Up Close with Damon Dierker, OD, FAAO

What first interested you in optometry? Why did you choose to become an optometrist?

My biggest motivation was my father. He had a systemic condition that led to cataract formation pretty early in life. He had cataract surgery in the 1970s, before lens implants were widely used. He was then aphakic for most of his adult life and relied on contact lenses and glasses to be able to function. What inspired me most was seeing all of the things that optometrists did to try to help him.

What would you be if you hadn’t become an optometrist? Was there a plan B or another career option that you considered?

I was always interested in health care. I went into undergraduate as premed and then looked at my options. Optometry was the best fit, and has given me many opportunities, not only to provide patient care and leadership within my practice and the optometric community, but also to educate peers and to work with industry. I’ve been able to do more than I would ever have expected.

You are the founder of Dry Eye Boot Camp. Tell us more about this. What sparked the idea?

About 10 years ago, there was a lot happening in the dry eye space, with new diagnostics and therapeutics that created a huge need in the patient base in my practice to provide this care. In my local community, no one was leading the way in dry eye, so I saw an opportunity to educate myself and provide better patient care. I found that the information that I needed to be successful was not available just in one place; I had to seek out information, talk with many colleagues and industry partners, and read a lot of journal articles.

So, in late 2015, I came up with the idea of Dry Eye Boot Camp. We dressed up in fatigues and used bullhorns, and we brought in top speakers so that people could hear from four or five experts in one place. The faculty shared how they were treating dry eye in their practices, what was working, and what didn’t work. Dry Eye Boot Camp is about taking what you’ve learned, implementing it, and then developing the right program and tools for doctors to be able to succeed in their practices.

Where do you see yourself professionally in the next 10 years?

I will continue to do a variety of things that are interesting and hopefully impactful. I finished my term as President of the Indiana Optometric Association, and I will continue to be an active volunteer for that organization in various capacities.

I am getting more into clinical research in the dry eye space. We’re completing a few trials right now and looking at the potential for some larger trials in the coming months to years. I look forward to building that out in my practice.

I also have a lot of interest in taking care of patients with glaucoma and macular degeneration. There are many things that optometrists need to be doing to provide medical care for these patients. I’m excited to continue to collaborate with my peers to help educate others so we can meet the growing demand for exceptional medical eye care.

What is a typical day in your life?

My workweek is in the clinic usually 4 days, and I’ll see between 30 and 60 patients a day. I have a solid technician team and externs from Indiana University to support me. I enjoy working at that pace. I’m usually answering emails and text messages from colleagues and industry about patient care, new developments in the field, research, etc. And increasingly, over the past year, I’m doing a lot of early evening virtual educational programs, both CE and promotional events.

I ease into the weekend, and when I get home I put my phone away and concentrate on my family. We go to baseball games or to the pool. This is the work-life balance that everyone’s trying to work out. It is a challenge for sure, but I work hard and then try to put that away when I am done for the day so that I can concentrate on the things that matter most.

Tell us something about you that few people know.

I was a music major in college. I studied classical guitar and played piano. One of the things that brought me to Indiana University’s School of Optometry from Minnesota, where I grew up, was their music school. They have one of the top music schools in the country as well as a top optometry school. I’ve been a Hoosier ever since.