ENLIGHTENMENT
INDUSTRY LEADER
Options Abound for Jim Mazzo’s Future by Sam McCommon
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s CAKE magazine reported back in March, ophthalmic industry titan Jim Mazzo stepped down from his position as global president of ophthalmic devices at Carl Zeiss Meditec (Jena, Germany) in May. He has been succeeded by Euan S. Thomson, President of Carl Zeiss Meditec Ophthalmic Devices and Head of Carl Zeiss Meditec Digital Business Unit. In a recent interview with PIE magazine’s intrepid publisher Matt Young, Mr. Mazzo explained his current position as a consultant at ZEISS, as well as his thoughts on the state of the industry.
Jim Mazzo and ZEISS Mr. Mazzo has been at ZEISS for the past three-and-a-half years and has witnessed the company make some significant leaps. “My goal has been to work with great people in ZEISS to take ZEISS back to where it should be. Over those three years, we accomplished a
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lot with the help of people like yourself (Matt), moving from number four to number two. There were a lot of positive new introductions, new acquisitions, new team members . . . so really it was all in the works that I had committed in three years,” he said. Mr. Mazzo noted that he’ll remain an important advisor to ZEISS until September 2020, and subsequently will remain a full-time advisor with the company until October 2021.
How will COVID-19 impact ophthalmology? It’s not often the world witnesses a sea change in operations in one of its key sectors. Mr. Mazzo compared the changes we’d witness in ophthalmology to the changes witnessed in aviation and travel after 9/11. “There is no way the waiting room is going to have the patient and three or four family members,” he said. “There are going to be a lot of pre-checks.
| June/July 2020
There is going to be a lot of remote testing as they are not going to have time to meet with the patient. Surgeries are going to be spaced out a little more because of the disinfection of the surgeries. So, the practices are going to be a lot different and you will see a different methodology.” Not only will ophthalmic practices change for the foreseeable future, but ophthalmic instrument manufacturers will as well. Notably, reusable equipment, especially of the low-cost variety, may go the way of the dodo to allay concerns of virus transmission. “Reusable is probably going to be tough to sell now,” said Mr. Mazzo. “It is going to be a lot of disposable. Why run the risk; just dispose of the tubing.”
What is ZEISS doing to help doctors and patients? ZEISS is certainly not missing this opportunity to help doctors and patients. Their changes include both the equipment they’re manufacturing as