JEREMY WINGARD, M.D.
Glaucoma Fellow and Clinical Instructor,
UPMC Eye Center,
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center,
former HHMI medical fellow

Jeremy Wingard has always enjoyed science―he had an insect collection as a kid and he excelled at math and science classes during high school―but he didn't necessarily think it would be the foundation of his career. Chalk up his reluctance to commit to science to his wide-ranging interests: at Wheaton College in Illinois, he majored in ancient languages. After college, he spent a year working at a technology company and then went to graduate school in economics. Although he had taken pre-med coursework in college as well, he wasn't sure he'd ever use it.

Eventually, however, Wingard decided to pursue medicine, a career that his father had also chosen. He attended medical school at Duke, where he became interested in ophthalmology. After a medicine internship at the University of Washington Medical Center, he completed his residency in ophthalmology at UPMC in Pittsburgh. There he became most interested in glaucoma, a set of eye disorders that can ultimately cause blindness. "It's a fascinating set of diseases," he says. "We have the opportunity to work with some of the most intricate technologies available in medicine and surgery, and there are so many novel treatment approaches."

Treating glaucoma can be maddeningly complex, with up to five different classes of medications that are dosed at different frequencies. Those exacting requirements can easily trip up patients and inhibit treatment, and it's why he's working on drug delivery options that patients would need just once a week―or once a month. "A scientist wants to discover a better solution," he says. "One that is cleaner, more effective, and less dangerous."

Certainly, his work is not for the squeamish. In one recent research project, he evaluated laser treatments in human cadaver eyes; in another, he injected particles into the subconjunctival space in anesthetized rabbits' eyes.

While he enjoys the prospect of making real advances in his field, he layers his research with other duties, including clinic work, surgery, and teaching residents. He has found that the thrill of improving someone's life through a 20-minute surgery or teaching a resident a brand new skill adds immediate gratification to the typically slow pace of research. "My mentors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center―Joel Schuman, Robert Noecker, and Francis Mah―are people who have navigated successful careers as clinician-scientists," he says.

As he moves forward with his career, Wingard hopes to maintain a similar balance, using the experiences he has with his patients to hone in on his next research projects. "It [helps] to see problems clinically and try to answer those questions scientifically," he says. And while the workload can be significant, he always makes sure to spend time with his wife and two children. Just like dad, his kids love spending time outside and collecting insects.

Wingard may have taken a more winding path to his career than most researchers, but his explorations have helped him land in a spot that allows him to take full advantage of his diverse interests. Indeed, he says that pursuing a medical degree can be one of the best starting points for considering some of the most important problems in medical science. "[Research] is always a long-term process, but patient care is immediate," he says. "While I wait for steady progress in research, I also get to see immediate results with patient care."