Stephen C. Pollock is a poet, essayist, physician, academician, business executive, inventor, and author of the poetry collection Exits. The twenty poems in Exits were written and edited over a period of twenty years. Designing and formatting the book required an additional two years.

 

Trained as an eye surgeon and neuro-ophthalmologist, Steve was recruited to Duke University as Chief of Neuro-Ophthalmology in 1987. He ultimately achieved a rank of Associate Professor with tenure, having published 30 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters in the medical literature.

 

After seventeen years in academic medicine, Steve left Duke to become chief executive of CEC, a nationwide company that provides vision benefits to individuals and their family members. Following the sale of CEC in 2019, he retired from the company.

 

Though not an engineer, Steve has always had a penchant for designing novel devices. As a medical student, he collaborated with another student in the development of a unique variable-focus lens. Steve drafted the patent and the associated illustrations. In 1984, the Patent Office granted U.S. Patent 4,477,158, Lens System for Variable Refraction.

 

The gratification Steve derives from writing springs from a variety of sources: fascination with language; the whimsy of wordplay; the thrill associated with creating something utterly new; and awe at the infinite ways in which words, well chosen, can capture and intensify human experience.