When Dr. Courtney Ridner opened his Chattanooga ophthalmology practice in August 2023, he named it Precision Eye Consultants. Not surprising, given that, as both an ophthalmologist and a fighter pilot, precision is paramount to him.
"When you're flying an F-16, your time over the target can't be close," he says. "It has to be precise, because for people on the ground, lives are at stake.
"It's the same with eye surgery. We're focused on delivering the best care we possibly can, so we have to be as accurate as we possibly can."
Hailing from Knoxville, Ridner reflects on his lifelong passion for both aviation and medicine, a fascination that has persisted since his early years.
"I wanted to be an astronaut," he says, "and my mom was a nurse. We couldn't hire a sitter, so I used to travel and get to see patients with her. Then I took flying lessons in college and got my private-pilot license."
Ridner says he graduated from high school at age 17, and was 20 years old when he finished his undergraduate degree in microbiology and chemistry at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in 1997. He earned his master's degree in hospital administration and medical degree, both from ETSU, in 1999 and 2004, respectively.
Having decided early on that he would enlist in the Air Force, he did so and reported to Spartanburg, South Carolina, where he began training in general surgery. About a year later, he says, while stationed at Lackland/Kelly AFB in San Antonio for his aerospace medicine training, he decided to take it up a notch.
"I knew I wanted to be a fighter pilot," he says. "I knew I wanted to be more a part of it than I already was. As a flight surgeon, you get close to the jets, and you take care of (the pilots), but it's not the same.
"I've always had the ability to challenge myself. ... In my mind, I never thought about doing one career. I thought I'd do them all.
Ridner says that once he finished his training, he deployed in 2009 to Iraq with the Air Force's 187th Fighter Wing. He recalls that he was the only person there credentialed as both a pilot and a doctor.
"When I wasn't flying, I was assisting at the (base) hospital," he says. "I've been in-theater as a combat (pilot) and a doctor. Both professions require a lot of time to master, and I was fortunate to be able to do that."
Ridner says that when he returned from that 2009 deployment, he shifted to reserve duty with the National Guard and did his ophthalmology residency at Vanderbilt University Hospital. He says he served deployments in places including Romania and Ukraine, before completing his residency in 2012.
After leaving Vanderbilt, he came to Chattanooga and joined the practice of Dr. Deborah DiStefano. He says he later bought an ownership stake in that practice before going on his own last year to launch Precision Eye Consultants.
"It comes with its challenges," he says of owning and running his own practice. "The good thing is that I'd been running the day-to-day (at his previous practice) coming in, so that made taking that step a lot easier, but it is different when you're the one bringing in new staff and new doctors."
One of the hallmarks of Ridner's practice is what he calls "mutual patient care -- involving multiple specialists, particularly optometrists, in patient care, versus comprehensive" treatment by one physician.
"I like to think it's a new, refreshing approach," he says. "I think it's a better way of caring for patients."
Ridner says he "learned a little bit of grace" in the decade or so before he opened Precision, particularly in terms of the toll his work as both a doctor and a fighter pilot has taken on his family.
"I've always been someone who wanted answers and results right now," he says, "but some things take time. Not everything is on my timeline -- it takes time to start a business, be a good father, be a good husband.
"God has me right where I'm supposed to be," he adds, "and what I'm realizing now is that, to this point, the sacrifices haven't been mine -- they've been my family's."
Ridner, now 47, says that when he reports for his Air Force Reserve training these days, the aim is to sharpen the next generation of fighter pilots.
"We're trained to punish (their) mistakes," he says. "If we can expose or exploit, in training, a weakness of an individual or their team, it makes us all better."
Ridner concedes that the fact that he's training younger pilots means that his own career in the cockpit is winding down.
"I can't see my life without both (medicine and flying), but I know it's coming to that point," he says. "Physically, I'll have to start to slow down on training, but mentally, I don't know how to give it up.
"It'd be the same if I had to give up medicine," Ridner adds. "Heartbreak, because I've spent most of my life training to be more than proficient."
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