Longtime Vero Beach ophthalmologist, Dr. Edward Branigan III, of the Vero Eye Center on Royal Palm Point is packing up and moving.
He is not, however, moving very far and he already knows his new neighbors well.
Branigan, who first opened his Vero Beach practice in 1977, is heading about two miles up the road on Dec. 1 to join forces with Drs. Bill Mallon, Adam Katz, J. Michael Schnell and Dr. Sarah Khodadadeh at the Center for Advanced Eye Care at 3500 U.S. 1.
The move will actually be something of a reunion. When Mallon first came to Vero in 2000, he joined Branigan’s practice and worked there for three years before striking out on his own. Now Branigan is joining Mallon’s practice.
“This is going to be great for our patients,” Mallon exclaimed, “because Dr. Branigan takes care of people the same way we do.”
Branigan, who graduated from Syracuse University, is a former flight surgeon at Patrick Air Force base in Satellite Beach, FL and served his residency at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He has a lifetime certification from the American Board of Ophthalmology.
By consolidating their operations, the two doctors’ aim to offer more and better eye care services to the community. With the same goal in mind Center for Advanced Eye Care recently added another new ophthalmologist (and glaucoma surgical specialist) when Dr. Khodadadeh signed on in August.
The bulk of Branigan’s staff, Mallon added, will also be joining the Advanced Eye Care team.
While Branigan and Mallon worked together for those three years back in 2000, after they went their separate ways the two hardly ever spoke. Now, however, both insist that was merely a matter of logistics. Certainly, according to Mallon, there never was any malice between the two. In fact, when Branigan needed cataract surgery, he looked to Mallon to perform the operation and Branigan says he couldn’t have been more pleased with the results. “I walked in that morning,” recalled Branigan, “had the surgery and was back at my office working later that afternoon.”
In addition to Branigan and Mallon, the Center for Advanced Eye Care boasts three other highly qualified ophthalmologists in Katz, Schnell and Khodadadeh.
Katz, a native New Yorker, has over ten years of clinical experience treating patients with retinal and vitreous disorders and is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. Schnell is a former president of the Vermont State Medical Society and was the founding member and president of the Vermont Rural Health Consortium. He also has acted as chairman on the executive committee of the Vermont Health Care Review and a member of the Board of Directors for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont.
Khodadadeh was the chief resident at Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn, Michigan. She went on to complete her ophthalmology residency at Henry Ford Hospital before moving to Yale University where she served as a clinical instructor at the Yale Eye Center and completed her glaucoma fellowship. She is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.
Finally, Mallon is a Michigan transplant. Born and raised in Flint, MI, he received his Bachelor of Science from Michigan State University and his medical degree from Wayne State University where he was graduated a member of the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. After a one-year internship at Methodist Hospital in Memphis, TN Mallon completed a three-year ophthalmology residency and then a one-year fellowship in ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery.
For Branigan, this two-mile move up the road will be little more than a short jog. A competitive runner, Branigan has recorded a 2:54 marathon time for the 26.2 mile run, so a mere two-mile move to the Center for Advanced Eye Care shouldn’t pose any problem at all for one of the deans of Vero Beach eye care.