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Melton and Thomas: Pioneers in ocular pharmacology education
Ron Melton, OD, FAAO, and Randall Thomas, OD, MPH, FAAO, are credited with being one of the most well-known and well-respected ocular disease lecture teams.
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As part of Primary Care Optometry News’ 20th anniversary celebration, in each issue throughout 2015 we will profile a “Pioneer in Optometry” as chosen by the PCON Editorial Board.
In this issue we feature lecturers Ron Melton, OD, FAAO, and Randall Thomas, OD, MPH, FAAO.
“What a team,” PCON Editorial Board member Jerome A. Legerton, OD, MS, MBA, FAAO, told PCON. “The dedication of Ron and Randall to lead an entire profession to higher ground in the clinical skills of primary care can’t be measured. They are more than pioneers in ophthalmic disease management. They were scouts who at times were out of sight of the wagon trains only to come back with the guidance of best practices in ocular pharmacology. Pioneers indeed. I know for a fact that their lifelong work in bridge-building was always focused on their colleagues and the access to excellent care for patients far and wide.”
PCON Editorial Board member Jill Autry, OD, RPh, said: “The hallmark of a good lecturer is being able to present complex material in an easy-to-understand and non-intimidating manner. This allows the attendees to absorb and process information and take home pearls that will help them in their practice tomorrow. Drs. Melton and Thomas were pioneers in presenting a variety of ocular disease and pharmacological topics that continue to make them one of the most requested and well-respected teams on the podium.”
In interviews with PCON, Melton and Thomas shared their beginnings in optometry and what they consider to be their most significant contributions to the profession.
Ron Melton
Randall Thomas
PCON: Why did you choose optometry as a career path?
Melton: In college I had a special interest in math and science and wanted to choose a career in the health care field. Around the same time I was developing a problem seeing the board in the classroom. I went to my local optometrist who prescribed a pair of glasses. This experience showed me that optometry would allow me to utilize my interest in the math/sciences and play an important role in health care.
Thomas: A college friend, Bill Nethercutt, OD, attended the Southern College of Optometry and always encouraged me to consider optometry as a career. I had just finished my MPH program at the University of North Carolina, was working as a research assistant at the UNC School of Dentistry and was planning a career in dentistry at that time. However, because of my friendship with Bill Nethercutt, I developed an interest in helping the profession of optometry.
That was in 1977, and I actually testified on behalf of optometry before the North Carolina legislature from a public health perspective, as optometrists in North Carolina were pursuing therapeutic privilege legislation. That second drug law for optometry in the U.S. passed overwhelmingly, and my excitement for optometry took on a whole new dimension. As an aside, the administration of the school of dentistry was not the least bit pleased with my testifying against their brethren in medicine!
Randall and Cheryl Thomas.
Image: Thomas R
The Melton family visits the Canadian Rockies after a lecture at the Canadian Optometric Association meeting in Edmonton.
Image: Melton R
During these times, Bill and I became friends with Joe Ruskiewicz, OD, MPH, at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry through our work with the American Public Health Association; and so it was that in late July 1977 I became enamored with optometry at the same time the school of dentistry became un-enamored with me. Joe found a place for me, and my optometric career began.
PCON: How has your career unfolded?
Melton: I was fortunate to be awarded a health professional scholarship during optometry school. This allowed me to proudly serve as a captain and optometrist in the U.S. Army for 3 years after graduating from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) in Philadelphia (now Salus University). This experience at the Hawley Army Community Hospital at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind., was priceless in gaining a wealth of clinical experience. While there I became an adjunct faculty member of the Indiana University School of Optometry, rotating fourth-year students through the eye clinic. To this day I feel an obligation to expose optometry students to a high-level clinical setting by maintaining adjunct faculty status at the Indiana University and Salus University Schools of Optometry.
Also, while in the Army I began team-teaching with PCO classmates Carson Cox and Randall Thomas on ocular disease and pharmacology to practicing ODs across the country. We had one goal in mind: “To move our profession forward in the area of therapeutics.” Unfortunately, Carson passed away last year. But Randall and I have maintained the drive to move optometry forward by continuing to team-teach ocular therapeutics.
From the military I have settled into more than 30 years of clinical practice, affording me the opportunity to share this clinical experience with our optometry colleagues for 3 decades.
Thomas: I became good friends with two classmates at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry – both of whom were from North Carolina – Carson Cox and Ron Melton. Because we all hailed from North Carolina and were eager to become comprehensive optometrists, we planned externships to help us close out our formal training as intensively as we could. We each saw 4,000 to 5,000 patients prior to receiving our optometric degrees. Carson went to teach at the Northeastern State University College of Optometry in Tahlequah, Okla., and Ron and I served in the Army and Air Force, respectively. We would fly out to Oklahoma from time to time to help Carson conduct continuing education programs through the school of optometry. Our first foray into optometric continuing education was to the Montana Optometric Association in 1984, and the ball began to roll. After about 5 years of triple team teaching, Carson had to retire from the podium due to health issues. Ron and I continued to grow in our passion for teaching, as we had gained quite a bit of clinical expertise, which was a relatively rare commodity at that time.
Ron and I have two professional loves: direct patient care and indirect patient care through our efforts from the podium to grow the clinical expertise of our colleagues around the world.
PCON: What are you doing now?
Melton: I practice full scope optometry in a large multispecialty group made up of eye doctors and ear, nose and throat physicians. Over the years I have developed a special interest in glaucoma and anterior segment disease. Randall and I continue to educate our colleagues in the area of ocular disease and pharmacology.
Thomas: We continue to practice full-time and lecture more than ever. Truly it is an exciting – and exhausting – life!
PCON: What have you learned?
Melton: I have figured out that you never stop learning. By continually reading the medical literature it allows me to keep up with current trends in our profession.
PCON: What is your most significant accomplishment?
Melton: I feel that my accomplishments can be broken down into three areas.
I am first and foremost dedicated to my wife, Annie, and three outstanding children: Mary, Anna and Mark. My family is by far my most cherished accomplishment, and without their support none of the other accomplishments would be possible.
Over the last 30 years I have worked hard to build and maintain a clinical practice that is made up of dedicated patients and employees.
A major accomplishment for me has been my second full-time job – educating our profession over the years in the area of ocular disease and pharmacology – with Randall. We have had an endless passion to keep our colleagues up-to-date on the latest therapeutic advances in optometry. Through our lectures and articles we have maintained our goal of pushing optometry to a higher level of competence. Also, Randall and I receiving the recent 2014 Vincent Ellerbrock Clinical Educator Award from the American Academy of Optometry for “outstanding and sustained contributions to the academy’s lectures and workshops program” was a major accomplishment that is greatly appreciated.
In clinic with Melton’s 109-year-old patient who still sees well after 30 years with the practice.
Image: Image: Melton R
Thomas providing care in an eye clinic at a church in Kenya.
Image: Thomas R
Melton and Thomas tour the Reagan Library and the retired Air Force One during a recent lecture in California. President Reagan was commander in chief when they served in the military.
Image: Melton R
Thomas: My most significant professional accomplishment was passing the national board. I barely passed, and had I missed one more question in geometrical optics, I likely would still be trying to pass the blasted thing!
From a personal perspective, I am blessed to have a wonderful, supportive and endearing wife, Cheryl, and two daughters, Lauren (and her husband Derek) and Susan. My family is the joy of my life, and we are enjoying a great life together.
PCON: What have you contributed to optometry?
Melton: Along with Randall Thomas, we have lectured in more than 800 continuing medical education meetings on the topics of pharmacology, ocular differential diagnoses and medical management of eye disease throughout the U.S. and internationally, including Canada, Australia, Mexico, South Africa, U.K., other European countries, China, as well as others. We have authored or co-authored more than 100 articles on eye diseases and eye care for journals and magazines. I have also participated as an investigator on more than 50 clinical research activities.
Thomas: After 33 years of caring for patients, the daily challenge continues to excite me. I remind myself daily of what a high honor it is to be in a position to provide direct care to people. I am still amazed that we can actually directly visualize a cranial nerve. One of the coolest things ever is holding up a pair of -1.50 D trial lenses before a myopic child’s eyes and watching a big smile come across that little face. It doesn’t get much better than that!
PCON: What do you enjoy most about optometry?
Melton: The practice of optometry allows me to interact on a daily basis with a very diverse array of patients and eye problems that continually enhance my clinical experience and knowledge. I value the relationships that I have established with dedicated patients and their families over the years. I enjoy the opportunity to travel to other states and even other countries and to interact with OD colleagues, sharing our similarities and differences that allow us to be a unique profession.
Thomas: From a selfish perspective, the participation in continuing optometric education has enabled me the privilege of travel – I love to travel. I have been places with my wife and two daughters that never would have been possible otherwise. These trips have left indelible memories as they have punctuated many of our family travels. Along the way, we (my family, Ron and his family) have met hundreds of remarkable people and we so enjoy these enduring relationships.
PCON: What do you wish for the future of optometry?
Melton: Optometry has to continue to play a major role in serving the eye care needs of our complex health care system. This will only be accomplished with those individuals willing to step up and serve, sacrificing their time and energy for a better future in optometry.
Thomas: My wish for our profession is that all optometrists could have the privilege to practice as Ron and I do. We have been so very blessed to be in group practices where we “see it all and do it all.” We feel we provide care at the pinnacle of optometric practice and encounter stimulating, challenging patients on a daily basis. What a wonderful ride! – by Chelsea Frajerman