The Residency Program in Ophthalmology lasts 36 months and is conducted at 3 sites in northern New Jersey. The New Jersey Medical School, the parent institution, is located in Newark, NJ, and includes University Hospital (UNH) and its outpatient facility, the Doctors Office Center (DOC). Additionally, 2 affiliated hospitals—the Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in East Orange, NJ, and the Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC) in Jersey City, NJ—participate in this program. A total of 15 residents are admitted to the 3-year program, 5 residents in each year of training. The Residency Program Director is Paul D. Langer, MD.

The overall goals of the Ophthalmology Residency Program of the New Jersey Medical School are to provide residents with superior clinical training in every subspecialty of ophthalmology and to afford opportunities for productive clinical and/or basic science research.

The Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Science is unique in that it is the only institute in northern New Jersey to offer an Ophthalmology Residency Program and the only program in the State of New Jersey staffed by full-time academic ophthalmologists. As a result, residents benefit from an exceptionally large number of patient visits, are exposed to a broad spectrum of ophthalmic pathology, and receive the utmost in attending supervision in both the clinical setting and the operating room.

Following the introductory course, residents begin a series of five 10-week rotations in the first year. Two of these rotations are spent at University Hospital: one involves staffing the General Eye Clinic and the second involves staffing each of the subspecialty clinics. In the General Eye Clinic, the first-year resident is responsible for day-to-day management of the inpatient and consult service as well as examination of all emergency patients. In contrast, the subspecialty first-year resident rotates each week through each of 6 different subspecialty clinics: retina, cornea, neuro-ophthalmology, low vision, contact lens, and uveitis. Additionally, the subspecialty first-year resident spends 3 full days per month in the Ophthalmic Pathology Department at Wills Eye Hospital, reviewing ocular histopathology slides from their extensive slide collection as well as current pathology specimens obtained during surgery. The subspecialty experience provides early exposure to the management of a varity of problems, both common and complex, in each of the ophthalmic disciplines. In both the general eye and subspecialty clinics, first-year residents are continually mentored by both attending physicians and more senior residents.

Of the 3 remaining first-year rotations, 2 are spent at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and 1 at the Jersey City Medical Center. Each of these rotations provides opportunities for first-year residents to begin assisting in intraocular surgeries. Following an introductory microsurgery course held early in the year (see below), first-year residents begin performing their first cataract extractions at these affiliated hospitals. By the end of the first year, residents will have performed at least 5 intraocular surgeries and assisted in several dozen others.

During the second year, residents rotate through 3 subspecialty services: retina, neuro-ophthalmology, and pediatric ophthalmology/strabismus. On these rotations, residents work closely with faculty and are responsible for the inpatient, outpatient, and surgical management of all patients on their service. The second-year retina rotation, for example, includes 2 days per week in the operating room at University Hospital, where the resident is first assistant on all vitreoretinal procedures. The remaining 3 days are devoted to the outpatient clinical care, under the supervision of the full-time faculty. The resident evaluates patients with retinal disorders, provides laser photocoagulation for retinal vascular disease, and interprets fluorescein angiograms. Given their level of responsibility and close working relationship with the faculty, residents on the subspecialty rotations function essentially as clinical fellows.

Third-year residents complete 2 subspecialty rotations at University Hospital in glaucoma/oculoplastics and cornea/refractive surgery. Here again, residents work closely with faculty and function essentially as clinical fellows. The resident doing the cornea rotation, for example, devotes time to the operating room, the Cornea and Laser Vision Institute (in Teaneck, NJ), private cornea practice, and cornea clinics, working one-on-one with full-time faculty members in each setting. The unique experience at the Cornea and Laser Vision Institute—one of the few resident rotations of its kind in the country—ensures that the resident will be certified in excimer laser refractive surgery by the end of the rotation.

All didactic lectures, rounds, and conferences are conducted at the Doctors Office Center, the central teaching facility of this program. The didactic schedule comprises lectures and conferences on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings and are conducted primarily by the full-time faculty. Didactic lectures can be viewed by teleconference at the Jersey City Medical Center.

On Monday mornings, lectures alternate among the neuro-ophthalmology, retina, cornea, and glaucoma services. Wednesday morning lectures comprise retinal lectures, pathology didactic lectures, and fluorescein conferences. In addition, on the fourth Wednesday morning of the month, the first-year residents will attend an ophthalmic pathology lecture by Dr. Mirani in the Department of Pathology, followed by a 30-minute review of all pathologic specimens generated the previous week.

On the second and fourth Friday of each month, all residents are required to attend the Mortality and Morbidity conference run by Drs. Zarbin, Langer, Guo, and Khouri at 6:45 AM. On the first Friday morning of the month at 7:00 AM, a neuro conference or a retina lecture is held. The third Friday morning of the month is dedicated to Orbital Conference, a multispecialty conference involving orbital surgery, neuroradiology, and pathology. The third-year resident on the plastics rotation and the second-year neuro resident are responsible for preparing the cases with input and assistance from Drs. Langer and Turbin. Grand Rounds are held the third Monday evening of each month and include a resident lecture followed by the main presentation.

The second Friday morning of each month is devoted entirely to didactic teaching.  All clinics throughout the residency are cancelled on these days.  Following the Mortality and Morbidity Conference, residents present cases to the faculty and residents for discussion, followed by two to three hours of lectures and conferences.

First-year residents are subsidized to attend the free optics review course held one weekend in March at Baylor in Houston, Texas, for which the department pays airfare and housing. Finally, the department offers an introductory microsurgery course every August to orient new residents to the surgical aspects of ophthalmology.

Resident research projects are mandatory, and the faculty participates actively in guiding residents in their research endeavors. Second- and third-year residents are required to complete a research project and to present the results at the annual Resident/Alumni Day Meeting. Travel funds are available for residents whose abstracts are accepted for presentation at national meetings (Table1), such as the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology or the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Following the two week introductory course, first-year residents are on 24-hour in-house call approximately once every sixth night. Second-year residents are on 24-hour in-house call once every month: they cover all Friday nights and take in-house call 2 Saturdays during the year, for a total of 12 times per year for each second-year resident. Third-year residents take in-house call 2 Saturdays during the year and are on back-up call for surgical emergencies when they are doing rotations at University Hospital. All residents receive 4 weeks’ vacation over the course of the year. Residents are also provided financial support to attend any meeting at which their research has been accepted for presentation.

Salary levels are as follows: PGY–I, $50,808.00; PGY-II, $54,251; PGY-III, $57,572; PGY-IV, $60,934.