Eichenbaum Acorns: Mentorship, momentum, and the making of a retina podcast

Eichenbaum Acorns is an editorially independent series powered by Modern Retina and hosted by David A. Eichenbaum, MD, FASRS, partner and director of research at Retina Vitreous Associates of Florida. This Q&A-style article and podcast series explores the overlooked corners of the retina specialist profession through candid conversations with thought leaders. Eichenbaum is the German translation for acorn tree, and the aim of this series is to plant acorns of insight that grow into oaks of understanding.

In this installment, Eichenbaum talks with Jayanth Sridhar, MD, who saw an opportunity to bring retina education into the daily commute of ophthalmologists. What started as a simple idea during a long drive grew into Sridhar’s Straight From the Cutter’s Mouth: A Retina Podcast. Sridhar explains how the podcast began, the early challenges he faced, and what he learned along the way.

Sridhar is an associate professor of clinical ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, in Miami, Florida, and serves as chief of ophthalmology for the Olive View-University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, part of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, in California.

Note: This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

David A. Eichenbaum, MD, FASRS: Ten years ago, when you finished your training at Wills Eye Hospital and were looking to practice, where did the idea for the podcast Straight From the Cutter’s Mouth come from, and how did it become a reality?

Jayanth Sridhar, MD: Like many things, when you’re younger—and even now, as I’m older—you don’t necessarily start with a fully formed plan or vision for what you want to do. I was looking at a job [for which] I eventually signed at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, my alma mater, where I’d be commuting from Miami, [Florida,] to Palm Beach 2 to 3 days a week. I [had been] spoiled to have a less than 5-minute walk to work throughout my 2 years of fellowship [at Wills Eye Hospital]. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with that time on the road.

I knew a lot of our attending [physicians] at Wills Eye Hospital commuted. I had started listening to some podcasts outside of medicine. “Are there any ophthalmology or retina podcasts you guys listen to?”

Sunir Garg, MD, my attending [physician], said, “No, it doesn’t exist. If you want to do it, you should do it yourself.” I listened, but I didn’t do anything with it.

I was fortunate to go to [the American] Academy [of Ophthalmology meeting] as a first-year attending [physician], and I ran into Will Parke, a good friend in Minnesota now. He was a fellow when I was a resident. He was telling me how he commuted 2 hours each way for one of his offices. I said, “I remember when I was in fellowship, I was worried about the commute,” and I talked about this podcast idea. He said, “I would listen every single time I do that 2-hour drive. You should do it.”

When I was on the plane back, I was sitting there with a piece of paper and a pen, [thinking,] I have time. This is something I could do. Two weeks later, I launched the first episode, and it wasn’t as difficult as I thought.

Eichenbaum: Who was your first guest on that first episode?

Sridhar: Allen Ho. I leaned heavily on mentors and friends early on from Wills Eye Hospital, other retina people I’ve met in passing, and, obviously, the retina community is great. They have an interest in their field—a lot of enthusiasm for it—and I think retina and ophthalmology have a lot of bandwidth compared with other fields of medicine.

Eichenbaum: What is the biggest thing you would have done differently in the early days of Straight From the Cutter’s Mouth?

Sridhar: I would have made the name shorter. I think that it’s just a mouthful, and it’s hard for people to quote. It’s not a great acronym. If I had known that it was going to continue for years and I was going to talk about it and interview people for it, I would have made it something very digestible or even dropped most of it—just called it The Retina Podcast, something very clean.

The other thing I [considered] changing is [the] intro music. You get locked in. You have to rebrand everything, logos, and you don’t want people to lose you because of brand recognition.

I don’t have any regrets. It’s been a great process and journey, and it’s changed over the years. The idea at the beginning was hour-long episodes, and besides Will Parke, who still wants 2-hour episodes for his drive, most people consistently said they want 20 to 30 minutes max.

Eichenbaum: What was your experience as the podcast evolved, and were there moments that made you aware of its impact or reach?

Sridhar: One [moment was] 2 or 3 years into my podcast and having fellowship applicants asking other faculty members or fellows, “Is Jay Sridhar here? I feel like I’ve heard his voice all these years,” because they would start listening in training. That’s humbling that people are choosing in their seminal years to listen.

The second was if [I went] to a meeting and then random people I didn’t know would walk up to me and say, "Hey, are you Jay Sridhar?" They’ve seen your picture, but they don’t know how tall you are. I think that throws people off a bit, especially in the Zoom era. That’s always cool when people walk up to you and say, “Hey, I really enjoyed listening.”

It’s the great power, great responsibility thing. Just like on the podium, I am taking responsibility for what I say, but I can still be honest and forthright about it without being offensive to anyone. If we can come together and have a professional conversation that’s balanced and nuanced, people appreciate that. There are people listening from all walks of life, not just other doctors. It could be patients also, and you have to be careful.

Eichenbaum: What makes a good host and a good guest?

Sridhar: People that I find aren’t a fit for the podcast format are [those] who want everything mapped out in a very, very structured format. That’s not a criticism of that type of person. They aren’t comfortable with the interruptions, the vibing, and the topic changes. They don’t want to be on the spot that way, and so they select themselves out.

It’s important to be up-front about your position on issues without being so careful that no one learns anything. If you simply state canned things that people already know, [people] don’t want to listen to that. You can get picked apart very easily if people feel that you aren’t being genuine.

Eichenbaum: For physicians early in their careers, [what] do you think about mentorship, and why do you believe it’s valuable to engage as a peer mentor early on?

Sridhar: You mentor because you like to do it, and you enjoy sharing. You want people to gain from your perspective, to learn from your mistakes, and maybe learn from some of the good things that you’ve done. You’re not going to get more bandwidth as you move through your career. That doesn’t mean you can’t be 10 or 15 years in and decide to be a mentor. It’s a great time right after training to be a mentor, because you are closest to the training. You understand intimately what a fellow is going through when they’re trying to learn surgery for the first time, or when they’re trying to understand a research concept for the first time—that was you a year or 2 before.

Mentorship is about giving back. You can mentor anyone, from someone in high school all the way to fellow faculty members. Just try to show empathy for where the other person’s coming from.

The final thing about mentorship [is] don’t tie yourself to the results. People decide to do lots of great things with their lives. Sometimes I’ve had mentees afraid to tell me, for example, that they decided to do cornea or glaucoma later in their career. They feel like they let me down. Get ahead of it. Carl Regillo told us that when we interviewed for a fellowship, “We don’t care what our graduates do. All that we care about is that our graduates are happy and they stay connected to us.” That’s a great philosophy for anyone who wants to be a powerful mentor in retina.

Eichenbaum: What is next for your podcast? What do you see for the next 10 years?

Sridhar: The biggest thing is, you don’t want to become obsolete. If you ever feel like you’re not adding value, then shut it down early. That’s the Bill Watterson Calvin and Hobbes rule: Go out on a high.

The second thing is continuing to think of young, smart people and bring them on. I tell people, if you’re interested, don’t be afraid to reach out. We don’t want to become tone-deaf because we don’t have the inclusion of fresh ideas. It’s important to have those voices in the room, because otherwise you don’t know what you don’t know. We don’t know the issues and challenges they’re facing, unless they [share them with] us.

I’ll end by saying that as you get older and more experienced, that is the uncomfortable zone. When you’re more confident in what you do, the most uncomfortable thing to do is to let someone else take over something and do it in a way that you would not have. Understand that the “right” way keeps changing, and it keeps evolving. I think that’s very hard in your head, because based on our experience, we think, “This is the old way; this is the correct way. What’s this new way? I don’t like it.”

Eichenbaum: Jay, I’m happy to hear your story. I hope people get to hear a new side of you with this and a new side of what you’ve done, and I’m grateful for your time.

Sridhar: I appreciate it. I always like to think our podcast was Windows 3.0, so you and the iPhone could fly. I love what you’re doing, and I look forward to more episodes and listening.

Eichenbaum: Thank you.

David A. Eichenbaum, MD, FASRS
E: deichenbaum@rvaf.com
Eichenbaum is a partner and director of research at Retina Vitreous Associates of Florida in Clearwater and St Petersburg, and a collaborative associate professor at Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida. He has no relevant disclosures.

Jayanth Sridhar, MD
E: jsridhar119@gmail.com
Sridhar is an associate professor of clinical ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, in Miami, Florida, and serves as chief of ophthalmology for the Olive View-University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, part of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, in California. Sridhar is the host and founder of the podcast, Straight From the Cutter’s Mouth: A Retina Podcast (https://www.retinapodcast.com/).

He is a consultant for 4DMT, Alcon, Apellis Pharmaceuticals, EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Genentech, Regeneron, and Samsara.