VA San Francisco: Ocular Disease Residency

NOTE: For information on nondiscrimination in federally conducted education and training programs, see: VHA Directive 1018.

Introductory Webinar Video

Mission Statement

The Optometric Residency Program at the University of California, Berkeley School of Optometry and its affiliate programs seek to recruit and admit the best-qualified post-graduate optometrists and to provide them with advanced clinical education and concentrated clinical experience in specialty areas of optometry in an institutional or hospital-based setting. This mentored educational and clinical experience prepares optometrists for lifelong scholarship in patient care, education, and optometric leadership.

The Optometry Residency Program at the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (SFVA) is a one-year post-doctoral clinical training program designed to provide advanced competency in clinical skills and scholarly development for recent optometry graduates within the multi-disciplinary clinical setting of this medical center.

Program Goals

The goals of our residency program are to enhance the residents’ proficiency and develop advanced clinical competency in providing high-quality eye care for the patients of this medical center.  During their time here, the resident will develop the ability to function as a member of the health care team through participation in a multidisciplinary health delivery system, and will enhance their scholarly development in the knowledge of clinical eye care and communication of that knowledge.

Time Commitment

The resident is expected to be in clinic five days per week, Monday-Friday from 8am to approximately 5pm. Urgent care follow-up may involve patient care outside these hours, but there are no on-call responsibilities.

Requirements for Residency Completion

Successful completion of the program requires satisfactory completion of a minimum of 1,200 direct patient encounters, three oral presentations at resident conferences, completion of patient logs and outcomes assessments, and completion of an acceptable manuscript. Upon successful completion of the program, a certificate will be awarded by Berkeley Optometry and SFVA.

Scholarly Development

• Journal Club reviews current and significant past literature in the management of ocular disorders
• Each resident presents three formal oral case reports at Berkeley Optometry affiliated Resident Lecture Series and submits an original manuscript of a clinical case report or literature review suitable for publication
• The residents participate in clinical teaching of fourth year optometry students under supervision of the staff optometrist and present in the weekly optometry clinical conference
• Residents are encouraged to attend continuing education programs of Berkeley Optometry, available at no or modest cost, and professional meetings held in the area

Curriculum

The program emphasizes learning through direct patient care with the residents having direct patient care responsibilities at SFVA Eye Clinic under the supervision of the program faculty for four and one-half days per week. Four hours per week are spent in attendance at the weekly optometry/ophthalmology clinical conference, optometry seminar, journal club, and UCSF Department of Ophthalmology grand rounds. The residents may attend the UCSF Department of Medicine grand rounds on Tuesdays during the noon hour as time allows. A few hours per week are available for independent study.

Clinic

Each resident will complete approximately 16,000 patientcare encounters per year. The clinical experience includes comprehensive and follow-up examinations for patients with ocular disease and the manifestations of systemic disease. In addition, one day a week for one-third of the year, each resident will provide a limited number of low vision evaluations and a modest number of contact lens examinations for patients with a medical indication. For one-third of the year, approximately twice a month, each resident will also function in a neuro-ophthalmology and ocular oncology clinic. After completing a three-lecture series on the fundamentals of cataract, glaucoma, and retinal detachment surgery, each resident will get the opportunity to observe each type of surgery during the year. The patient population is predominately middle-aged to elderly males, with a high incidence of ocular disease. The most common diagnoses are cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vascular occlusive disease, and other non-glaucomatous optic neuropathies. Immediate consultation with 13 UCSF subspecialist ophthalmologists (retina, glaucoma, cataract, cornea, uveitis, oculoplastics, neuro-ophthalmology, ocular oncology, ocular pathology) is available within the clinic. An excellent working relationship exists between optometry and ophthalmology. The program emphasizes interaction with physicians in the primary medical and specialty clinics.

Benefits

• Annual Salary of $55,034 (AY 2024-2025)
• 12 days of annual leave (vacation)
• 12 days of sick leave
• Authorized absence (educational leave) for outside educational activities (limit 10 days)
• Professional liability covered under the Federal Tort Claims Act
• Health care insurance

Admissions Eligibility Criteria

• US citizenship
• Attainment of an optometry degree from an accredited optometry school (ACOE)
• Cumulative optometry school GPA of 3.00 or greater on a 4.00 scale
• Successfully passing of National Board of Examiners in Optometry (NBEO) Part I, Part II, and TMOD prior to ORMatch rank deadline
• If male, proof of registration with Selective Service prior to the 26th birthday (Confirmation can be obtained at sss.gov)

How To Apply

Use the button below to apply for the SFVA residency through the ORMatch system of the National Matching Service.

The National Matching Service requires the submission of the following pieces of information that will later be supplied to SFVA.

• NBEO scores
• Letter of intent
• Curriculum vitae (CV)
• Copy of optometry school transcripts
• Three letters of recommendation

Selection Procedure

• After thoroughly evaluating the applicant pool, top candidates will be invited for an interview with SFVA program faculty.
• The program coordinator and faculty members decide which candidates to rank for the match and determine the sequential ranking of those candidates
• The final candidate ranking is submitted to ORMatch by the Residency Coordinator.
• ORMatch contacts the program with the results of the match.
• The program coordinator and the program director contact the matched candidates and confirm their intent to enroll in the residency program.
• Matched candidates submit official optometry school transcripts to the Residency Coordinator as required by the UC Berkeley Graduate Division.

Residency Coordinator