Retina Specialist; Medical or Surgical Lead Retina Service | On-Site Operating Room and Research Center

Coastal Eye, a physician-owned practice in Greenwich, Connecticut, is hiring a medical or surgical retina specialist to take over the retina service from the founder, vitreoretinal surgeon Dr. Omar Shakir. You will start with a full schedule, an on-site operating room, and a busy research center participating in over 15 clinical trials, including gene therapy trials.

• Immediate volume. All of Dr. Shakir's retina patients transition to you, along with a steady flow of new retina patients from an established referral network.
• Everything at one Greenwich location. Clinic patients are seen at our office, research patients in the attached research center, and every surgery happens in our on-site operating suite.
• A mentor when you want one. Dr. Shakir remains available for clinical input, surgical assistance, and career advice whenever you want them.
• Medical or surgical, fellows welcome. We will shape the role around your training, and current retina fellows are encouraged to apply.

Let's say it plainly: physicians are unhappy in private equity-owned practices, and the data show they are leaving. A 2025 Health Affairs study of 200 private equity-acquired ophthalmology practices found that physician turnover rose 265% after acquisition.

Talk to colleagues who joined those groups and you will hear the same stories: compensation that shifts after the deal closes, productivity targets set by people who never see patients, and a "partnership" that means buying into someone else's exit plan.

Coastal Eye is the alternative. We are a truly private, physician-owned practice, and there is no corporate entity hiding behind a veil making your life miserable. Decisions about your schedule, your staff, and your equipment is a discussion between physician colleagues, not a corporate office, and we work hard on our culture because culture is why physicians stay.

Surgical candidates operate in our on-site, high-technology surgical suite, steps from the clinic. That means no hospital block-time battles, no driving between clinic and the operating room, and far more control over your surgical schedule.

• Alcon UNITY Vitreoretinal Cataract System (VCS):
  Alcon's next-generation vitreoretinal and cataract platform with HYPERVIT 30K vitrectomy and UNITY Intelligent Fluidics. Perfluoron, Gas, Silicone oil 1000/5000 available with the best disposable instrumentation.
• ZEISS ARTEVO 850: a heads-up digital microscope with three-dimensional visualization on a 55-inch display, plus integrated intraoperative optical coherence tomography (OCT) for real-time cross-sectional views during surgery.

Coastal Eye is a forward-thinking, gorgeous, high-end clinic equipped with the latest technology:

• New OCT with OCT angiography (OCT-A)
• Optos ultra-widefield imaging with RGB color (newest generation)
• IRIDEX IQ 577 laser with Pattern Scanning and Micro Pulse capability andYAG laser
• Topcon Harmony as a central imaging hub, so you can review scans from home, the operating room, or a meeting

You will be extremely well supported, with great staff, three full-time optometrists in the practice, and a virtual MD scribe who can be assigned to you. Our patients are well insured, educated, and respectful, and the practice has outstanding Google reviews and an excellent reputation throughout the surrounding communities.

Our clinical research center is attached to the Greenwich office and runs retina trials, including gene therapy trials in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Research patients are seen in the research center itself, so trials run alongside your clinic instead of crowding it.

• Principal investigator (PI) opportunities, in addition to sub-investigator and unmasked injector roles
• Gene therapy and other novel retina trials, putting you at the front of where the field is heading
• Podium presentations and advisory board opportunities, which are likely to follow from this trial work

Dr. Shakir is available as a mentor on clinical, surgical, and business questions as you build your practice and move toward partnership.

• Clinical Instructor at Yale School of Medicine
• Key opinion leader and adviser to leading surgical companies, including Alcon, ZEISS, and Bausch + Lomb
• Founder of the Clinical Research center
• Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Retina Alliance, a physician-led group purchasing organization…