Thanks to our Cybersight platform, Dr. Wayman can provide guidance and expertise to our global eye care partners during a live surgery without the expense and time constraints of air travel or having to miss appointments with her own patients.
Gallery: Dr. Wayman’s wonderful work with Orbis
Heroes of Orbis: Dr. Laura Wayman M.D.
Dr. Laura Wayman has been a part of the Orbis Volunteer Faculty family for two years. When she’s not telementoring local eye doctors in South America, she is Vice Chair for Education at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, Tennessee.
Skills & Expertise
Dr. Wayman completed her medical education at Mayo Medical School and her ophthalmology residency at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
She was in private practice as a comprehensive ophthalmologist in central Florida before joining the faculty at Vanderbilt Eye Institute in 2005.
Her areas of interest are clinical and surgical resident education and graduate medical education curriculum development. Her passion for teaching developed during residency through observation of her own program director’s dedication.
She has served on the American Academy of Ophthalmology Committee for Resident Education and was president of the Association of University Professors in Ophthalmology Program Directors Council.
Teacher & Trainer
In her free time, Dr. Wayman shares her skills and years of experience, with a team of junior doctors in Trujillo Peru. With the help of Cybersight, she has been in regular contact with the team; examining patients, selecting and scheduling cases for surgery and mentoring live operations in a quest to improve cataract surgery skills.
She’s also fluent in Spanish and communicates with the Peruvian surgeons in their native language.
Dr. Wayman: Using Technology To Improve Eye Care In Peru
Passionate about teaching eye & developing the skills of junior eye doctors, Dr. Laura Wayman has been improving the cataract surgical skills of our South America partners from the comfort of her own home in Nashville.
Speaking about remote mentorships, Dr. Laura told Vanderbilt University’s Discover: “Early outcomes suggest remote surgical mentorship across long distances is feasible for live microsurgery. The problem is finding people who are experienced in surgical instruction who want to be mentors. Then there are the language requirements. We’re not just training these surgeons. These individuals are in turn training residents; this is how the expansion will occur. This small region in South America is just the beginning."
Maria Aaron, M.D.
Professor of Ophthalmology at Emory University School of Medicine
Dr. Wayman is truly the consummate teacher, mentor and adviser. She has a unique combination of dedication, stamina and compassion. She has demonstrated an unsurpassed dedication to resident education, local and national leadership and innovative advancement in resident education.
We would like to say a special thank you to Dr. Laura Wayman for giving up her free time and sharing her years of experience. Thanks to her we’re helping improve the quality of eye care in across the whole of Latin America, not just today, but for generations to come.
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