I think that this journey has started. The role that artificial intelligence may play is also very exciting, not to mention the area of genetic therapy. This truly is the most exciting time ever to be an ophthalmologist.
What’s the best part of being an ophthalmologist?
Knowing that your day job actually improves people’s lives on a daily basis. It’s an incredible privilege to have a fellow human being, who very likely regards their eyesight as the most precious of the senses, trust you with their surgery or medical management. It’s humbling; it’s a very human and personal experience, and it’s something we get to do so often, there’s a possibility that we may take it for granted. There are few professions that provide the potential for this level of job satisfaction, and it’s something that I hold very dear to my heart and I am very thankful for. Collaborating with scientists and other very smart people in finding ways of doing things better, achieving better outcomes, making procedures safer, is a lot of fun and mental stimulation. Finally, getting to spend some time with my wife and sons and their nearest, completes the picture. In my view, ophthalmology is truly the queen of specialties.
