Occupational Ophthalmology

Daniel C. Schainholz, MD, MPH, QME

Telephone (415) 872-2014 email daniel.schainholz@gmail.com     eFax  (506) 802-7235

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-schainholz-558819b 

Office and Mailing* Address 4200 California Street, Suite 106, San Francisco, CA 94118

*Maximum package thickness is one inch for safe deliveries. Please save paper. Digital copies preferred. 

 Services Offered:

Qualified Medical Evaluator (California State appointed) 

Detailed medical legal reports with precise visual system impairment ratings and thoughtful discussion from multiple medical and ophthalmic perspectives

Low Vision Rehabilitation - Expert refractions in the low-vision range (fellowship trained with 10+ years experience)

Goldmann Manual Kinetic Perimetry - Preferred for visual system impairment ratings using the AMA Guides (5th edition).

Anterior segment photomicrography 

Occupational and Environmental Ophthalmology

Public Health Preparedness in Practice

Biostatistics and Ophthalmic Epidemiology

Geriatric Ophthalmology - Vision Care for Elders

Healthcare technology/informatics

Global / International Ophthalmology (teaching and training available for special missions)

What is Occupational Ophthalmology? 

After the return of soldiers at the end of World War II, doctors at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons described the special needs of visually impaired veterans and their return to civilian employment. They named it Industrial Ophthalmology, but that name never gained traction, and the field was lost to history. Many major advances in ophthalmology led to sight saving procedures in cataract, glaucoma and retinal disease. New pharmaceutical agents improved outcomes in uveitis, glaucoma and infection. In the 1970’s low-vision rehabilitation became accepted in ophthalmology and optometry, but because of reimbursement issues was never the focus of large departments. Medicare permitted a greater focus on age-related eye disease, but the vision care needs of working age adults was subdivided into industrial hygiene, optometry and ophthalmology. The industrial hygienists described the special needs of personal protective equipment, like welders’ goggles. The optometrists prescribed glasses, and the ophthalmologists treated the work-related eye injuries. 

In a parallel manner, occupational medicine grew into a distinct subspecialty in association with respiratory diseases of coal mines (e.g. silicosis) and grew with the toxic new chemicals and industrial processes associated with manufacturing. However, the systemic diseases and the eye trauma had little overlap.  “Industrial Ophthalmology” was never developed into its own subspecialty to address the needs of working age adults in terms of prevention of injury or illness, treatment of trauma and toxic exposures, or the vision rehabilitation of the injured worker. 

Dr, Schainholz identified this knowledge gap during a sabbatical year in 2005-2006 when he received an MPH. He sat for the examination to qualify to be a Qualified Medical Evaluator in California and writes expert medico-legal reports from  numerous perspectives, based upon years of prior experience in low vision rehabilitation plus an additional Certificate in Environmental and Occupational Health from Hopkins (2010), Dr. Schainholz writes reports from a perspective of general ophthalmology, oculoplastics, cornea, uveitis, glaucoma, retina, neuro-ophthalmology, ocular and periocular oncology, toxicology, and when necessary, low vision rehabilitation, psychiatry and general medicine. Owing to the vast array of possible etiologies for visual system impairments, a bibliography and representative abstract(s) are incorporated to facilitate the reader in understanding the complexities of particular cases, and pursue additional research as needed.

Education & Training

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

CEOH, Certificate in Environmental and Occupational Health, 2009 - 2010

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Hopkins Sommer Scholar & Honor Society)

MPH, Public Health Preparedness in Practice, 2005 - 2006

California Pacific Medical Center

Fellowship, Low-Vision Rehabilitation, 1992 - 1993

University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers (Kellogg Eye Center)

Ophthalmology Residency, 1991

Morristown Memorial Hospital

Internship, General Surgery, 1987 - 1988

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons

Class of 1987 (Class Chairman)

Columbia University Columbia College in the City of New York

AB, 1983

Work Experience

President & CEO

Service in Sight  -  The Medical Expert Group

San Francisco, CA

1994 - Present

Past Experience

ExamWorks , Rancho Cordova (2013-2017)

Evaluation Resource Group, Albany (2007-2013)

The Goldmann Institute on Aging (2000-2005)

The Rose Resnick Lighthouse (1997-2000) 
Medical Director of the Lighthouse Low-Vision Center

Pacific Eye Center, Walnut Creek (1996-1999)

Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco and Oakland (1992-1997) 

Professional Memberships

American Academy of Ophthalmology - Fellow (FAAO) 

American Public Health Association, Member, 2006 - present

Publications

PubMed:  Blindness among nursing home residents. N Engl J Med Schainholz, D. C. 1995 Sep 28 (Letter)  [3 citations]

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

• Schainholz, DC. Delving into The Visual System in the AMA Guides, Fifth Edition. AMA Guides Newsletter. 2021;26(1):9-17. Doi:10.1001/amaguidesnewsletters.2021.JanFeb03

• Schainholz, DC, Colenbrander, A, Brigham, CR. Assessing Corneal Abrasion Impairment. AMA Guides Newsletter. (2021) 26 (1): 18.

• Schainholz D, The Partially Seeing Adult: A Professional’s Guide, National Association of the Visually Handicapped, New York, NY (2001)

• Schainholz D, As We Grow Older, National Association of the Visually Handicapped, New York, NY (2000)

• Schainholz, DC. The Role of the Low-Vision Specialist in the Development of Patient Coping Mechanisms. pp. 666-8, Proceedings of Vision ‘99, the International Conference on Blindness and Low-Vision. New York, New York, July 12-16, 1999.

• Letter to the Editor: Blindness among Nursing Home Residents, New England Journal of Medicine, Schainholz, DC 9/28/1995

• Mackeben M, Colenbrander A, Schainholz D. “Comparison of three Ways to Assess Residual Vision after Macular Vision Loss” in "Low Vision - Research and New Developments in Rehabilitation", Kooijman AC et al. (Eds.), IOS Press, Amsterdam, 51-58.

• Colenbrander A, Lieberman MF, Schainholz, DC. Preliminary implementation of the Functional Vision Score system on the Humphrey Field Analyzer. Perimetry Update 1992/93, pp. 487-496, Proceedings, Xth International Perimetric Society Meeting. Kyoto, Japan, October 20-23, 1992.

• Tannenbaum M, Schainholz D, Tannenbaum S, DeSanctis PN, Olsson, CA. Computerized Morphometry of Nuclear Size in Normal Urothelium, Recurrent and Non-recurrent Urothelial Neoplasms. American Urological Association, 1982.

• Grant S, Bhalla K, Sheffield K, Ellison RR, Weinstein IB, Schainholz D, Fischer PB. Differential Toxicity of Bacterial Cloned Interferon Toward Leukemic versus Normal Bone Marrow Cells. American Society of Hematology, 1981.

Lectures

Global Blindness and Low-Vision, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, 1/12/2011.

Making your Office More Accessible to the Visually Impaired; Tools and Tips for the Non-ophthalmologist, 1/19/1998.

John Muir Medical Center, Walnut Creek, California

Vision Rehabilitation for First-year Residents, Residency training program 

Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco 1/23/2007.

Low-Vision Rehabilitation for the General Ophthalmologist University of California, San Francisco Medical Center  1/16/1997.

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