Hello My Friend!
My name is Joel Ciolek (pronounced “sigh-lick”) and I am a board-certified PA practicing in the specialized field of ophthalmology. Specifically, I have experience working in comprehensive ophthalmology, medical retina, vitreoretinal surgery, and oculoplastics as a PA. I am also a didactic instructor of ophthalmology at multiple PA programs across the country. Prior to attending PA school, I worked in ophthalmology as a technician, scribe, and surgical first assist. I also presented research on “Postoperative Iritis, Cystoid Macular Edema, and Endophthalmitis after Intravitreal Injection of Triamcinolone Acetonide Moxifloxacin during Cataract Surgery” at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in 2017.
My passion for ophthalmology is rooted in patient care and mentorship; ophthalmology patients were my first patients and ophthalmologists were my first mentors. Through both relationships, I was able to actualize my childhood moral imagination of medicine into something real. In other words, pursuing medicine was no longer just a scholastic pursuit or a moral ideal; I was seeing medicine in action through the eyes of patients and ophthalmologists, and this captivated not just my mind, but also my heart. It is an honor to be able to look into someone’s eyes for a living and preserve and restore someone’s vision. Our eyes are also an emotive organ; we communicate with our eyes and so I find this field to be very inviting and free of distraction.
Prior to becoming an ophthalmology PA, I remember spending hours researching what the role of an ophthalmology PA could be and whether anyone was doing it. If you have researched this yourself, you know that there is little information surrounding the role of PAs in ophthalmology. Once I became a PA in ophthalmology, I wanted to reconcile this lack of representation. To do this, I created a network with the few ophthalmology PAs that exist; published articles in Ocular Surgery News, Ophthalmology Business Minute, and the American Academy of Physician Assistants; and launched OPAC.