Dr. Tom Mitchell
Class of 1987

There are so many great memories that come to mind when I think of my time as a resident at the Eye Foundation, now UAB Callahan Eye. I remember my first day, walking into the building as a neophyte and plunging headfirst into the world of ophthalmology. It was daunting. The one thing that I will always remember is that the experience was one of hard work, daily growth and learning, and collegial and positive interactions with fellow residents and faculty.

After graduating in 1987, I joined a group practice in Montgomery with Dr. Sanders Benkwith and Dr. James Glassner, who was two years ahead of me in residency at UAB and unfortunately was lost to us in a tragic bike accident at the age of 46. My practice consisted of general ophthalmology with an emphasis on cataract surgery and functional eye lid surgery. The practice, Montgomery Eye Physicians, evolved into a multi-site practice with a surgery center. I had a rewarding practice for many years before retiring in 2020, when my wife and I moved to Birmingham to be closer to our three sons and grandchildren.

When I look back at my career, I am so grateful for the ophthalmology residency program at UAB. The most obvious valuable things I took from the program were the surgical skills that were developed under the patient, sequential, and painstaking supervision of the excellent attending physicians. Those skills were applied and honed over the years to improve the lives of so many patients and families that it provided me with a truly rewarding career. However, I believe the most valuable thing I learned was a rich experience in diagnosing and logically working through problems with vision and eye health in a systematic and thorough fashion. Developing the skills of a diagnostician with an objective evidence-based approach is essential to becoming an excellent surgeon, and those were skills I learned as a resident.

There were so many attendings in the department who impacted my career, and my life, uniquely. But I really believe it was the association with the other residents that had the biggest impact. Learning with them and being involved in a team in which everyone is aspiring to achieve the same goal was transformative. I was once told by a physician mentor that the most important thing about choosing where one receives their education is selecting a place where your fellow students encourage you to achieve high standards. The Eye Foundation was that place for me.

While the guidance of the attending physicians and working with other residents were truly beneficial, the sheer volume and diversity and severity of clinical conditions I encountered were a central factor in preparing me for my career. Residents in the ophthalmology program get to treat so many people and so many varieties of conditions that build valuable skills – from making timely decisions to save a person’s vision to time management when balancing many cases simultaneously. Those are extremely valuable tangible skills that have stayed with me throughout my career.

I am proud of where the program has grown over the years since I graduated some time ago. I have seen the program improve under the leadership of Drs. Kline and Girkin; the clinical faculty continues to grow in breadth and depth; and the growth in visual sciences research has complemented the learning experience tremendously. I also feel that the presence on the UAB campus allows residents an interaction with physicians from other specialties that richly adds to the clinical learning experience. I know the program will only continue to grow, and I am excited to see what the future holds.

I am truly thankful to all the physicians at the Eye Foundation and UAB who helped guide me along the learning process. I certainly hope our paths will continue to cross!