About Joseph Paviglianiti MD - Pediatric Eye Doctor in Fredericksburg, VA

PEDIATRIC EYE DOCTOR

Dr. Pav

Dr. Joseph Paviglianiti (ok, he goes by Dr. Pav, but if you feel like a challenge, the last name is pronounced: Puh-vee’-yuh-nee-tee or some variation thereof, but outside of Italy nobody can pronounce it) was born and raised in Lancaster, PA and was a Trustee’s Scholar at Widener University (Chester, PA), where he earned a BS in Biology. He needed to work for about 5 years to earn some money for med school, so he was a pharmaceutical representative for Merck Sharp and Dohme. After that, he attended and graduated from medical school at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL. He was torn between going into general pediatrics or ophthalmology, but his love of eyeballs and surgery won out--there is no greater feeling than helping to improve a child’s fundamental sense that can affect everything from school performance to quality of life. He completed an internship in Internal Medicine at the University of Tennessee Baptist Hospital in Nashville followed by a residency in medical and surgical Ophthalmology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. With the goal of incorporating his love of children and ophthalmology together, he was fortunate to be accepted into the prestigious Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus Fellowship at Indiana University in Indianapolis, IN. There, under the tutelage of Doctors Plager, Neely, Sprunger, Sondhi, and Helveston, he was exposed to and gained much experience in all areas of pediatric eye problems, from simple blurry vision/refraction for glasses, to more complicated pediatric and adult strabismus, as well as more complex problems, such as infant and pediatric cataract and glaucoma.

After a short 4 year stint in the heart of Orlando at Florida Eye Clinic, he was recruited to join the well-established Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus group in Pittsburgh, PA, headed by Albert Biglan, MD, one of the true thought leaders and surgical pioneers in the field of pediatric ophthalmology and adult strabismus care. The practice in Pittsburgh was founded in 1966 and is one of the oldest in the country specifically devoted to the eye care of children. Working with Dr. Biglan was like having a second fellowship. When Dr. Biglan retired, Dr. Pav was named president of the practice and the remaining group (Drs. Jane Hughes, Eric Pennock, and Dr. Pav) continued to grow the practice into one of the largest and most well-respected in the country. Concurrently with running a private practice, Dr. Pav was a Clinical Instructor with the University of Pittsburgh Department of Ophthalmology at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. There he helped train over 120 ophthalmology residents and 15 pediatric ophthalmology fellows. He was the recipient of the McCaslin Award for best teacher and has been named a Top Doctor by both Pittsburgh Magazine and Castle-Connoly annually since 2016. He gave lectures to residents, school nurses, operating room nurses and community members on subjects such as cortical visual impairment, eye trauma, and dyslexia.

The electronic record was demanding more attention away from patients. It was time for a change. Desiring to be closer to his family, Dr. Pav made the difficult decision to leave the group he loved and relocate his part of the practice to Fredericksburg, VA. While there are pediatric eye specialists in the metro Washington DC area, as well as the metro Richmond area, those are both long frustrating drives from the Fredericksburg/Stafford area, which is underserved in pediatric ophthalmologic eyecare. Plus, Dr. Pav and his kids are all history buffs and Fredericksburg is awash in historical significance.

Dr. Pav truly strives to provide the best possible eye care to all his patients, whether they be a 1 day old infant in the hospital on the consult service, a 5 year old undergoing eye surgery for crossed eyes, or a 95 year old adult with double vision. He aims to treat every patient as if they were his own child or relative. He’s an excellent teacher and a self-professed king of analogies in eyecare that make complex eye issues easy to understand and make decisions about. He also has a soft spot for special needs kids and adults who may need some extra effort to be able to cooperate for an eye exam. If your special needs child is anxious or nervous about their eye exam, give Dr. Pav a try. He will do his best to break the ice and usually wins over most of his patients, if not on the first visit, then usually by the second. He truly enjoys children and spending time with them (and they provide a willing and captive audience for his bad dad jokes that his own 4 kids only roll their eyes at anymore!). His own wife feels he’s fairly juvenile at times, which is a compliment in this line of work. He identifies with the movie quote from Mr. Duncan in Home Alone when asked why he likes children so much: “Well, children bring him a lot of joy. As they do to everyone who truly appreciates them.”

Kids Eye Doctors In Fredericksburg, VA