Program Overview

The Residency Training Program in Ophthalmology at Icahn School of Medicine is approved for four residents per year for a period of three years and satisfies the training requirements of the American Board of Ophthalmology. The clinical training includes rotations at The Mount Sinai Hospital, Elmhurst Hospital Center, and the Bronx Veterans Administration Medical Center. First-year residents work up all inpatients and outpatients, take night and emergency calls, assist in the operating room, and receive an introduction to ophthalmic surgery. Responsibility for patient management is progressively transferred to residents. Second-year residents concentrate on various subspecialties with rotations on strabismus, neuroophthalmology, consultations with other services, corneal disease, glaucoma, ocular pathology, etc. During the third year, residents have the opportunity to learn and practice all surgical techniques and to receive concentrated instruction in the field of retinal disease. Opportunities for research are available during all three clinical years.

Each year the Department presents a course of study that covers both clinical and basic science aspects of ophthalmology. Ophthalmology faculty members, representing the various subspecialty areas, teach the course. In addition, faculty from other departments are used for areas of mutual interest, and visiting professors provide intensive instruction during the year. Daily rounds, seminars, and conferences are available to all residents by a unified faculty at all three hospitals. In addition, our residents attend the Greater New York Clinical Ophthalmology Lecture Series.

Quality Measures

  • Desirability
    Approximately 350 applications for 4 slots
    Fully matched in top approximately 10 percent
    Residents from a wide variety of medical schools
  • Performance
    In service examination - above national average
    American Board of Ophthalmology - approximately 95 percent pass rate
  • Program Accreditation
    Full since 1975 under current chair

Fellowships Offered

  • Glaucoma 1 position per year
  • Cornea 1 position per year
  • Uveitis 1 position per year
  • Vision Research 1-4 positions per year

Faculty

  • Clinical
    Full-time salaried: 16 (all subspecialties)
    Half-time salaried: 3
    Voluntary: approximately 90
  • Research
    Full-time salaried: 11

Research

  • Productivity
    Extensive basic and clinical, resulting in 84 articles in print or press for 2012-2013 academic year in peer-reviewed journals
  • Funding
    Major grants: NIH - 9 research, 1 CORE; RPB - 2 direct costs for current year: approximately $2.7 million
  • Resident Involvement
    20 publications/abstracts at last RRC review

Facilities

State-of-the-art, fully-equipped research and clinical facilities at Mount Sinai including seven-year-old faculty practice suites, diabetes center, recent laser and diagnostic high technology, optical dispensary, clinical trials suite with coordinators and excimer laser, CORE research facilities with machine shop, electronic shop, imaging and tissue culture suites. New fully-equipped clinical facilities at all three hospitals.

Patient Access

  • Clinics: Total of approximately 35,000 outpatient visits per year at all three hospitals with large surgical volume
  • Faculty Practice: Approximately 10,000 outpatient visits per year, with a Department-led Ophthalmology carve out network in place currently holding an exclusive capitated managed care contract

Strengths

  • High level of scholarship
  • Balanced clinical and research program
  • Depth and quality of clinical and basic science faculty