“People are the reason I love this field,” she said. “I enjoy getting to know them, what they do, and what problems they are experiencing.”

Dr. Conway lends her decades of experience and expertise in conducting comprehensive eye exams, disease screening and management, glasses and contact lens prescriptions, and so much more for her patients in East Tennessee.

Her passion for Optometry developed at a very early age due to her own eye issues. She is a very high myopic patient (aka severe nearsightedness), which was discovered by her parents suddenly when she was only 3 years old. She remembers excitedly pointing out a horse lying down in a field, but it turned out to be a rusted horse trough instead. The very next day, she was in for an eye exam and was fitted for glasses. Later on when she got to high school, she expressed interest in contacts and was fitted for hard lenses. That’s because her Ophthalmologist at the time was not a fan of soft contact lenses. Looking back, Dr. Conway wishes that doctor would have been a bit more open to soft lenses.

“It was a miserable experience for me,” she remembered. “When I got to college, I made an appointment with an Optometrist and got fitted for soft contacts. It was love at first fit!”

More presently, Dr. Conway has dealt with a myriad of conditions that can easily affect her own precious sight.

“I have a lot of issues with my eyes that require constant monitoring. In addition to high myopia, I also have ERM (Epiretinal Membranes), cataracts, PVD (Posterior Vitreous Detachment), and, last but not least, I’m a high risk for open-angle glaucoma,” she explains “So, I know how it is from a patient point of view and how important that relationship is between a doctor and patient.”  

“I became friends with Pat Jackson, who was president of an optometric fraternity,” she said. “Through his guidance, I applied and got accepted quicker than anticipated. Because of that, I had to cram a whole year of physics into the summer before heading to Memphis for Optometry school, which I completed the week before I started.”

Fast forward to the mere eight hours after graduating from Southern College of Optometry, Dr. Conway traveled to Costa Rica along with her peers in an academic organization called SVOSH (Students Volunteering Optometric Service to Humanity). The group was tasked to spend a week in the Central American country and offer free eye health services to those in need. Though extremely rewarding, she remembers it wasn’t the easiest of experiences. 

“It was a labor of love with none of the technology we take for granted today,” she said. “I became extremely fast and proficient with a Schiotz Tonometer (a manual device invented in 1905 to measure intraocular pressure and is now considered obsolete in many practices). We were guests of the Lion’s Club down there and stayed at the members’ houses. I also had the pleasure of working with Head Start and making a crying, terrified little boy’s day by telling him we could fix his eyes with a great pair of glasses. He left smiling from ear to ear.”

Closer to home, Dr. Conway has single-handedly discovered potentially sight-threatening eye issues that could have led to some very dire consequences if not caught and treated early. These include a case of melanoma in a situation where a patient wasn’t initially concerned, as well as different types of glaucoma that needed immediate attention despite the patients’ hesitation to proceed with treatment. There was also a memorable patient with a branch retinal arterial occlusion, which is a blockage in the small arteries of the retina. Dr. Conway recommended an immediate stroke evaluation for that patient, and she turned out to be right again. It all confirms her belief that the eyes really are a window to the soul and a person’s health in general.

“Through the eyes, you can see diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, and possible stroke among other things,” she said. “So, it is very important to have an eye professional check.”

When she received an offer from Drs. Campbell, Cunningham, Taylor & Haun to join the practice, she jumped at the chance to work with a group with an impeccable reputation here in East Tennessee.

“They’re a great group of wonderful, caring and awesome people who have made me feel at home,” Dr. Conway said.

When she isn’t seeing patients, you can likely find Dr. Conway in her garden tending to her beloved plants. She also loves traveling near and far, kayaking, and playing with her cat Teddie.