Having been originally certified in 1984, I had long enjoyed lifetime certification and had no plans to ever recertify. In 2014, I changed my mind. My younger colleagues were all required to recertify — I felt it was my ethical duty to do so as well. Although I am a pediatric ophthalmologist, I decided to use the three-year re-certification period as an opportunity to learn completely new material. Thus, I intended at the outset to take the DOCK examination in Neuro-Ophthalmology, rather than Pediatric Ophthalmology. This risky strategy — to test outside my own sub-specialty — proved to be correct. I would never claim to be a neuro-ophthalmologist, but I learned a remarkable amount of new clinical material that will serve my patients well for the remainder of my career. Recertification is one of the high points of my career.
Paul David Reese, M.D.
Assistant Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology
Tufts University School of Medicine
Board Certified:1984
Voluntarily Recertified: 2017