Surgical Exposure
Fellows benefit from a broad range of surgical exposure, as they operate with 10 surgical faculty, who take care of a diverse patient population. The Wills surgical experience includes trabeculectomies, Ahmed and Baerveldt tube shunts, and Xen gel stents. In the era of minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries (MIGS), we are proud of our increasing number of cataract surgeries, often in combination with iStents, Kahook dual blade (KDB), OMNI, Hydrus, gonioscopy-assisted transluminal trabeculotomy (GATT), endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation, toric IOLs, and sutured or scleral fixated IOLs. Importantly, fellows will gain have experience with complex surgical cases such as choroidal drainage, trabeculectomy revision, and tube revision and/or explantation. Fellows also play an active role in post-operative management of these surgical patients.
Research/Educational Opportunities
All fellows participate in research projects at Wills Eye and are expected to present original work at a national meeting, such as ARVO or AGS. The Wills Eye glaucoma service also runs a glaucoma research fellowship program whose participants focus on glaucoma research, but do not perform clinical care. Research fellows come to Wills from around the globe and are available to collaborate with clinical fellows on research projects. Fellows will have the opportunity to develop their own research projects and to get involved in ongoing research at Wills, including clinical trials, imaging studies, and device trials.
DIDACTICS
Glaucoma Rounds: Clinical glaucoma fellows host a weekly "Glaucoma Rounds" during which attendings, clinical and research fellows present on glaucoma topics of their choice for faculty, residents and medical students. At the conclusion of the presentation, attendings will expand the discussion to elaborate on the presented topic.
Chief’s Rounds: Fellows are expected to attend the weekly Wills Eye Chief Rounds where cases are presented by residents and the Wills faculty discuss diagnosis and management of complex ocular conditions.
Journal Club: One afternoon per month, attendings present and host a journal club reviewing the published glaucoma papers in major ophthalmology journals.
Fellow Mentorship Sessions: Continuing with the tradition of the fellowship, senior faculty members hosts bi-weekly meetings with the clinical fellows, that touch on a range of topics from the evolution of glaucoma surgery to the art of the doctor-patient relationship. During some sessions, the attendings may review the surgical videos on complex cataract and glaucoma surgeries.
Annual Saturday Morning Updates: Wills Eye Ophthalmology Update Series is the venue for physicians from (9) different ophthalmology service areas to present the latest procedures, research and treatment in their subspecialty.
Annual Board Review Course: Wills Eye hosts an annual review course for the American Board of Ophthalmology's certification exam. Lecturers for the review course also deliver evening courses in the months prior to the exam for Wills fellows.
Salary/Benefits
$50,000 Annual Salary. Fellows typically earn an additional $15,000 from required ER shifts. Fellows are given up to two weeks vacation with dates provided to the program well in advance.
Application
Please visit www.sfmatch.org to complete your application and for instructions on how to apply to our fellowship program.
Program Coordinator
If you have further questions, please contact our coordinator, Candice Hatty, by email at
chatty@willseye.org, or by phone at (215) 928-4704.
Last updated: September 14, 2023