(845) 331-6670 / 150 Aaron Court Kingston NY 12401
Healthy Eyes for a Better Life
Hudson Valley Glaucoma Care
Specializing in the Diagnosis, Management & Treatment of All Forms of Glaucoma
Born and raised in New York City, Dr. Schumer is a board-certified ophthalmologist who has devoted his entire professional career in medicine to all aspects of the care of patients with Glaucoma. Dr. Schumer has been practicing in Kingston, NY since 1999, initially as a member of the Ophthalmology group Eye Associates, and since 2011, at his own solo practice, Hudson Valley Glaucoma Care. For 21 years, he maintained a practice in Manhattan, which was established in 1990 and which he closed in late 2011 in order to focus full-time on Hudson Valley Glaucoma Care. For many years he was on the clinical faculty of Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City, where he assisted in the training of ophthalmology residents in the management of Glaucoma.
Dr. Schumer has an educational background unusual for its depth as well as for its breadth. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Experimental Psychology from Stanford University, and worked in the field of vision research for ten years, first at Stanford University, and then at Bell Labs (in Murray Hill, NJ) and then at NYU,
in the related fields of visual psychophysics and visual system neurophysiology, before attending medical school at the prestigious and unique "Ph.D. to M.D. Program" of the University of Miami School of Medicine in Miami, FL. His training in ophthalmology was undertaken at the Harkness Eye Institute of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, where he was chief resident and mentored under Dr. Max Forbes.
He then completed fellowship training in Glaucoma under the supervision of the late Dr. Steven M. Podos, Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Mt. Sinai and one of the world's foremost glaucoma researchers and educators. Dr. Schumer was invited to remain at Mt. Sinai on the full-time faculty as Dr. Podos' colleague and associate, which he did for several years prior to setting out on his own. He then entered private practice as a full-time glaucoma specialist in Manhattan while maintaining research activities collaboratively at Mt. Sinai and elsewhere.
Dr. Schumer has authored or co-authored over 60 book chapters, original research reports, editorials, literature reviews, and other professional publications in scientific and medical journals, and although he is no longer actively publishing, he enjoys an international reputation for his contributions to basic visual system neurophysiology and to clinical and scientific aspects of Glaucoma. (Click here to see a selection of Dr. Schumer's research publications.)
Clinically, Dr. Schumer continues to confine his interest to the diagnosis and management of Glaucoma. He consistently brings his scientific and technical training to bear on his clinical work. Utilizing state-of-the-art technology and advanced concepts of management and disease, Dr. Schumer combines widely-grounded clinical experience, sophisticated scientific understanding, and humane compassion for the care of each of his patients. Dr. Schumer approaches clinical relationships with patients as a partnering process and strongly believes that an informed and educated patient is best able to make wise, health-directed decisions. Such an educated patient, Dr. Schumer believes, is best able to enjoy the many benefits that the modern medical care of Glaucoma can offer.
Glaucoma and Ophthalmology Services
Hudson Valley Glaucoma Care is a Kingston, New York-based medical practice that was founded in 2011 by ophthalmologist Robert A. Schumer, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Schumer and his staff specialize in the diagnosis, management, and treatment of all forms of Glaucoma, an eye disease that, when untreated, can lead to significant and irreversible loss of vision and even to blindness. Fortunately, the diagnosis and treatment of Glaucoma have advanced greatly in recent years and have become sophisticated and highly effective. Dr. Schumer and Hudson Valley Glaucoma Care employ all of the latest technologies and concepts to this end. Dr. Schumer brings more than thirty years of professional experience devoted entirely to the care of patients with Glaucoma. He combines intelligence, education, wisdom, experience, and compassion, bringing them all to the task of providing care to patients with Glaucoma.
Hudson Valley Glaucoma Care welcomes new patients. You may call (845) 331-6670 for an appointment or send an email request to appt@hvglaucoma.com for more information. The office is located at 150 Aaron Court in uptown Kingston, NY.
About Glaucoma ─ a Brief Overview
Glaucoma, simply put, is the name given to a family of diseases of the eye in which there is slow, chronic, and insidious degeneration of the nerve, known as the "optic nerve," which travels from the eye to brain, carrying the signals that convey sight.
The degeneration of Glaucoma is typically, but not always, related to the build-up of pressure inside the eye. However, about one-third of glaucoma patients have "normal" eye pressure, so screening for Glaucoma by checking only the pressure in the eye will, unfortunately, miss the diagnosis in many affected people. Glaucoma afflicts approximately 5 - 7% of the adult population of the United States, and Glaucoma is 5 times as common in family members of affected individuals as it is in the general population.
Most people mistakenly assume that Glaucoma causes "tunnel vision," but this is not really a very accurate concept. The varieties of vision loss that occur in Glaucoma do have characteristic patterns, and the loss does involve "side" vision, primarily, but the loss varies from person to person in the specifics and details in an almost infinite variety of subtle ways. Modern testing can easily detect and track the loss, with far greater sensitivity than the patient's own subjective impressions can yield.
In popular culture, Glaucoma is sometimes referred to as the "sneak thief of sight" because it is usually painless and proceeds very slowly, often taking place over many years, so that the affected person is typically unaware even of having the condition until quite late in the course of the disease. In fact, studies consistently show that about half of Glaucoma in the United States is undiagnosed, and thus about one-half of affected patients are unaware they even have the condition. This is unfortunate because Glaucoma is overwhelmingly a treatable condition when diagnosed properly and early and when treated knowledgeably. People with Glaucoma who come to diagnosis relatively early and who avail themselves of proper care will typically have excellent vision all of their lives. When left untreated, however, Glaucoma can lead to irreversible loss of sight, and is one of the leading worldwide causes of blindness, along with cataract, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy.
