By Brie Cohen, staff writer

Dr. Leonid Skorin Jr. is quite excited about the new clock on the mantel in his living room.

This is no ordinary clock; it is the 2006 Albert Lea Medical Center&8217;s Distinguished Clinician Award. Instead of a certificate, the winner is given a clock with an engraving.

Skorin, an ophthalmologist at the Albert Lea Eye Clinic, won the award after being nominated by three of his colleagues.

The award is given annually to a clinician who &8220;personifies excellence in healthcare,&8221; the Albert Lea Medical Center said.

&8220;It&8217;s a great honor, it&8217;s nice to be known that you&8217;re recognized and respected by your peers, because you never really know what they think of you,&8221; Skorin said, &8220;I work real hard here.&8221;

The award winner is selected by a committee comprising the medical director, division chairs, past medical staff president and chief administrative officer that look at all of the nominees.

Optometrist Eric Youlden was one of the nominators. Youlden said he nominated Skorin because he is always willing to see extra patients and he works long hours to accommodate people.

Youlden said that Skorin is great because of his passion to mentor fourth-year optometry students.

Skorin wanted to start the internship program when he came to the Albert Lea Eye Clinic seven years ago. Now, Skorin has optometry interns from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., come in. Skorin requires the interns to be working when he is working. Skorin also said that the interns are required to write an article to be published in a journal and to do a medical review of a textbook.

&8220;He works them pretty hard, but they do a lot here,&8221; Youlden said.

Skorin agrees.

&8220;Some of them like me, even though I drive them crazy.&8221;

But he said that his student interns always thank him for the work ethic later.

Besides mentoring interns and working as the only optometrist in the county, Skorin is the editor of a Canadian surgical journal of ophthalmology and he is trying to incorporate new techniques into his work.

One new technique, glaucoma laser procedures, is something the doctor said no one else around here is doing. The procedure is for people who have both glaucoma and cataract. Skorin can do the laser procedure for both problems at the same time. He said that this helps the patient because the healing time is shorter because the patient only has to heal once, not twice.

Skorin is getting trained to give botox injections to help patients with headaches.

When he is not working he likes to go kayaking on local lakes and take

bike rides. He also enjoys cruising around in his 1956 Chevrolet convertible with his wife and taking the car to car shows around the area.