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Didactic Education
Residents receive didactic education in the classroom
on an ongoing basis. Once each week, all residents
attend a mandatory half-day program that includes
faculty lectures that, over the course of the three-year
program, cover each of the required subjects in the
American Academy of Ophthalmology Basic and
Clinical Sciences Course. These lectures are followed
by Grand Rounds, which consist of presentation and
discussion of specific patient cases, and faculty lectures
on clinical topics related to ophthalmic subspecialties.
Throughout the week, clinical conferences in ophthalmic
subspecialties are held where problems are presented
and discussed.
Surgery Training
Residents begin to perform surgery in their first year
of training and continue to operate throughout their
residency. Surgical cases are assigned commensurate
with level of training and experience. First-year residents
begin in the Institute’s Microsurgery Laboratory,
an organized surgical course that includes computerized
surgical simulators. This facility is available to
residents throughout their training. Residents first assist
on selected surgical cases; by the end of their residency,
they are performing procedures independently.
Research
An understanding of and an appreciation for research
are major prerequisites for assimilating future developments
in ophthalmology. Accordingly, ophthalmic
research is an integral component of residency training.
Residents are expected to undertake independent
investigation or to participate in ongoing clinical or
basic science research projects in ophthalmology. They
present the results of their work at the Jules Stein
Eye Institute Clinical and Research Seminar during
their second and third years of residency. They are
also encouraged to report their studies at regional and
national meetings and publish their results in scientific
journals. Residents with special clinical or research
interests have an opportunity to use elective time to
increase their exposure to a particular area of ophthalmology.
This time can be spent with full-time or volunteer
faculty at UCLA or at other institutions.
EyeSTAR Program
For physicians who are interested in academic careers
and professional leadership as clinician-scientists, the
Jules Stein Eye Institute offers an Ophthalmology
Specialty Training and Advanced Research Program,
referred to as EyeSTAR, which offers vision-science
training combined with an ophthalmology residency.
Appointees complete a residency program leading to
certification in ophthalmology, as well as laboratory
research experience leading to a doctorate, or postdoctoral
training in the event that the trainee already has a
doctorate. EyeSTAR trainees work under the guidance
of a faculty advisory panel representing the trainee’s
clinical and research interests.
The unique program began in 1995 and is geared to
physicians committed to academic careers in ophthalmology,
combining basic science with clinical practice
in a five-year or six-year curriculum. EyeSTAR graduates
are trained to compete not just with clinical
scientists but also with top basic scientists from all
institutions. Trainees select their faculty mentors
from the Vision Research Division of the Jules Stein
Eye Institute or from the David Geffen School of
Medicine at UCLA, College of Letters and Sciences,
School of Public Health, Clinical Scholars Program, and
RAND Graduate School.
EyeSTAR is recognized by the National Eye Institute
and the Association of University Professors of
Ophthalmology as a model training program for
clinician-scientists in ophthalmology.
Programs | Training Programs 87