April 3, 2024

This paid piece is sponsored by Vance Thompson Vision.

Dr. Vance Thompson takes on a prominent national role in the ophthalmic surgery field this week.

The founder of Sioux Falls-based Vance Thompson Vision will become president of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, an organization that has profoundly impacted his practice for more than 35 years.

Thompson currently serves as the vice president/president elect of the ASCRS, which was established in 1974 to help improve the vision, outcomes and quality of life of cataract and refractive surgery patients around the world. The organization is highly regarded for its robust clinical and practice management education and for providing anterior segment surgeons with the latest clinical information, published research and regulatory updates.

Thompson’s own relationship with the ASCRS began in South Dakota when his colleague, eye surgeon Dr. Dave West, asked him to be involved in research around Betadine as a quality agent to put on the eye before surgery to sterilize the surface and lessen the risk of infection.

“The research went very well, and we published it in an important medical journal and were asked to present it at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in 1988 in Los Angeles,” Thompson said.

“That was my first ASCRS meeting, and it blew me away all the educational opportunities there to help me be my best.”

Thompson’s path with the organization would continue to cross as he grew his practice. He and his wife, Jana, moved to Sioux Falls in 1991, where he was able to build upon the work with lasers that he had started during fellowship training in Kansas City.

When he was asked to be part of a very small group of surgeons worldwide to help with the beginning of performing laser vision correction surgery, he thought he’d have to say no because of the cost of the research.

“Little did I know, one of our great local hospitals, Sioux Valley – now Sanford Health – would end up voting to fund my whole research opportunity and start something I could have never done on my own,” he said.

“That research also led me to the ASCRS meetings to present my research results and be asked to participate in teaching other doctors how to do it. My home state supporting me and helping to put my name on the map of vision surgery research in my world heavily influenced the beginning and the growth of my involvement in one of the most influential societies in the world of eye surgery, the ASCRS.”

In subsequent years, he served as an ASCRS presenter and webinar host for a variety of clinical education topics, as well as an adviser on the ASCRS Refractive Surgery Clinical Committee.

Vance Thompson Vision now has clinics in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana and Nebraska. Thompson’s specialized expertise and extensive surgical knowledge uniquely qualify him to collaborate and lead teams of surgeons and researchers across the globe.

His role as professor of ophthalmology at the Sanford School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota and his passion for teaching current and future surgeons embody the transformative spirit of ASCRS and its goal of empowering refractive and cataract surgeons through education, advocacy and philanthropy.

“Some of the greatest and most impactful milestones in my practice and professional growth have happened because of the ASCRS and what I have learned from my involvement,” he said.

On Friday, April 5, Thompson officially will be inducted as president of the ASCRS in Boston, which also marks the organization’s 50th anniversary.

“I am super excited to be a part of this look back to honor those who came before us who helped lay the foundation of our great profession,” he said.

“I am also excited to help lead the work being put into how we help the current generation of ophthalmologists and their practices navigate the future in the areas that are most interesting and concerning to them. It is such an honor to be a member of and now lead an organization that cares so deeply about helping its members be their best.”

Thompson’s priorities for his one-year term as president include working hard to further grow the relevant, cutting-edge, peer-to-peer education that occurs through the organization, which helps doctors help patients worldwide.

“I have learned that innovation is the key to practice growth, and that to me means constantly improving the way I practice medically, surgically and the business of what we do,” he said.

The ASCRS also represents doctors and patients by advocating for them with the federal government.

“Whether it is issues that involve funding or cutting programs that help people’s vision and many other issues, the ASCRS gives eye surgeons and their patients in need a voice,” Thompson said.

The organization also is heavily involved with philanthropy to help patients who need eye surgery but cannot afford it.

“Our practice here has used the ASCRS program called Operation Sight to deliver free eye surgery to many in South Dakota and our neighboring states, to get surgery that they otherwise could not have afforded,” Thompson said. “In addition to helping to push our educational initiatives, my goal is to support and further what we do in Washington, D.C., through advocacy and what we do locally through philanthropy.”

It’s an exciting, promising time in laser and implant vision correction, Thompson added.

“Laser vision correction has evolved into something that has impressive safety and predictability as long as a patient invests in the most advanced technologies,” he said.

“Custom, topography-guided and ray-tracing technologies have brought a level of sophistication to laser vision correction that anyone looking into it needs to understand. Couple that with the advancements in implants that help highly nearsighted people have a wonderful option with inside-the-eye contact lenses that a person doesn’t even realize are there is amazing research and development, now FDA-approved, that we have seen help so many.”

Research has shown advanced implants can even give cataract patients who would have had the reading range of an 80-year-old with bifocals the reading range of a 32-year-old without the need for bifocals or trifocals.

“Our 80-year-old patients who have had difficulties going down stairs or off of a curb love their new reading range, and our younger cataract patients also love that these advancements prevent them from needing bifocals,” Thompson said.

“I am also amazed at the advancements in glaucoma care and surgery that our seven centers in five states in the Upper Midwest have been able to help with. I am honored to be one of us and am amazed how much our research and involvement with societies like the ASCRS has helped us grow and help the people of this region.”

Thompson brings a philosophy to his work locally and now his leadership nationally that “in life, our occupation is one of our most important gifts,” he explained. “God and family are our most important gifts, but somewhere after that is our job. And I have worked hard to help the people I work with understand what a gift they and their talents are to our practice and our world.”

When teams “love and care for each other, it creates an environment where the patient feels loved and cared for,” he continued. “I’m more comfortable about being open with that fact and teaching about it at our national and international meetings. It’s OK to be open about telling your co-workers you love working with them. I truly feel that when I say it to my team, and I think that’s the key to a better world and more rewarding work, including on a national and international level.”

And it all started in South Dakota.

“To see my years of involvement lead to now being asked to be the president of ASCRS is one of the most important moments of my career,”  Thompson said. “But there is no way I could have done this without the amazing support of this state of South Dakota that I love.”