Curriculum
Our integrated PGY-1 Ophthalmology internship curriculum includes 3 months of clinical ophthalmology and 9 months of ophthalmology-customized broad patient care experiences across internal medicine and surgical subspecialties. Comprehensive clinical and surgical ophthalmology training during the PGY 2-4 years encompasses the entire spectrum of ophthalmic care, with focused clinical experience and didactics in all subspecialty areas:
- Anterior segment diseases
- Cataract
- Cornea
- Glaucoma
- Medical retina
- Neuro-ophthalmology
- Ocular oncology
- Oculoplastic and orbital surgery
- Ophthalmic pathology
- Pediatric ophthalmology
- Refraction, contact lenses, and low-vision aids
- Strabismus
- Uveitis and ocular inflammation
- Vitreoretinal surgery
Rotation schedule
| Rotation | Length |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive ophthalmology | 4 months |
| Ophthalmic pathology and neuro-ophthalmology | 2 months |
| Refraction, contact lenses, and low vision rehabilitation | 2 months |
| Oculoplastic and orbital surgery | 1 month |
| Cornea | 2 months |
| Medical retina | 1 month |
| Rotation | Length |
|---|---|
| Medical retina and vitreoretinal surgery | 2 months |
| Glaucoma surgery | 2 months |
| Pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus | 2 months |
| Anterior segment and cataract surgery | 4 months |
| Oculoplastic and orbital surgery | 2 months |
| Rotation | Length |
|---|---|
| Chief resident, Mayo Clinic | 9 months |
| Chief resident, Minneapolis VAMC | 3 months |
During the third year, residents rotate for three months at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System. A fully furnished apartment is provided near the VA medical campus
Didactics curriculum
Our program approaches the science and art ophthalmology from a variety of different angles:
- Weekly AAO Basic and Clinical Science Course didactic lectures
- Weekly Department of Ophthalmology grand rounds
- Weekly resident case conferences
- Weekly COS rounds on PGY-2-oriented topics (July-December)
- Weekly case presentation conferences
- Bimonthly retina imaging (fellow-led)
- Monthly retina imaging (faculty-led)
- Semiweekly optics didactics series for PGY-2 trainees (July-October)
- Ocular pathology didactics
- Monthly video-based surgical outcomes conferences
- Monthly subspecialty journal clubs
- Quarterly morbidity and mortality conferences
- Quarterly video-based ocular trauma conferences
- Quality Academy didactics program
Surgical and Procedural Training
- EyeSi surgical simulator (24-hour access)
- Surgical wet lab with eye bank human donor eyes (24-hour access)
- LASIK certification course
- Corneal suture course / wet laboratory
- Oculoplastics suture course
- Ophthalmology Olympics (procedural training workshop)
- Dedicated resident retinal laser clinics
- Resident oculoplastic procedure clinics