PHYSICIAN SPOTLIGHT: Rolando Toyos, MD

Ophthalmologist had sights on sports and medicine Rolando Toyos, MD, is an exceptional person, not only in respect to his medical accomplishments but in his fortune to be able to say, “I have been extremely lucky that I have always enjoyed every work choice that I have ever made.”Not many people would make that claim, but suffice it to say things have worked out well for him since he was born 47 years ago in New York City to immigrants – a Dominican mother and a Cuban father.Toyos, an ophthalmologist, is the medical director and founder of Toyos Clinic, which has locations in Memphis, Southaven, Franklin and Nashville. He specializes in cataract surgery, LASIK and dry eye, with more than 25,000 cataract and 15,000 LASIK surgeries to his credit.According to toyosclinic.com, the doctor was “the first surgeon to combine laser cataract surgery with Aqualase, creating a new laser for cataract surgery L4C procedure. He holds various patents, including one for a light-based technology use for treatment of dry eye.  Toyos is the inventor of the Intense Pulse Light for dry eye procedure, also known as DELIT.”His interest in medicine was stirred at a young age.“When I was little I wanted to be a doctor by day and then a shortstop with the Yankees by night,” he said.His love for sports grew soon after his mother moved with him and his brother to Santa Rosa, California, when Rolando was 9. His father was a minor-league shortstop.But Toyos’ love of education was equally strong. His mother and both grandparents were teachers.In high school he was a starter in varsity basketball, baseball and football and won a scholar athlete award. He played basketball as a pre-med student at the University of California-Berkeley, but a knee injury occurred “about the same time I realized that I would not be able to do both to the level that would satisfy me. So I stopped playing basketball and concentrated on school.”“I now had much more free time,” he said, “so I started doing research and coaching at the local high school. I found I loved teaching and coaching. I heard about a masters program at Stanford where I could coach, teach and do graduate-level research, and decided to see if that was my calling.“I developed curriculum that would make science fun and informative for kids. I also became involved with the National Teacher Assessment Project, a Carnegie-funded project, looking at the ways to improve the teaching profession. I represented the new teacher in the research project.”For his development of a science curriculum and work with at-risk children, Toyos won the National Teaching Award from Columbia University. Despite his affinity for teaching and coaching, he knew he still wanted to be a doctor and went to medical school, where the University of Illinois selected him for “a special program for researchers who wanted to have bench research as part of their curriculum.”Toyos was class president and graduated with James Scholar Honors. With the dean of students, Dr. William Wallace, “who shared my love of teaching and for inspiring inner-city kids,” they set up a program for med students to work with high school students who had an interest in healthcare.“I loved my decision to go there,” he said, “because I was doing all the things I wanted to do.”His research in medical school involved operating on mice utilizing a microscope.“I had an aptitude for microsurgery, so my research mentor said I should look into ophthalmology,” he said. “I saw one surgery in ophthalmology and knew that is what I wanted as a profession.”He did his internship in internal medicine at Illinois Masonic Hospital in Chicago and completed his ophthalmology residency at Northwestern University and Chicago Children’s Hospital. In 1998, he came to Jackson General Hospital and in the same year opened Toyos Clinic.“I came to Tennessee because a recruiter told me about a hospital that had built an NICU and needed an ophthalmologist to exam the babies,” he said. “What attracted me most about the area is I felt needed. The hospital needed me and there was no one in the area doing modern cataract or LASIK surgery.”From one doctor, the clinic has grown to a staff of seven. Doctors from more than 20 countries have come to the clinic to study and observe, and the clinic has rotations for students from the Southern College of Optometry and University of Illinois Medical School.The Toyos Clinic has been named one of the 50 fastest-growing companies in Tennessee by the Tennessee Business Journal, and it was named by Inc. magazine as one of the 500 fastest-growing companies in the United States.“I wanted to go somewhere and make a difference right away,” Toyos said. “I love what I do, and I don’t think any changes in healthcare policy will change that passion. All of my role models – my mother, grandfather, Dr. Wallace – did something to give back to society, and that is what I continue to do by doing surgery, teaching and doing research.”Toyos’ wife, Melissa Morrison Toyos, also is an ophthalmologist, and they have three young daughters.