Richard Hill M.D.

Dr. Rick Hill had no idea how much his life would change almost eight years ago on that fateful Friday night when he received a page from Dr. Roger Ohanesian. Roger asked Rick if he would see Christine, a 13-year-old patient. She already had three surgeries in her left eye. Rick immediately agreed. Then Roger told him that not only was the patient in Armenia, but that they must leave the following Wednesday. “No problem,” Rick responded.

When people hear this story, they often question Dr. Hill about why he so readily agreed to fly to Armenia on a moment’s notice. “I can tell you there is no thought, only a feeling of what must be done,” he responds.

Dr. Richard A. Hill, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, University of California at Irvine, received his medical degree from Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, in 1985. Following completion of his residency in ophthalmology in 1989 at Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine, in Hershey, he did a glaucoma fellowship at the Doheny Eye Institute of USC, Los Angeles, from 1989 through 1990.

Rick and his wife, Melissa, live in Irvine, California, with their two sons, Richard, 14, and Travis, 10. The family loves to travel and has been to Bora Bora twice in the past two years. The Polynesian island’s dazzling blue waters are perfect for snorkeling, a favorite family pastime. Also, Dr. Hill actively is just steps away from earning his Black Belt.

Rick Hill can add juggling to his many hobbies. While pursuing a variety of activities and balancing his active family life and challenging medical career, Dr. Hill, the AECP’s most active volunteer physician, has traveled to Armenia 11 times at his own expense. While there, he has conducted thousands of eye examinations and performed countless surgeries that have changed the lives of innumerable Armenians, many of them children. Along with the protracted hours he spends performing surgery and examining patients in Armenia, Dr. Hill has developed and written an advanced medical and surgical ophthalmology residency curriculum, recently adopted by Armenia for its medical training programs.

On the last day of his 1998 medical mission to Armenia, Dr. Hill was catching some much-needed sleep before boarding the morning flight from Armenia. After a full day of seeing patients, he found himself being gently shaken awake. A family brought a child suffering from congenital glaucoma to the clinic. When they heard about the American doctors and their work in Yerevan, the family traveled from the Ukraine. Dr. Hill could not refuse their request for help.

“I have no idea where the energy comes from … but it does and a few minutes later we were back in the operating room,” he says.

What happened next presented Dr. Hill with an immense challenge. “As I passed a small blade across the inside of the eye, the power failed. As the country was at war, blackout curtains were over the windows and it was very, very dark,” he explains. “If I moved one millimeter the wrong way, I could blind the child. Suddenly, my four-cell krypton diving light (which the Operating Room nurse had sterilized and wrapped in case of an emergency) snapped on and I was able to finish the surgery. Another triumph for Armenian ingenuity.”

Two years later, Dr. Hill was pulled from a conference and told his patient was asleep in the operating room awaiting an examination. “As I filed past the long rows of watchers, I realized it was the child I operated on two years ago. He had not seen a doctor for two years because I had done the surgery and, of course, all was well. I tried not to let my fear show or my hands shake as I checked the pressure,” he explains. “The pressure was completely normal and, by history, the child was developing excellent vision. The parents were surprised that I would have any concerns. They knew everything was perfect after the surgery.”

“Personally, for me, this was an amazing display of faith,” Dr. Hill says. “I think of this child often when I need inspiration or motivation.”

Dr. Hill is a recipient of several National Institutes of Health grants and has served on National Institutes of Health Study Sections. His research efforts focus primarily on the medical and surgical treatment of difficult Glaucomas.

Dr. Hill’s work has resulted in many publications, including an article about AECP’s experience treating complicated pediatric Glaucomas. The article was recently accepted for publication in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. Based on research productivity, teaching and his efforts in international ophthalmology (especially in Armenia), Dr. Hill was awarded the University of California, Irvine, Faculty Achievement Award in 1998.