Sep
05
SASOPRS Jonathan J Dutton Interview
Interviewed by John Woog, MD
Interviewed by John Woog, MD
SASOPRS: Jonathan, we understand that your professional trajectory has been somewhat unusual, in that you had an illustrious career prior to pursuing medicine and oculofacial surgery, serving as an internationally renowned paleontologist and evolutionary biologist and a named Professor in the former field at Princeton University. How did you become interested in evolutionary biology?J. Dutton: In college, I became close to the chair of biology and a herpetologist, and I spent many evenings on Long Island observing, catching, and raising frogs, salamanders, and various snakes with him and his family. I volunteered as a research assistant at the American Museum of Natural History and spent several summers at the Museum’s research station on LI. Because of my published research on fish behavior, I was awarded a fellowship at Harvard for PhD studies. After a year with the icons of evolutionary biology and paleontology at Harvard, I decided to major in vertebrate paleontology and evolutionary biology and spent years collecting and studying fossils in East Africa. Princeton offered me a position as Sinclair Professor of Paleontology and Director of the Princeton Natural History Museum, which I accepted in 1970.
SASOPRS: We've heard that visiting your home is a little like visiting the Smithsonian, with a collection of fascinating artifacts from your paleontology-related travels around the world. What were some of your most unique destinations and most memorable academic paleontology projects?
J. Dutton: During my expeditions to Africa, I became fascinated with primitive art, which was used by the local peoples for social functions, religious symbolism, functionalism, and utilitarianism rather than purely creative purposes. I acquired many pieces from the local villages and from the doctors at a small one-room hospital near Lake Turkana in Northern Kenya who often collected artifacts in exchange for medical treatment. My most memorable project was working with Richard Leakey as co-investigator of several National Geographic-sponsored expeditions to Lake Turkana. For my PhD thesis, I spent 14 months outside the US, traveling around the world studying fossils in 18 countries.
SASOPRS: Can we ask what motivated you to pursue a career in medicine, given your tremendous accomplishments in paleontology and evolutionary biology? And how did you come to choose ophthalmology and oculofacial surgery? J. Dutton: Fieldwork in East Africa was in the deserts where midday temperatures reached 120° F. We always returned to camp for a few afternoon hours where most of my colleagues and staff took a nap. Harvard had an intensive 2-week medical course for faculty and fellows who would be working away from medical help. So, I was the medical officer for the expeditions. While everyone else napped, I treated local tribespeople who came into camp with infections, spear wounds, cobra bites, and occasionally crocodile injuries. After doing this for five years, I decided that this was what I wanted to do.
SASOPRS: You are known as an innovator in the discipline of oculofacial surgery. You developed an ocular oncology clinic, for example, and served as one of the principal investigators in the COMS (Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study) study, the largest NIH-funded ocular oncology study to date, when this was not a common practice focus area for oculofacial surgeons. What prompted your interest in ocular oncology?
J. Dutton: I was on the faculty at Duke University in 1985 when the COMS study was created. Duke was asked to participate, and my chairman asked me to be involved since I took care of other ophthalmic malignancies. I became the Duke COMS PI until 2000 and then moved to the University of North Carolina where I continued COMS participation.
SASOPRS: You've also made major contributions in thyroid eye disease, serving as board member and President of the International Thyroid Eye Disease Society (ITEDS) and founder of the ITEDS Tissue Bank. Can you tell us a little about the background and goals of this initiative?
J. Dutton: I was on the faculty at Duke University in 1985 when the COMS study was created. Duke was asked to participate, and my chairman asked me to be involved since I took care of other ophthalmic malignancies. I became the Duke COMS PI until 2000 and then moved to the University of North Carolina where I continued COMS participation.
SASOPRS: You've also made major contributions in thyroid eye disease, serving as board member and President of the International Thyroid Eye Disease Society (ITEDS) and founder of the ITEDS Tissue Bank. Can you tell us a little about the background and goals of this initiative?
J. Dutton: The International Thyroid Eye Disease Society (ITEDS) was originally founded in 2006. Since then, it has expanded to include members from nearly every continent. The goal of ITEDS is to promote and facilitate collaborative interactions among authorities to define clinical disease parameters, understand pathogenesis, and develop tools for the assessment and treatment of thyroid eye disease. Members of the society are interested in studying TED from basic science and clinical perspectives to evaluate patient-centered outcomes and foster therapeutic advances. The ITEDS Tissue Bank was created in North Carolina in 2013. The bank collects, characterizes, annotates, stores, and distributes biospecimens for research purposes to help support better understanding, education, and research for TED.
SASOPRS: On behalf of ASOPRS/SASOPRS members and oculofacial surgeons worldwide, we’re pleased to celebrate the 15th year of your service as Editor-in-Chief of our flagship journal, OPRS. What have been some of the most notable challenges, rewards, and changes that you've experienced during your tenure as Editor?
J. Dutton: I was exceptionally fortunate to stand on the shoulders of five extremely talented previous Editors of OPRS who set the stage for OPRS being an outstanding international journal for oculofacial ophthalmology. During my tenure, the number of annual manuscript submissions more than doubled to more than 900 today. As with all medical journals, a major challenge is getting peer reviews from experts in the many subfields in our discipline. Editors need to try to envision the future of their discipline and help direct it to some extent by the selection of key papers to publish. Readers need to be assured that the editor makes well-grounded and unbiased decisions. The rewards for me have been a contribution to the education of our colleagues around the world and in turn to help improve patient care, and help authors improve their publications.
SASOPRS: To close with an easy question, there has been a lot of excitement regarding the potential impact of AI on biomedical science and medical practice (topics that have been the subject of recent publications in OPRS). Can you share a couple of ways in which you feel AI may be particularly impactful in the field of oculofacial surgery?
SASOPRS: On behalf of ASOPRS/SASOPRS members and oculofacial surgeons worldwide, we’re pleased to celebrate the 15th year of your service as Editor-in-Chief of our flagship journal, OPRS. What have been some of the most notable challenges, rewards, and changes that you've experienced during your tenure as Editor?J. Dutton: I was exceptionally fortunate to stand on the shoulders of five extremely talented previous Editors of OPRS who set the stage for OPRS being an outstanding international journal for oculofacial ophthalmology. During my tenure, the number of annual manuscript submissions more than doubled to more than 900 today. As with all medical journals, a major challenge is getting peer reviews from experts in the many subfields in our discipline. Editors need to try to envision the future of their discipline and help direct it to some extent by the selection of key papers to publish. Readers need to be assured that the editor makes well-grounded and unbiased decisions. The rewards for me have been a contribution to the education of our colleagues around the world and in turn to help improve patient care, and help authors improve their publications.
SASOPRS: To close with an easy question, there has been a lot of excitement regarding the potential impact of AI on biomedical science and medical practice (topics that have been the subject of recent publications in OPRS). Can you share a couple of ways in which you feel AI may be particularly impactful in the field of oculofacial surgery?
J. Dutton: There is no question that AI is here to stay and will undoubtedly increase to become a major component of our personal and professional lives. The major beneficial impacts on biomedical science are already being felt in making clinical systems and administrative functions faster, smarter, and even more efficient. For many diseases, based on vast datasets, AI has been shown to improve diagnosis, both from clinical findings and imaging studies and to help with treatment planning. In research, AI can help in paper writing, constructing outlines, checking spelling and grammar, and verifying references. As with any new technology, AI also poses threats if used inappropriately. These include information biases, inaccuracies, and possible violations of patient privacy, depending on the experience and care of the model creators. BACK to Newsletter
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