Fellowship Information

Fellowship Structure

  • Surgical experience:
    • The fellow will spend approximately two to three days a week in the operating room with three faculty surgeons. 
    • The fellow can expect approximately 100 primary retinal surgeries (scleral buckling and pars plana vitrectomies) during the first year of training and over 450 primary cases during the second year of training.
    • Facilities:
      • We have three retina-ready operating suites: an ambulatory surgical center and an inpatient surgical unit, both housed in Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., and an additional surgical center located 45 minutes away at United Hospital Center in Bridgeport, W.Va.  We enjoy state-of-the-art equipment and use 25, 27 and 23-gauge vitrectomy, using the most advanced systems, in all of our locations. The operating rooms contain state-of-the-art microscopes with in-room screen visualization and digital recording capability. All suites are equipped and ready for all aspects of advanced vitreoretinal surgery.
  • Medical experience:
    • The fellow will spend approximately three days a week in clinic with four faculty members. The time will be structured to optimize the fellow's experience in the following areas:
      • Post-operative care and management of surgical complications.
      • Diagnosis and treatment of uveitic diseases.
      • Diagnosis and treatment of a broad spectrum of medical retinal diseases.
    • Facilities:
      • The Eye Institute houses 40 examination rooms.
      • Our Diagnostic capabilities include ophthalmic ultrasonography, ultra-widefield ophthalmic photography, spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT/A), fundus auto-fluorescence (FAF), Fluorescein angiography (IVFA), Indocyanine Green angiography (ICG), and electrophysiological assessment.
      • Our in-office interventional capabilities include a state-of-the-art minor procedure room, four lasers, including two Argon (one pattern with indirect headset attachment), one YAG, and one Excimer laser. In addition, the clinic is fully equipped for intravitreal injections, photodynamic therapy and pneumatic cryopexy. Nursing staff is provided for logistical support and to assist with the preparation for in-office procedures.
  • Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP):
    • The fellow will spend approximately one-half day a week assisting in the screening and treatment of newborns at risk for retinopathy of prematurity.
  • Research:
    • The fellow will participate as sub-investigator on multiple ongoing clinical trials. 
    • The fellow is required to be involved or initiate at least one clinical research project leading to presentation or publication per academic year.
  • Teaching
    • The fellow is required to supervise and teach WVU Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences residents and medical students in clinics. Fellows have historically acted as a junior mentor for our residents in training.
    • The fellow is expected to lead our monthly retina/FA conferences with the assistance of the rotating resident, and under the supervision of a retina faculty.
    • The fellow is expected to attend weekly Grand Rounds and other retinal conferences as well as monthly Journal Clubs.
    • Additional teaching and mentoring of residents is expected when staffing the Veterans Administration Medical Center, located in Clarksburg, W.Va.

Benefits

  • Stipends and Benefits
  • Paid BLS and ACLS course fees
  • Paid Pathology course fees
  • One academic meeting per year, additional meetings when presenting.
  • 15 days of vacation per year
  • Free parking
  • Meal allowance card

Call Schedule

  • Retina call: the call is on average split one week at a time between both fellows with an average retina call of two weeks per month.
  • General call: the fellows share general call with our departmental clinical faculty which averages approximately four weeks per year.

More information can be found in the Vitreoretinal Fellowship Handbook.

For any additional questions contact the fellowship coordinator:

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The WVU Department of Ophthalmology participates in the Central Application Service (CAS) through the San Francisco Match. All applications must be submitted through CAS. Our application deadline is October 31.