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DR. JAMES GILLS: I’m James Gills of St. Luke’s Cataract and Laser Institute. Approximately 15 years ago I got the innovator’s award because I devised a way where we could put a solution to anestitize the eye inside the eye therefore not needing needles to perform a cataract surgery. This was a great advance in the comfort of the patient, the safety of the patient, and this advance for the patient is something that we’ve received notoriety for. This is just one of probably 25 things that we have done that has really advanced the care of cataract patients. We started using filtering solutions in all of our surgery. We started using antiobiotics and steroids and non-steroidals in solutions that went in around the eye to prevent infections. Our infection rate is probably 1/25th to 1/50th of what the national average is. We started using other medicines before and after surgery to make the surgery safer. We have patterns in my areas like this to allow the patient to have safer cataract surgery and have better results. We developed tips to do facial emulsification that will allow safer surgery particularly in cases with Flomax and corneal dystrophies. We found ways of doing astigmatism surgery and done more lens implants that are called toric lens than probably anyone else in the world. Probably four or five times as much as anyone in the world. I’ve written two books on astigmatism. All of these things we have done to enhance the quality of cataract surgery. The first formulas to determine the power of the lens we did on an empirical basis. More people copied it and made money on it. We didn’t make money but we provided the basic medical framework where people can think about how to use lenses and use them in patient’s eyes so they can get rid of the use of glasses. All of these things we have done at St. Luke’s and it has been a pleasure to be part not on just doing surgery but advancing surgery, not just for the community, not just for the country, but for the world.