Dr. Kiss is an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of Clinical Research at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is an Assistant Attending Physician at the New York Presbyterian Hospital and a new member of the Retina Today Editorial Board.

1. What attracted you to the field of ophthalmology and, more specifically, the subspecialty of retina?
I entered medical school thinking that I would pursue a career in the neurosciences. My father is a neurologist, and I thought I would become a neurosurgeon. As a research fellow in a neurosurgery lab between my second and third year of medical school, I had the opportunity to interact with the ophthalmologists. I quickly realized that my passion lay in the eye and not the brain. I saw firsthand the impact that the ophthalmologists were making in their patients' lives. I was also very impressed by the skill and precision with which ophthalmologists performed microsurgery. Neurosurgery quickly gave way to ophthalmology as a career choice. It was my mentors during residency who inspired me to entire the field of retina. Donald J. D'Amico, MD, my current chairman at Weill Cornell, was perhaps my greatest inspiration, especially with respect to surgical retina. Anthony Adamis, MD, the former residency program director at Harvard, as well as Robert D'Amato, MD, PhD, a research scientist at Harvard, really sparked my enthusiasm for retinal research. It was impossible to not be inspired by these 3 astonishing personalities, as they were uncovering the role of angiogenesis in macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy and then developing therapeutic approaches to these blinding diseases. As a retina specialist, I guess in some ways I ended up being a neurosurgeon—only for a very small, but extremely important, part of the brain.

2. What was the most valuable experience you had as Chief Fellow of the Harvard Medical School Vitreo- Retinal Service at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary?
It was a true honor and pleasure to be chosen by the retina faculty at Mass Eye and Ear to serve as the Chief Retina Fellow. Professionally, I think that I learned more during that year than any year prior. Although we all practice as members of a large group (that includes not only our fellow doctors, but also secretaries, technicians, photographers, practice/department administrators), management skills are rarely, if ever, taught in medical school. As the Chief Fellow, in addition to the clinical responsibilities, I was charged with organizing the trainees (fellows, residents, students, visiting research fellows) as they interacted with the retina service at Harvard. There was always a fine balance between the educational requirements and the practicalities of staffing clinics and operating rooms with doctors. I discovered that finite expectations and fairness were 2 of my most essential guiding principles during that year.

3. What do you see as the most promising innovation or technology for the future of ophthalmology?
The next revolutionary leap in ophthalmology is likely to come in the form of extended delivery of therapeutic compounds to the eye. The concept of repeated intravitreal injections, sometimes to both eyes, 8-10 times a year, is not sustainable— neither for the patient, nor for the physician, much less the health care system. There are several promising technologies that are currently in various stages of clinical development. These include refillable reservoirs implanted around the eye that then deliver medications into the eye and injectable sustained-release devices placed directly into the vitreous cavity. Perhaps the most intriguing solution lies in having a therapeutic compound (such as an anti-VEGF agent) made directly in the eye itself. Encapsulated cell technology and gene therapy are 2 examples of this approach. With these sustaineddelivery approaches, the expectation is for reduced treatment burden for both the patient and the physician with perhaps improved clinical outcomes. There are, however, at least 2 important questions that remain: first, what length of sustained delivery is long enough (eg, 6 months, 3 years, or indefinite); and second, how do you titrate the amount of drug delivered to match the disease burden?

4. How do you maintain a balance between work and family?
It's never easy to find, much less maintain, a balance between work and family. When you're passionate about your work and your patients, it's difficult to leave them behind. For me, it is made somewhat easier by having a very understanding spouse, Zsofia Stadler, MD, who is equally driven and passionate about oncology and genetics. We consciously set aside protected family time, during which anything work-related is off-limits. We're successful most, but not all, of the time.

5. If you were not an ophthalmologist, what profession would you pursue?
I once dreamed of being an astronaut, and if I were not a retina specialist, I would want to fly into space and even walk on the moon. I used to watch all of the shuttle launches and still remember exactly what I was doing when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. I was likely the only eighth grader who could tell you exactly what channel NASA TV was broadcast on. Luckily, during my undergraduate years, I was fortunate enough to work on 2 space shuttle missions. We were examining early developmental patterning in microgravity using Japanese medaka fish as the model. I spent several months at the Kennedy Space Center setting up the experiments, which were then launched on Space Shuttle Columbia and Space Shuttle Discovery. I remember watching our experiments lift off the launch pad and feeling the vibrations from the shuttle engines even from 5 miles away—it was literally breathtaking. Interacting with the astronauts here on earth and then speaking with them while they were in orbit was awe-inspiring.