DR. ALANNA NATTIS
Focus Through the Generations (FTTG) offers insight from four different generations of the nation's top ophthalmologists. Hear from the experts themselves on their varying life experiences in the industry.
Dr. Alanna Nattis is a cornea cataract and refractive surgeon in Long Island. She is a part of SightMD in New York. Dr. Nattis is also director of clinical research for their practice and associate professor of ophthalmology and surgery at NYITCOM in Long Island.
hear from DR. ALANNA NATTIS
Our host, Polly Neely had the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Alanna Nattis for an exclusive discussion regarding her life and industry experiences. Get to know Dr. Nattis a little deeper in this episode of “Focus Through the Generations”.
Polly Neely: Thank you for joining us for Focus Through the Generations. Vision Care Connect is supported by Bruder Health Care. We get to explore and hear the perspectives of four generations of actively practicing ophthalmologists in the US. And we're so happy you joined us this morning. We have Dr. Alanna Nattis with us this morning. And Dr. Nattis, good morning and thank you for joining us.
Dr. Alanna Nattis: Good morning. Thank you so much for having me this morning. It's nice to see everyone.
Polly Neely: We so appreciate you doing this with us and just to give us a few moments to tell a little bit about yourself, and introduce yourself to the audience.
Dr. Alanna Nattis: Sure. So, my name's Alanna Nattis. I'm a cornea cataract and refractive surgeon in Long Island. I'm part of SightMD, which is a large practice in New York. I'm also director of clinical research for our practice and associate professor of ophthalmology and surgery at my old medical school, NYITCOM in Long Island. And I'm very fortunate, so I'm part of a very large group. And I also get to practice with my dad and my husband.
Polly Neely: Wow. You are fortunate. So, you're all in the same practice?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: Yeah.
Polly Neely: Oh, that's wonderful. Oh my gosh. Now, does that cause any family issues? I have to ask.
Dr. Alanna Nattis: You know, not really. No. I think that, you know, thank goodness, we all get along and we all love each other obviously, but it's nice to bounce different clinical thoughts off each other. The only thing that can happen is sometimes we talk about too much work at home. So, my mom and my brother might be like, okay, time to stop work talk.
Polly Neely: They're done with you guys and your work.
Dr. Alanna Nattis: Right.
Polly Neely: That's really great though. Now, how did you all end up in the same practice?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: So when I came out of fellowship, I joined practice with my dad and at the time my husband was finishing up residency. He actually did general surgery first, and then he switched over to ophthalmology. He was just a few years behind training in ophthalmology because of that. And then, it was just kind of a seamless transition for my husband, Eric, to join us in practice too. And it's, it's really been great. It really has. I feel very, very lucky.
Polly Neely: That's wonderful. I love that. We're hearing so many family stories, so it's been, we've interviewed a lot of fathers-sons and father-daughter. And so, it's really fun. And I'm, I apologize because I didn't know your dad was in the practice. Maybe we'll interview your dad and your husband too. That'd be a good family unit.
Dr. Alanna Nattis: Yeah.
Polly Neely: Yeah, maybe that's so fun. Well, I just appreciate you being here and introducing yourself. I want to start off with kind of a fun question if that's okay with you. If you can have lunch with anyone, alive or dead or fictional, who would it be and why?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: That's a really good question. I feel like I have a lot of different answers for that. I think that I would love to have lunch with Queen Elizabeth.
Polly Neely: Really?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: Yes.
Polly Neely: Why? I'm interested now.
Dr. Alanna Nattis: I am just, I've always been very fascinated with the Royal Family. I think it goes back to, as weird as this sounds, this project that I did when I was in high school, where one of the things we had to do in one of our art classes was pick like a period of time and go over the fashion. And so, I picked England, and the fashion through that time. I was just so amazed with just the beauty and the grace. And maybe I'm a little biased from having watched The Crown and just kind of getting obsessed with that. But I just think she has so much poise through so much potential drama that can happen in this world. And I think to be able to kind of learn to have that poise in very stressful situations would be amazing. Just to kind of see how her life has shaped her. I think that would be interesting.
Polly Neely: I don't disagree with that. I did watch an interview with her once which I thought was really interesting and she does hold her own anywhere. It doesn't matter where she is. She's very astute, but also, she has emotions, but she doesn't let them get the best of her.
Dr. Alanna Nattis: Right.
Polly Neely: I enjoyed watching that. She's a very strong lady, someone to admire for sure.
Dr. Alanna Nattis: Yes. And to add to that, also a dog lover, which I am too. So, I think I was glad to hear that.
Polly Neely: You have dogs?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: Yes. So, we have a long-haired dachshund, named Lily. She is just like the love of our life. And we have become like a dachshund family. My brother has a dachshund as well. And we all just are obsessed with them so.
Polly Neely: They are pretty dogs. My cousin had one growing up. They're really pretty Well, what brought you to ophthalmology? Was that your father being an ophthalmologist? Was it something how, how early in your life did you know that's the path you wanted to take?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: I really would say it was probably mostly my dad. I mean, I used to go with him to the office when I was like four or five years old, and not really know what was going on, but I just always remember it being very positive. He always just felt very happy in his career. I think that he was really a wonderful mentor because of that. It was very gratifying. And as I got older and I kind of understood all the surgeries that he did and everything, I really just thought it was amazing. And when I entered medical school, I knew that I always liked ophthalmology. I did keep my mind open and I really did enjoy doing surgery, but I really liked the microsurgery the best. And of course, ophthalmology is by definition microsurgery. So, it just kind of fit what I wanted. And I would just also love that there's a lot of continuing innovation in the field. I just feel like I'm constantly learning, and I can constantly bring new stuff to our patients, which is just awesome. But he was probably the biggest push from the beginning.
Polly Neely: That's nice though. And it's so great you practice with him. Wait, so you spoke of technology. So, one of the questions that we've asked everyone is what technology in your practice right now could you not do without?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: I think that as a cornea specialist, I don't think I could do without my topographer. I mean, we use a Pentacam in our office for corneal typography. And I think that it is just so valuable, especially, we do a lot of cross-linking and to catch these younger patients that are just developing keratoconus and to potentially save them from having to have a cornea transplant down the line or save them from having scarring in the cornea and to stop the progression of keratoconus. I think that for me right now is our most important part of diagnostic equipment tools.
Polly Neely: Makes sense, makes a lot of sense. What do you think, now that you're in your practice with your family, it's a very large practice as well? Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years? Do you see yourself in that practice?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: I do. I still see myself in our practice, you know. We're continuing to grow which definitely makes it interesting. It's we're just growing a lot as a company and spreading out a lot as a company. So, I think it'll be interesting to see how that will affect if we stay in the same locations or if we go to different areas more often. We've been fortunate to have to really start running, with our practice. We've been really building our practice and we're really busy. My husband's really busy too. My dad, I don't think, is planning on retiring anytime soon. He's also really busy. So, I think we're still going to keep moving forward. We always joke that maybe we'll move down South one day because our family loves Florida too. My in-laws are down in Florida, also. But right now, we think we see, so our whole family is still in New York.
Polly Neely: That's good. Well, during this past year, some of the things I know we've had to all adapt our practices to different processes and different means of seeing our patients. Out of all the things that you have had to do to survive and continue to see your patients in 2020, what out of those things would you take forward with you now that let's say post COVID? If we ever get to post COVID. But what is something that you learned during that period that you will continue to do?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: So our location was one of the few locations that remained open throughout COVID. We did close a decent amount of our offices, but we remained open for emergencies. And I think that one thing I became a little bit more attuned to was triaging patients correctly. And really like listening to, I mean we always listen to the patient's concerns and in our practice, we always say, if there is an emergency, even if it's maybe not so much of an emergency, just come in. We'll see you. We'll take care of it. With COVID and with patients being so afraid to come in, when we were at the height of the pandemic and New York was on lockdown and everything, I think that being able to reassure our patients and our offices has done really such a good job of social distancing and making sure everything is clean to the point of almost being sterilized when patients come into the room in the office. Just being able to continually reassure our patients that we're there for them, obviously, as their physicians, as their surgeons but also as their overall to protect their health. And when they go home to their families, they don't have to worry they're, God forbid, bringing something home with them. I think that's going to continue on just to kind of always keep our patients reassured that we really have their overall best interest as whole, for them.
Polly Neely: And what about telehealth, what role did that play in your practice?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: It did play a major role for the first I would say month and a half into our lockdown which was weird because in ophthalmology, I feel like you can't diagnose a lot until health, maybe like chalazion, that's pretty easy. We actually do offer it to some patients who, you know, perhaps they have a lot of medical comorbidities, they still don't feel comfortable coming into the office now. And so, I think we'll always still do it but to a much lesser extent because we are more comfortable being open now and seeing our patients. I've accommodated patients and told them, if I start at 8:00, you can come in at 7:30 in the morning, you'll be the only one there. And then you go, you won't be near anyone. But I think you know, telemedicine, it is definitely a helpful thing for patients that are just a little bit nervous about coming in.
Polly Neely: Yeah, I think so too. It has its place, but not for everything. Right?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: Yeah.
Polly Neely: I want to ask you, what is your most memorable patient? It could be a funny situation, a sweet situation. Just something that stands out in your mind as one of your most memorable patient moments.
Dr. Alanna Nattis: I think my most memorable patient was actually the first cornea transplant I did in private practice. So, it was probably like a month into starting work. And I was referred to this patient, who was, I think he was 21 at the time. And he has keratoconus in both eyes and with scarring, unfortunately, in both eyes. So, no cross-linking could be done. And was also amblyopic in, in one eye. And so, he needed a corneal transplant. Actually, he needed corneal transplant in both eyes, but he wanted to do the transplant in the eye that did not have amblyopia. So, a lot of pressure, basically, you know, like a monocular patient, he's young. I was like, oh my God, it's my first transplant. And I just remember taking his patch off the next day. And he was like, I can see better than I've ever seen in my life. And he, to this day, like thank God, he's doing like really awesome. He's actually going to nursing school now. And that's probably my most memorable and most gratifying patient that I have.
Polly Neely: And were you about to pass out when you took the patch off?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: A little bit. Like my hands were shaking, like a little.
Polly Neely: And when did you tell him it was your first cross-link, it was your first cornea transplant?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: I didn't. I didn't tell him. I mean I was fortunate. I did a lot of transplants in my training, so it was just that. And then my dad also does assist me in the OR with my transplant. So, it was good to have him beside me for that surgery. But for the first one coming out, that was a good one.
Polly Neely: Well, I'm happy, it turned out well for you. And it was a good moment that you can carry with you. That's wonderful. I love that. Have you personally had any eye surgeries?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: I have not. I have not had any eye surgeries. I actually am very myopic. I wear contacts and glasses. My eyes are quite dry, so that's one of the reasons why I have not had refractive surgery. But you know, and that's one of the things, you know, we do a lot of LASIK and PRK in our practice too. And I think that I'm able to kind of relate to the 25-30% of patients who may not be great candidates for refractive surgery and say, look, it's me too. Not, not everyone is a great candidate. It can be awesome, can be a great surgery but, not everyone is a good candidate.
Polly Neely: I love the fact that you said that because I think that's so important for patients to hear that not everyone is a great candidate, you know. It's a great, it's a great procedure. It works well. And if you can have it and it's done well, you're going to enjoy it for the rest of your life. But if you have it and you shouldn't have, you're not going to enjoy it or enjoy your eyesight for the rest of your life. So, I appreciate you saying that. I think you have a good testimony there with patients. That's very nice. Well, we have always ended this, but before I end, I want to ask one question. What do you do outside now that your whole family's involved in ophthalmology? What do you do outside of that for fun?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: So my husband and I actually really loved playing tennis. We do play a lot of tennis. I actually, I'm still very involved in doing art and kind of like little decorative things. When I have time, I try to do that as well. And my parents have a boat. So during the warmer weather, we'll go out as a family like on the boat, which is very nice. But I try, with a lot of the stuff that we do, unfortunately, that we do have a lot of work on the side that we do, with research and stuff like that, which I love. But I think just trying to spend time outside doing either playing tennis, just hanging out. Trying to reincorporate our friends after the pandemic. Just to be together, enjoy each other's company.
Polly Neely: That's nice. Well, I'm going to end with our last question, we ask this of everyone. How have you seen technology in ophthalmology transition since your career started? And where do you see technology going in the future, say the next 15 years?
Dr. Alanna Nattis: I think since my career started, it's just been on this exponential rise. I feel like in almost every way possible. I think that one of the big things with cataract surgery now is and also other surgeries too, is we're moving more towards Intracameral therapies versus topicals. So you look at DURYSTA™ for the treatment of glaucoma. The iDose insert, which they just released for the phaseII data for treating glaucoma. That's I think going to be like a very big deal, you know. Even DEXTENZA for treating postoperative inflammation for cataract surgery. So, all trying to improve patient compliance, right. And also improve patient outcomes because they're less dependent on using drops, postoperatively, or to treat their chronic condition. I think that's going to continue, for sure. I think that's a big trend. There's also been a lot with artificial intelligence and diagnostics and better-quality diagnostics and being able to diagnose conditions earlier. So, I think those are all going to play a big role and also determine earlier treatment paradigms for our patients. I think it's hard to predict what's going to come next, but I think that I'm continuously surprised by what comes next. So, that's why I love ophthalmology so much because I feel like there's, I'm constantly learning. It's constantly new information and new interesting stuff. And I feel very privileged that we can offer it to our patients too.
Polly Neely: That's a great answer. And it is technology moving so fast. It's almost catching up with the computer world, you know, where you buy a new computer and it's outdated in a month.
Dr. Alanna Nattis: That's where we are now.
Polly Neely: Well Dr. Nattis, thank you so much for being with us this morning. I appreciate you giving us the time and we, so look forward to getting this together and airing it for you.
Dr. Alanna Nattis: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure meeting you and talking with you. So, thank you.
Polly Neely: You too. You have a great day.
Focus Through the Generations is supported by Bruder Healthcare Company.
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