Daniel Weikert, M.D.
Peer influence can be huge. Certainly, it was in the case of Daniel Weikert, M.D., as a peer unintentionally set him on his career path. The son of a school system superintendent and grandson of a principal, Weikert was reared in an Indiana household that prioritized education.
'I had always been interested in science but wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it,” Weikert explains. 'My friend two years ahead of me was in optometry school and got me interested in the eye.”
The more he delved into the subject, the stronger Weikert felt that he wanted to take care of the whole eye, including surgery. Weikert followed his older brother, a local orthopaedist, to Vanderbilt Medical School and is now in his 22nd year of practicing ophthalmology in Franklin. During that time, he has removed everything from a fishhook to a bungee cord from the eye.
'Mine is a particularly rewarding specialty because I get constant reinforcement,” Weikert says. 'Every day, I'm reminded of how precious people's eyesight is to them.”
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A self-proclaimed sports fanatic, it's fitting that Weikert is the eye doctor for the Nashville Predators and Tennessee Titans. When it comes to sports, baseball has a special place in his heart. 'I am an avid sports paraphernalia collector,” Weikert says. 'I have every baseball card from 1952 on.”
Nashville's Top Doctors - As seen in the July 2017 Issue