Residency Training Program

Dr. C. Robert Bernardino, Residency Program Director, meets with the residents to discuss grand rounds case presentations.

The goal of the Yale Ophthalmology Residency Program is to train future leaders in both clinical and academic ophthalmology.  In order to achieve this mission, the resident’s day-to-day responsibilities has been meticulously structured be maximize the educational experience. 

In the first year of training, residents master examination skills and management of the general ophthalmology patient. In the second year , residents focus on medical and surgical evaluation and management of the specialty patient. In the third year, complicated surgical management is the focus.

• First Year
• Second Year
• Third Year
• Conferences
• Research Project
• New Haven
• How to Apply

First Year

During the first year of training, residents’ time is typically structured as follows:

• three months at the West Haven VA Medical Center, staffing the general ophthalmology clinic;  
• three months on the hospital-based Clinic Service at Yale-New Haven Hospital;
• three months on the combined Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery and Ophthalmic Pathology rotation;
• three months on Neuro-ophthalmology and Pediatric Ophthalmology/Strabismus rotation. 

During the first year, residents typically perform, as primary surgeon:

• one extracapsular cataract extraction,
• 5-10 glaucoma laser procedures,
• 20 ophthalmic plastic surgery procedures, including temporal artery biopsy, blepharoplasty, ptosis repair, lid tumor resection, and lid laceration repair. 

During the Hospital- Based Clinic and Ophthalmic P lastic rotations, there are also extensive opportunities to assist senior surgeons in a wide variety of anterior segment and ophthalmic plastic procedures.

Second Year

During the second year of training, residents spend rotations of three months each in Cornea and External Disease/Refractive Surgery/Uveitis, Glaucoma, and Vitreoretinal Surgery, as well as three months at the VA Medical Center. 

• While on the Cornea service, residents are exposed to a wide variety of corneal and external disease problems. Experience includes:
• s urgical experience: assisting on penetrating keratoplasty, with a graded introduction to placing corneal sutures of high structural and refractive quality;  
• e xposure to a wide range of tertiary care uveitis patients in the Uveitis Clinic;
• exposure to the Contact Lens service.

During the Vitreoretinal rotation, residents work with four retina faculty members and two clinical fellows. Experience includes:

• exposure to t he nuances of a peripheral retinal examination, including scleral depression and retinal drawing; . 
• evaluation of ophthalmic echography, fluorescein angiography, and electro-physiology;
• operative experience: scleral buckles, and opening and closing vitrectomy cases, assisting on complicated vitrectomies.

On the Glaucoma rotations, residents interact with three full-time attendings and a clinical fellow. Residents will :

• learn various examination techniques, including:
• anterior chamber angle evaluation
• optic nerve evaluation
• the use of diagnostic studies such as visual field testing, ultrasound biomicroscopy, and optic nerve and nerve fiber layer imaging
• gain exposure to a wide range of medical and surgical therapeutic modalities for glaucoma

At the VA Medical Center, the second-year resident is responsible for running a busy, general clinic.  Subspecialty clinics are held at the VA in all major areas.  During this rotation, the resident typically will:

• perform 10 to 15 extracapsular cataract extractions (ECCE), and begin to make the transition to phacoemulsification;  
• perform three ophthalmic plastic surgery cases per week.

Third Year

The third year of residency training includes:

• a three- month rotation at the Hill Health Center;
• the three-month combined Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery and Pediatric Ophthalmology/ Strabismus rotation, during which one month is spent in the Bahamas at the Princess Margaret Hospital;
• t wo three-month rotations at the VA Medical Center,

The VA Medical Center provides the bulk of the Class 1 (primary surgeon) anterior segment surgical experience during the residency.  With the introduction of modern cataract surgery technology, including phacoemulsification, clear cornea incisions, foldable lenses, and topical anesthesia, a dramatic increase in OR efficiency has ensued.  As a result, the cataract surgery volumes at the VA Medical Center have doubled over the past five years.  Third year residents at the VA typically perform around 120 phacoemulsifications a year.  In addition, third year residents usually perform 4-8 trabeculectomies, several vitrectomies and scleral buckles, and 1-2 penetrating keratoplasties.

The rotation at Hill Health Center provides additional clinical and surgical experience in a public health care community eye clinic. The Yale full- time faculty and voluntary community faculty supervise the clinics. A variety of surgical cases are generated from this clinic, including 10-15 phacoemulsifications per rotation. An expansion is underway to include onsite diagnostic testing and laser treatment.

The three-month the combined Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery and Pediatric Ophthalmology/Strabismus rotation allows the 3rd year resident the opportunity to hone specialized surgical techniques .
A unique aspect of the Ophthalmology residency at Yale is the four-week rotation at Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau, Bahamas.  During this time, the senior resident provides a large portion of the eye care for the island’s indigent population.  Typically, 30 anterior segment procedures are performed, including ECCE, phacoemulsification, anti-metabolite trabeculectomy, and traumatized globe repair. Two U.S. fellowship- trained ophthalmologists, who practice on the island, work closely with the resident in a supervisory and consultative fashion, and a Yale faculty member visits for one week during each rotation. T his rotation allows residents to develop a newfound sense of autonomy in patient management, as well as an appreciation for the epidemiologic issues facing a developing country.

Conferences

Generally, half of the resident complement attends the annual Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meeting to present research results.  Most senior residents also attend the annual American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) meeting. 

• Weekly conferences at Yale typically consist of six one-hour didactic sessions, clinical case management conferences, and Grand Rounds.  The latter is attended by full-time and community ophthalmologists and includes bi-weekly guest lecturers and bi-monthly clinical challenges sessions in which community ophthalmologists bring particularly interesting or challenging cases for discussion. 
• Highlights of the academic year are the Yale Spring Resident Research Day Conference, Alumni Day Symposium (held in June), honoring residents and alumni, and the Yale Glaucoma Symposium (held each September).

Research Project

Research is an integral part of the residency experience.  Each resident is required to prepare two projects over the three-year period, which will be presented during their second and third years at the Annual Spring Residents Research Day Conference. 

• It is expected that this project will result in a peer-reviewed publication and will likely be presented at either ARVO or the AAO.  The strong emphasis on resident research is one of the reasons our residents enjoy a high rate of success at attaining competitive post-residency clinical fellowships.

New Haven and Its Surroundings

New Haven, Connecticut, is a coastal community of approximately 125,000 people, located along the northern shore of Long Island Sound. Located 90 miles from New York City and 130 miles from Boston, New Haven offers the cosmopolitan flavor of a large city without the drawbacks of commuting and expensive housing.  Although getting to these big cities is an easy day trip by either car or train, many residents find such travel rarely necessary because of the diverse assortment of restaurants, theater, sporting events, and recreational activities available locally. Click here for more about life in New Haven.

How to Apply

On average, we receive 350-450 completed applications per year.  Of these, 50 applicants are invited to interview in November or December for the four positions.

Applicants use the Central Application Service of the Ophthalmology Matching Program.  The OMP can be contacted at:

Ophthalmology Matching Program
P.O. Box 45161
San Francisco, CA  94145-0161   

or by visiting www.sfmatch.org

International medical graduates must first register with the ECFMG (www.ecfmg.org).

For successfully matched applicants, Greenwich Hospital, an affiliate of the Yale-New Haven Health System, accepts applications to their transitional program. Many other options are available in southern Connecticut, including a primary medicine year at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and traditional and transitional years at St. Raphael’s Hospital, also in New Haven.

Contact Us

James C. Tsai, MD
Chairman
james.tsai@yale.edu

C. Robert Bernardino, MD
Program Director
robert.bernardino@yale.edu

James E. Kempton, MD
Assistant Professor
Associate Program Director
james.kempton@yale.edu

Erica Fritz
Residency Coordinator
erica.fritz@yale.edu

Yale Eye Center
40 Temple Street
P.O. Box 208061
New Haven, CT 06520-8061

To Apply

Use the Central Application Service of the Ophthalmology Matching Program:

Ophthalmology Matching Program
P.O. Box 45161
San Francisco, CA  94145-0161. 
www.sfmatch.org.
 
International medical graduates must first register with the ECFMG (www.ecfmg.org).