Glaucoma Fellowship

Overview

Learn From the Best

The Glaucoma Fellowship offers a unique opportunity to work with a large faculty who have extensive clinical experience and academic expertise. The Glaucoma Service, led by David S. Friedman, MD, MPH, PhD, includes some of the most well-known glaucoma specialists in the world. Our faculty have trained at premier institutions, including Mass Eye and Ear, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Duke Eye Center, Wills Eye Hospital, and Wilmer Eye Institute, to name a few. Lucy Shen, MD, (Director of the Fellowship) and Daniel Vu, MD, (Associate Director of the Fellowship) lead the fellowship and are committed to ensuring that fellows have the best training experience available to become future leaders in the field.

Unparalleled Clinical Training

Fellows learn how to manage the most difficult glaucoma cases, have opportunities to engage in research, and will have the support of our faculty in their career development. They are directly involved in clinical decision making and the surgical care of patients.

Fellows will:

• Work with attendings in outpatient glaucoma clinics
• Operate frequently, performing the entire range of glaucoma and cataract surgeries
• Perform glaucoma lasers
• Teach residents and other students who rotate through the service
• Staff residents in the Mass Eye and Ear Emergency Department
• Participate in educational meetings, including journal clubs, frequent faculty discussions, and national conferences

Alumni of the program have become glaucoma service directors, department chairs, and medical school deans. Our trainees are also well-represented within the American Glaucoma Society, the Glaucoma Research Society, and the American Ophthalmological Society.

AUPO-Certified

This fellowship is certified by the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology Fellowship Compliance Committee (AUPO FCC).

Program length: 1 year (beginning in July)

SF Match number: 4171

Number of fellows each year: 4

Requirements

Clinical Responsibilities

The medical management and surgical treatment of glaucoma—including pre- and postoperative care—are essential to training. Most of the fellow's time is committed to direct patient care on the Glaucoma Service at three locations:

• Mass Eye and Ear, Boston (243 Charles Street)
• Mass Eye and Ear, Longwood (800 Huntington Ave.)
• Jamaica Plain VA Hospital

In clinic, fellows are encouraged to make decisions regarding patient care, including formulating differential diagnoses and management plans. The attending physician works closely with the fellows in clinical decision making.

In the operating room, fellows are expected to perform both scheduled and emergency surgeries under the guidance of the attending physician. This includes everything from trabeculectomy, tube-shunt, MIGS, cataract surgery, pediatric glaucoma surgery, and tube revision, to bleb revision and more complex glaucoma surgeries combined with retina or corneal surgery. Fellows in this program typically perform over 400 surgeries as primary surgeon.

Glaucoma fellows take call for the Glaucoma Service about every fourth week. The on-call fellow is responsible for all glaucoma emergencies and admissions to the Glaucoma Service during weeknights and weekends. An assigned attending will be on call at all times and available for immediate backup for complicated cases, admission, or surgical procedures.

Fellows staff residents in the Mass Eye and Ear Emergency Department approximately one half-day per week for six months.

A detailed schedule of clinical responsibilities will be provided in July.

Facilities

All facilities are fully equipped to ensure that we provide optimal glaucoma care. This includes numerous devices that measure intraocular pressure, several visual field machines, a non-mydriatic fundus camera, and OCT machines for optic nerve imaging. Additional imaging devices, such as swept source OCT with OCT angiography, are available at Mass Eye and Ear's main campus.

Research Experience

Fellows are encouraged to pursue research projects, although it is not a requirement of the program. Faculty can provide resources and mentoring.

Fellows who would like to pursue academic careers should be aware that Mass Eye and Ear holds a career development grant allowing the institution to extend a K12 award to a fellowship-trained ophthalmologist. K12 awards provide a graduating fellow junior faculty status with 80% protected time for research. While this is a competitive award, Mass Eye and Ear fellows who demonstrate strong research potential will be given careful consideration.

Additional Activities

Journal Club

Glaucoma journal club occurs quarterly. All faculty and fellows are expected to attend. Fellows and residents will present several papers on a topic of clinical importance, with guidance from the glaucoma faculty.

Grand Rounds

Grand Rounds is held on Wednesday mornings. Glaucoma fellows are encouraged to attend.

Glaucoma Rounds

Glaucoma Rounds are held via Zoom frequently throughout the academic year. The glaucoma fellows present cases and surgical videos to the glaucoma faculty, who share their experience and clinical wisdom. If you would like to view a recording of a previous glaucoma rounds, please contact Lucy Shen.

Professional Societies

Our fellows are encouraged to apply for membership to the American Glaucoma Society.

How to Apply

Eligibility

All applicants must be eligible to obtain a full medical license per the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine.

Requirements

The Glaucoma Fellowship participates in the San Francisco Match Program: #4171

Applications are due in late August and must include:

• SF Match application
• Three letters of reference

Completed applications will be reviewed in September, and selected applicants will be invited for interviews in early October. More details are available at sfmatch.org.

Once matched, fellows must also complete a Mass Eye and Ear staff application.

Questions?

Contact: Dr. Lucy Shen or fellowship coordinator Acadia Monkman.

Fellowship and Faculty Contacts

• Lucy Shen MD Fellowship Director, Associate Professor in Ophthalmology
• Daniel Vu, MD Associate Fellowship Director, Assistant Professor in Ophthalmology
• Inas Aboobakar, MD
• Michael V. Boland, MD, PhD
• Teresa Chen, MD
• David S. Friedman, MD, PhD, MPH (Director, Glaucoma Service)
• Alessandro A. Jammal, MD
• Daniel Liebman, MD, MBA
•  Michael M. Lin, MD (Associate Director, Glaucoma Service)
• Milica Margeta, MD, PhD
• Courtney Ondeck, MD, MPhil
• Allison Soneru, MD
• Janey L. Wiggs, MD, PhD
• Nazlee Zebardast, MD, MSc