Barbara C. Erny, MD; Alex Young , 2025-04-21 14:18:00
April 21, 2025
2 min read
Click here to read the Cover Story, “EyeSustain continues charge to reduce ophthalmic waste.”
After more than 25 years of practicing ophthalmology, I am now exploring the critical intersection of climate change and health and a full-time champion of sustainability in health care.
There are many physician-led initiatives worldwide with which I have become involved, including EyeSustain.
As co-chair of a medical working group in the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, I have met with other doctors and groups to help spread the word about what has been done with EyeSustain. There are a few lessons we ophthalmologists have learned in our sustainability efforts to fight waste that can help other medical specialties.
One of the biggest factors in our success is having a leader and co-founder in David Chang, MD, who is a high-powered champion of this cause. Dr. Chang is internationally renowned and has connections to get people on board and get things done. Not everyone has that kind of prestige in the field. The key point for other specialties is to try to have someone like that who can promote the cause.
Sustainability is on the minds of our medical trainees and young physicians because they are concerned about their future and career. EyeSustain has been successful in getting young people involved, particularly medical students. They are doing research projects and involved in education efforts, while young ophthalmologists make up our editorial board, contribute to social media, and review and post articles. These younger doctors may not always feel like they have as many opportunities as they would like, and EyeSustain gives them a platform to be present at meetings and be involved. In addition, we have also been working with the American Board of Ophthalmology to add questions to board exams about sustainability and have added sustainability education to the Clinical and Basic Science Course.
EyeSustain and ophthalmology are fairly unique as far as working directly with industry on a large scale. John A. Hovanesian, MD, FACS, and many other dedicated EyeSustain volunteers are working with our industry partners to reduce waste, with tangible accomplishments. Many EyeSustain members have been writing position papers with the support of our sponsoring societies. Every specialty can learn from this and adopt these methods.
Physicians in other specialties have looked toward EyeSustain as a guide to start their own initiatives. Rheumatology made a website on climate and health after inspiration from EyeSustain.
Ophthalmology has also learned from other specialties. Orthopedics, dermatology and neurosurgery have all made efforts to reduce waste in their clinics and operating rooms. EyeSustain is an effective and growing initiative in ophthalmology, and if we can inspire and work together with other medical specialties, we could have even more power to change policy and regulations that hinder our ability to practice sustainable health care.
We have emphasized cost savings and reducing waste from a climate change perspective. Reducing our carbon footprint is critical, but there is exploding literature right now on the human health harms of plastics themselves. The plastics we use in health care contain carcinogenic chemicals and endocrine disruptors that are not only released into the environment through our trash but are being directly infused into patients through tubing, IV bags, etc. We are doctors first and ophthalmologists second. We have to worry about the human and planetary health impacts of what we do.
- For more information:
- Barbara C. Erny, MD, a member of the EyeSustain Advisory Committee, can be reached at berny@stanford.edu.
