Meet Laurie Brown, Membership Committee Chair | OWL Cary, NC | OWL

Meet Laurie Brown, Membership Committee Chair

Laurie Brown, MBA, COMT, COE, OSA, OCS, CPSS, is practice administrator for Drs. Fine, Hoffman & Sims, LLC, a world-renowned cataract and refractive surgery practice. Laurie has held JCAHPO certification and worked in ophthalmology in various capacities for over 30 years including administration, surgical assisting and oversight of FDA-monitored core studies of new ophthalmic technologies. Laurie has served on the boards of Certified Ophthalmic Executives, ASOA, JCAHPO, and currently serves on the Ophthalmic Professional magazine advisory board and Ophthalmic Women Leaders’ (OWL) Governing Board and is Membership Committee Chair. She has also served on the Physician Relations Committee of ASOA.

Laurie was honored with OWL’s Catalyst Award in 2015 for demonstrating leadership in supporting the advancement of women; she was also one of the first ASOA William E. Rose, Jr. Pinnacle Award recipients for regulatory compliance excellence. In 2012, Laurie was awarded the Victor P. Morris Award presented by faculty to the most outstanding graduate on the basis of academic excellence and leadership from Northwest Christian University, from which she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Laurie recently achieved her MBA and is a frequent educator at national ophthalmic meetings.

Tell us about yourself, personally and professionally.

As Practice Administrator for Drs. Fine, Hoffman & Sims, LLC, I love leading our team and feel incredibly fortunate to have had this opportunity. With my practice’s encouragement, I have continued my ophthalmic education, traveled, networked extensively, and achieved my higher education goals. My career has been incredibly rewarding and now I’m using my knowledge, skills and abilities in a new way as a consultant with the BSM Consulting team.

Who do you admire professionally, and why?

Howard Fine, M.D. who has been my mentor for the past 20 years. I have learned so much from him and I would not be the person I am today without experiencing his mentorship. His encouragement and enthusiasm for ophthalmology and how it can be practiced is inspirational and incredibly motivating. He has taught me the only limiting factor in my career is me, that I have unlimited choices, and that the best decisions are win-wins.

What do you enjoy outside of work?

I enjoy travel, hiking, singing, kayaking, reading, eating great food (it’s a problem!) and spending time with good friends.

What are you most proud of professionally?

I’m most proud of those I’ve been able to mentor. I love what I do and I get a huge charge out of seeing others find the same passion for our field and the teamwork it takes to give the best in outcomes to our patients.

What is the “secret of success” in 2016 for professionals in the Ophthalmic industry?

I think the secret of success for professionals in the ophthalmic space is to not forget everything we do contributes to helping patients. We are tasked with navigating a rapidly changing healthcare business environment to support a rapidly improving ophthalmic care field. As much as we’d like to just take care of patients each day, we have to get the business right to be able to do that. It’s a huge and very rewarding challenge.