2013 Salute to Health Care Honoree: Dr. Shachar Tauber

With a two-year federal research project under his belt and a big victory in securing laser eye equipment at Mercy Clinic, Dr. Shachar Tauber considers 2013 a banner year. “It was the most productive year I’ve had professionally,” says Tauber, who turned 50 this year.

The veteran eye surgeon led a team of researchers on $4.8 million in U.S. Department of Defense projects to develop emergency treatment for eye injuries on the battlefield. Mercy Research & Development staff members created prototype contact lenses capable of emitting such drugs as antibiotics and steroids.

“This has been a dream come true,” Tauber says, noting he never imagined he’d be conducting such research when he left employment at Yale University School of Medicine for Springfield nine years ago.

Research was extended into March this year, and he says the Mercy team met its deliverables. However, the project ended with disappointment as lack of funding is prohibiting advancement of Mercy R&D’s findings.

Tauber and company proved the project theories in the lab and in animal models, and the next step was to ramp into licensing and manufacturing. “That’s where we’re stuck,” he says, noting another grant or a private contract is needed.

At Mercy Clinic Eye Specialists, Tauber was instrumental in bringing in two lasers for cataract eye surgeries.

“We’re the first ones in the country to have twins. That’s really for the volume we anticipate,” he says, adding since the lasers arrived in March, the clinic performs about 275 laser-assisted procedures a month.

The nearly $1 million investment for the two femtosecond lasers moves a manual eye procedure into the digital age. Additionally, Tauber fought to make the elective laser surgery available to all cataract patients. “It didn’t sit well with me that we would divide those who could afford it versus those who couldn’t, even though it was beneficial to all,” he says. “There were times when I wasn’t the most popular person in the clinic.”

After more than six months, the clinic surgeons agreed to find a way to cut costs without endangering the process or their reputations. They negotiated with laser company OptiMedica.

“We basically went to them and said, ‘What would it be worth to you, when you present to your stockholders that indeed Mercy, one of the largest health care systems in the country, has embraced this for all patients?’ If you allow me a little bit of Springfield humor, I said, ‘What is it worth for you to put our sticker on your NASCAR?’” Tauber says.

Tauber shares his time between Mercy Clinic-Eye Specialists and the Mercy Surgery Center-Eye and Ear Center. He’s board-certified in ophthalmology, cornea and refractive surgeries and ophthalmic research.[[In-content Ad]]