Scheie Vision Fall 2013
Dr. Richard Prince, MD, now the senior managing partner at Tri-County Eye, never thought he would become an ophthalmologist. Back in 1982, he was set to begin his fourth year of medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, with the intention of applying to residencies in urology. However, during that summer before his fourth year, his wife developed a corneal problem. After she had an emergency exam and successful treatment by Dr. Irving Raber, then the current director of cornea at Scheie, Dr. Prince had a change of heart.
“I had an epiphany as to the importance of vision, and my interest in the field of ophthalmology was sparked,” he recalled.
After taking an ophthalmology elective that very next month in September, Dr. Prince found himself enthralled with the specialty and the doctors at Scheie and decided to apply for an ophthalmology residency.
“However, by that late time, I had missed all the application deadlines,” he admitted. “Fortunately, Dr. David Kozart, then the residency program director, had a very nice secretary who took pity on me and allowed my application to ‘slip in’ after the deadline.”
Two months later, Dr. Prince matched with Scheie. He has remained on the attending staff ever since and continues to mentor third year residents with cataract surgery at the VA Medical Center.
After completing his residency in 1987, Dr. Prince became the third ophthalmologist (after Drs. David Miller and Richard Tax) to join Tri-County Eye, affectionately known as “Scheie North.” Five of the eight physicians currently at Tri-County Eye have trained within the Scheie system. Dr. Sheryl Menacker completed her residency at Scheie and her pediatric ophthalmology fellowship at CHOP. Dr. Jeffrey Gordon, another former Scheie resident and Glaucoma Fellow, was the Chief of Service at Scheie for a year before joining Tri-County Eye. Dr. Scott Goldstein, another alumna from the Scheie Eye residency program, completed his pediatric oculo-plastic fellowship at CHOP under Dr. James Katowitz. Lastly, Dr. Emily DeCarlo, the newest pediatric ophthalmologist at Tri-County Eye, completed her pediatric ophthalmology fellowship at CHOP.
Dr. Prince describes the relationship between Scheie and Tri-County Eye as a “win-win situation.”
“Tri-County Eye considers Scheie our ‘silent partner’ in that doctors at Scheie are always available and extremely helpful in the referral and management of complicated patients,” he explained. “Our patients are always reassured by the expertise afforded to them when we refer them for tertiary eye care and consultations at Scheie.”
Dr. Prince lives in Huntingdon Valley with his wife of 33 years, Karen. He still remembers the night when she was nine months pregnant – he was on-call in house at Scheie in those days – and she said to him, “You’re going to be a father tomorrow!” Today, the child who was born the next day, Dr. Jessica Prince, is finishing her ophthalmology training and plans to return to Philadelphia with her husband Eric, a lawyer, and join Tri-Country Eye. Dr. Prince is also the proud father of a son who is a lawyer and a daughter-in-law who is a fourth year medical student at Jefferson Medical College and is applying for pediatric residency programs.