As a fellow, you will be responsible for evaluating patients who are directed to the vitreoretinal service. All new patients will be thoroughly examined; patients who have been previously seen will be given an in-depth assessment that will help direct ongoing management. Exclusive of hospital rounds and participation in surgery at Mayo Clinic Hospital — Rochester, Methodist Campus; Mayo Clinic Hospital — Rochester, Saint Marys Campus; and at the Mayo Clinic outpatient facilities, your primary responsibilities during the day will be on the vitreoretinal service in the Mayo Building where you will participate in the care of patients under the direct supervision of retina service consultants. You will be responsible for the preoperative evaluation of patients that you will work with in the operating room, and will also assist with postoperative management and care of these patients, as well as any other patients hospitalized on the vitreoretinal service. Ward duties should minimize conflict with scheduled clinic OR work.

Conferences

During your two years of study, you will prepare and present two 25-minute lectures to the residents and staff. These may include discussions related to ongoing studies. You will also be responsible for a monthly morbidity conference focused on discussing difficult surgical and medical cases with retina service consultants and the residents on the service. In addition, you will also present a biweekly fluorescein angiogram conference, in conjunction with the service consultants, for presentation at the resident fluorescein angiogram conference.

Didactic training 

You will be encouraged to attend the department's didactic lecture series and will be asked to prepare one to two lectures during the retina-vitreous portion of the yearly lecture series.

Research training

Time will be delegated for you to participate in and complete one or more clinical or laboratory studies related to retinal and/or vitreous diseases. In some cases, laboratory experiments may be undertaken. Such studies must be approved by the departmental Research Committee and, if necessary, the Clinical or Laboratory Research Committees at Mayo Clinic. You will have access to the Mayo Clinic facilities necessary for the completion of the study. Efforts will be made when possible to support such studies fully, or in part, with research funds from outside the institution.

You will be encouraged to present your research findings at a meeting that appears appropriate for the subject material, such as the annual Mayo Clinic-sponsored Ophthalmic Reviews, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), or the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), Retina Society, Macular Society, or American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS).

Call frequency

During the fellowship, you will not be obligated to take routine eye emergency calls. For those emergencies that involve retina or vitreous surgery or the care of inpatients on the service, you will be expected to be available and share the service's on-call pager with the resident on the service.

Teaching opportunities

You will have the opportunity to teach Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine students, visiting students from other medical schools, and other residents in the clinical setting.

Evaluation

To ensure you gain proficiency and develop the corresponding technical skills, your performance is monitored throughout this program. You are formally evaluated by your supervising faculty member quarterly, and then meet accordingly with the program director to review these evaluations. In addition, you regularly evaluate the faculty to ensure your educational goals are being met.