Matthew L. Burr, O.D.
Born in 1965, I grew up the third of four children in an army family. We lived in many interesting places, including Seoul, South Korea, and Bonn and Stuttgart, Germany. In the U.S., I've lived in Kansas, Texas, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
My father retired in 1983 to Carlisle and I attended Shippensburg University, graduating in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications/ Journalism. Soon upon graduating, I came to realize that my field was saturated with people looking for work--which meant that job-security was poor, and there would be little chance for advancement.
I took a job at the local Pearle Vision Center, thinking it would keep me going until I found a job in the field I had studied for--but it did sound like interesting work anyway. Eventually, I felt that this type of work was more to my liking than journalism, and I ended up working as an optician and manager for five years, while taking extra college courses on the side, to prepare for optometry school.
By 1992, I had completed the courses needed for admission to optometry school, and that fall I started at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Philadelphia. My wife Vicki came with me to Philly, and helped support me while I studied.
While in school I received special training in pediatric eye care at The Eye Institute, ocular disease training at Hahnemann University Hospital, and performed laser procedures at the Hafter Light and Laser Institute.
After graduation in May of 1996, I worked for four years for an optometrist in private practice in Carlisle. I eventually realized that the headache of owning my own business was not for me.
I soon found a good opportunity at Sears Optical. I'm an independent contractor, which means I'm my own boss--I simply lease my office space and equipment from Sears. I am pleased with this arrangement, since I can spend most of my time caring for patients, and relatively little on office management and paperwork.
I've filled in at the Lancaster, York, and Camp Hill Sears offices for vacationing optometrists, but my own office is in Hanover.
My wife and I live 40 minutes away in Boiling Springs. We have a daughter and two sons, a cat, and a golden retriever.
In my spare time I enjoy my family's company. I like messing around with my computer--which usually means trying to get it to run! I enjoy astronomy, listening to music, skiing, history, and collecting stamps and coins. Currently, I'm finishing off a spare room in our house.
Last Updated 7/27/05
