During the program’s four years, residents are provided with clinical exposure in multiple facilities to gain mastery of the ophthalmology knowledge and judgment needed while assuming increasing levels of responsibility for the medical and surgical management of patients with a wide variety of acute and chronic ophthalmic diseases. Because we recognize that ophthalmology education continues beyond the residency training years, we emphasize the importance of self-directed study habits.
Four residents begin each July for a total of sixteen trainees. While training at our multiple facilities, each resident is exposed to a high volume of cases in a diverse patient population with a wide variety of ophthalmic needs—all of this while being given increasing responsibilities in a one-on-one teaching environment with our attendings.
For more information on the UC San Diego Viterbi Family Department of Ophthalmology Residency Program, please contact Robyn Austin, Residency Program Manager, at rkaustin@health.ucsd.edu
SEI Facts
The 91,000’ square Shiley Eye Institute includes the Ratner Children’s Center, the Jacobs Retina Center, and the Hamilton Glaucoma Center—clinics, surgery suites, research labs, administrative space, and, in the main Shiley building, the Weyland Residency Library. Because we are a multi-facility department with a complex patient profile, the clinical and surgical experience of the UC San Diego Ophthalmology resident is outstanding. Several Faculty have been added in the past couple of years which has opened up more surgical opportunities to residents, as evidenced by the following surgical totals reported by our recent graduates:
• For the combined 2014 to 2018, total procedures averaged over 1000 per resident year as the primary surgeon