When the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s EyeNet Magazine recently profiled Dr. Erin Lally in its Out of Office series, it wasn’t just a celebration of a remarkable mountaineer-surgeon. It was a reflection on what it means to balance courage with compassion and to pursue both literal and professional summits with focus, humility, and purpose.
The feature, titled “From Everest to the OR,” captured Dr. Lally’s rare combination of high-altitude adventurer and high-precision surgeon. In the interview, she described the deep connection between the two worlds:
“In both the OR and on climbs, I enter a flow state; the confines of time disappear, distractions melt away, and I am fully immersed in what I am doing.”
For patients who entrust her with their vision, that sense of presence and focus is exactly what defines her care at Summit Eye Surgeons.
A Life in Focus
Dr. Lally’s story begins long before she founded Summit Eye Surgeons in San Jose, California, where she now specializes in medical retina and anterior segment surgery.
An avid athlete since childhood, she’s climbed some of the world’s most demanding peaks. Yet her purpose has always extended beyond the mountains. Even as she trained for her 2011 Everest expedition, she was completing her final year of medical school – balancing 12-hour hospital shifts with 12,000-foot training ascents.
That discipline carried through to her surgical career. “There is tremendous overlap between climbing and ophthalmology,” she told EyeNet. “Keen focus, attention to detail, methodical planning, and the ability to quickly adapt are essential both in the OR and on a mountain.”
Her patients might never glimpse the steep ice walls or thin air she’s faced, but they experience the same mindset every time she walks into the operating room: calm, deliberate, and unwaveringly attentive.
Beyond the Summit
The EyeNet profile reignited attention to a journey that first captured headlines in 2011. That year, the Aspen Daily News chronicled how, on the night before her summit push, the then-27-year-old medical student sat in a tent at 26,000 feet – the notorious “death zone”- listening to hurricane-force winds batter the mountain and wondering if she should turn back.
“I was a wreck,” she later recalled. “I could have been done right then.”
Six hours later, the skies cleared. She emerged from her tent to see the curve of the earth beneath a blanket of stars and climbed on. By morning, she was standing at the top of the world. But it was what came after the summit that revealed her character even more.
A Rescue That Defined Her
As recounted in Jefferson University’s Dean’s Column, Dr. Lally’s team learned during their descent that fifteen climbers were missing high on the mountain.
Despite her own exhaustion after more than twenty hours of climbing, she joined the search and helped locate several frostbitten climbers suffering from life-threatening edema. Working by headlamp in sub-zero conditions, she thawed frozen saline, started IVs, and administered oxygen – all while communicating by radio with physicians at Base Camp. Her efforts stabilized the climbers until helicopters could complete one of the highest altitude rescues ever recorded.
For many who knew her then, that act of courage and composure foreshadowed the surgeon she would become – steady, skillful, and driven by compassion. As Jefferson’s dean later wrote, “Erin, one of our own, soon became somewhat of a legend in the mountaineering community, with our medical school front and center.”
Photos from Dr. Lally’s 2011 Mount Everest Expedition
Mountains and Medicine: Precision, Patience, Perseverance
When asked recently what mountaineering has taught her about medicine, Dr. Lally offered a reflection that now anchors her philosophy at Summit Eye Surgeons:
“Mountaineering has shown me that every climb is different, and each step requires patience, resilience, and respect for the individual journey. In the same way, I approach my patients with the understanding that their challenges are unique, and my role is to persevere with them – carefully, steadily, and with compassion – toward their best possible outcome.”
In both the mountains and medicine, perfection is not about speed but precision. Success comes from planning, adaptability, and respect for the process. The same qualities that helped her navigate icefalls and unpredictable storms now guide her through delicate corneal or retinal procedures, where fractions of a millimeter determine a patient’s visual future.
The Team Behind the Climb – and Behind the Care
Climbing Everest taught Dr. Lally that even the most personal achievements are never truly solitary. Every summit is supported by a team – guides, Sherpas, physicians, and fellow climbers who share responsibility for each other’s safety.
That same collaborative spirit defines her surgical practice today. In the operating room, precision depends on communication and trust: between surgeon, nurse, anesthesiologist, and patient. “Climbing, like surgery, has inherent risk,” she notes. “Preparation, knowledge, practice, and flexibility all help mitigate that risk.”
The View from Here
More than a decade after Everest, Dr. Lally continues to climb – though now her summits are measured not in altitude but in outcomes. She still trains outdoors, often with her two daughters, instilling in them the same love of movement and mastery that shaped her own life.
As she told EyeNet, “Whether it’s working in clinic, mothering my two daughters, or being present for my family, there is always a motivation to reach higher, dream bigger, and keep putting one foot in front of the other.”
See the Difference
At Summit Eye Surgeons, those words define the practice – a place where resilience meets refinement, and where every patient journey is treated as its own climb toward health and optimal outcomes.
To learn more about Dr. Erin Lally and the compassionate, expert care offered at Summit Eye Surgeons, request an appointment or consultation today!
