Cory J. Pickett, MSN, FNP-BC, CRNO
Director of Refractive Surgery
Cory joined Rush Eye Associates in 2015 and has over two decades of experience in the field of vision correction. He is board-certified by the American Society of Ophthalmic Registered Nurses and the American Nursing Credentialing Center. Cory heads up the vision correction program at Rush Eye Associates. He also serves as a provider in our Clovis, NM, office.
Cory received a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of Phoenix, a bachelor’s degree in Biology
from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, and a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Texas Woman’s University. He completed his Master of Science in Nursing from Purdue University-Global, where he was elected a member of the Beta Epsilon Tri-Alpha Honor Society. Cory completed the Bay Area Ophthalmology Course at Stanford University. He also was awarded an international post-graduate diploma with the highest honors from Ulster University in Northern Ireland, where he received additional training in cataract and refractive surgery under some of the renowned authorities in the field, including Dr. Dan Reinstein from the London Vision Clinic.
Cory is a native of Doyline, LA, a small town in northwest Louisiana, and is a proud Panther. He was a multi-sport athlete in high school but settled on golf, which he played collegiately. In the year 2000, he decided to have LASIK on his own eyes. The procedure had such an impact on his life that he decided to devote his career to helping others achieve the visual freedom that he has experienced. Cory began his career under the direction of his LASIK surgeon, Dr. James Lusk in Shreveport, LA, who was one of the original training surgeons after LASIK received FDA approval in 1997. He was intimately involved as advancements in custom LASIK technology were introduced in the early 2000s. Of note, Dr. Lusk was an ophthalmology resident with Dr. Avery Rush in San Antonio, TX.
Cory has extensive experience with and is certified on multiple laser platforms, and he has personally calculated over 15,000 LASIK and PRK procedures. He has experience in the latest advancements in LASIK software and diagnostics. He has counseled thousands of patients on their vision correction options. He has been invited to provide training for practices across the United States. For the past two decades, he has been a frequent panelist and lecturer at several of the largest ophthalmology conferences in the world, including the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Society of Ophthalmology Administrators, and the San Antonio Ophthalmology Symposium. Cory can often be found collaborating with Mike Malley of the Centre for Refractive Marketing, whom Cory considers the leading refractive surgery practice development specialist in the world and a friend and mentor.
He was the first nurse practitioner in the world to be selected as a member of the Refractive Surgery Alliance (RSA), which is a collaboration of the leading vision correction providers from across the globe. His experience and expertise led to him being awarded a faculty position with the RSA, where he helps lead educational programs several times per year on a variety of vision correction topics.
Cory has presented over a dozen research projects nationwide as part of clinical research performed at Rush Eye Associates and is also a visual scientist member of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. He enjoys being active in clinical research that furthers the development of vision correction surgery, including participation in clinical trials and studies from industry-sponsored grants from some of the leading ophthalmic companies in the world. His current clinical research interests include advancing treatments for keratoconus, presbyopia, and corneal scars, along with other advancements in laser vision correction and cataract surgery, including the light adjustable lens, which he is certified by RxSight to perform adjustments to the lens after patients have undergone cataract surgery.
Cory has been featured in publications such as Cataract and Refractive Surgery Today, Ophthalmic Professional, and the Review of Ophthalmology. He was a co-author (along with Dr. Sloan Rush) of a Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO) Course on refractive surgery.
Cory and his wife Jennifer have three children, Emily, Lizzy, and Jackson. When time permits, he enjoys spending time with his family, and can often be found in the stands cheering on his children in their active endeavors. He also enjoys cheering on his home-state LSU Tigers.