Overview
The goal of the one-year medical retina fellowship at the Cole Eye Institute is to provide the best advanced training in the world for the management of medical aspects of vitreoretinal diseases including basic uveitis and eye tumor exposure. The program’s emphasis is on providing the highest quality clinical experience that allows fellows to become thoroughly familiar with all aspects of non-surgical vitreoretinal diseases utilizing state-of-the-art medical management of these conditions, combined with research to advance the diagnosis and management of medical retina problems.
The various Cole Eye Institute locations provide care for 350,000 outpatient eye visits a year. The fellowship is based at the Cole Eye main campus, but complex medical retina patients seen at our various locations are also seen outside of our main campus for diagnosis and management as appropriate. The fellows will infrequently see patients at these regional sites. Fellows will also participate in staffing patient consults admitted to the main campus hospital (highest case mix severity index in the country).
Patients from all backgrounds who seek treatment at Cleveland Clinic cover a broad range of non-surgical retinal disease, including age related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, vein occlusion, macular hole and traction conditions, retinal dystrophies, various peripheral retinal disorders, posterior segment inflammatory and infectious conditions, and a large number of rare entities.
The fellowship is focused on medical retina, but medical retina fellows spend a good amount of time in clinic with our retina staff doctors who are surgeons. Medical retina fellows see patients with most of them and will see some preop and post op surgical cases (but not go to the OR) as well. This addition of surgical patients into the fellowship is a key strength of the program, providing education and experience with understanding which patients in a medical retina clinic might benefit from referral to a surgical colleague, and what to expect after a vitreoretinal surgery.
This intensive program of study includes the opportunity for fellows to perform common and advanced in office procedures (injections, lasers, and diagnostic/therapeutic taps) under the supervision of some of the world’s leading retinal physicians, in one of the finest ophthalmological facilities in the world. Faculty members are committed to developing tomorrow’s leaders in this subspecialty, ensuring that fellows acquire world-class skills during their training here. Fellows are given the opportunity to play a central role in the care and treatment of patients.
The fellowship includes a significant research component, reflecting the Cole Eye Institute’s underlying philosophy that synergy must exist between research and patient care. Fellows have an opportunity to participate in laboratory research at the Cole Eye Institute in the fields of cell biology, molecular biology, immunology and other relevant disciplines and publish in peer-reviewed journals. Fellows also are expected to conduct clinical research and publish their results. Dedicated research time is incorporated into the schedule. The faculty can assist in developing research projects at both the basic and clinical levels.
Fellows also gain experience in resident education. When residents rotate through the retina service, the fellows are available for consultation during clinic. Fellows also participate in the residency conference program, and they are responsible for directing and teaching in the regularly scheduled fluorescein angiography conference with the residents.
Ultimately, the medical retina fellowship at the Cole Eye Institute seeks to train the next future leaders in their field. Cole Eye Institute offers two medical retina fellowship slots each year.
Staff
Fellowship Program Director
Associate Fellowship Directors
- Amy Babiuch, MD - Staff
- Alex Yuan, MD, PhD - Staff
Teaching Faculty
- Rachel Downes, MD - Staff
- Justis P. Ehlers, MD- Staff
- Peter Kaiser, MD - Contract Staff
- Phoebe Lin, MD, PhD - Staff
- Careen Lowder, MD - Staff
- Kevin Keppel, MD - Staff
- Danny Mammo, MD - Staff
- Aleksandra Rachitskaya, MD - Staff
- Anath Sastry, MD - Staff
- Andrew Schachat, MD - Vice Chair Safety Quality and Patient Experience
- Jonathan Sears, MD - Staff
- Sumit Sharma, MD - Staff
- Arun Singh, MD - Staff
- Rishi Singh, MD - Staff
- Sunil Srivastava, MD - Staff, Department Chair
- Katherine Talcott, MD - Staff
- Elias Traboulsi, MD, MEd - Vice Chair Education
Clinical Experience
- Exposure to all of our current retina and uveitis faculty (please place a link to our department at Cole here)
- Uveitis, retinal dystrophy, tumor/oncology, and pediatric retina built into core rotations
- Exposure to any of the above can be increased depending on your interests
- High quality support staff, dedicated clinical nurses and physician assistants
- Multiple lasers, injections, and other clinical procedures
- Opportunity to teach residents to perform lasers and injections
- Outstanding imaging center conveniently located within clinic area with excellent staff
- Every SD-OCT machine commercially available (multiple models)
- Multiple OCT-A devices
- Optos and Heidelberg wide-angle imaging
- Superb ultrasonography department who train fellows in B-scan techniques
- ERG department with education on reading and interpretation throughout the year
- Lanes with direct access to imaging results (Zeiss Forum viewer)
- State-of-the-art EPIC electronic medical record with remote access to hospital databases
- Outstanding advanced imaging research programs
- OCT reading center
Salary, Rotations & Call Schedule
Salary & Benefit Information
- Paid at the PGY5 level
- Health, vision, dental benefits
- Discounted Cleveland Clinic health insurance for you, your spouse, and your family
- Disability and life insurance included
- Medical license fees paid for by the Cleveland Clinic
Schedule/Rotation Information
Sample Rotation Schedule
| Day | Rotation |
|---|---|
| Monday | Retina Uveitis |
| Tuesday | Retina |
| Wednesday | Medical Retina Surgical Retina |
| Thursday | Peds Retina Research/ROP |
| Friday | Retina Uveitis |
Additional Time:
- Inherited retinal diseases and retinal dystrophies: one day per month
- Additional medical retina days
- Ocular oncology: two half days per month
Call Information
- No retina call required
Conferences & Research
Conferences
- Weekly retina conference to discuss interesting cases
- Monthly fluorescein conference prepared by residents
- Journal clubs hosted at faculty homes or restaurants
- Uveitis Update Course, North Coast Retina Symposium, Cole Eye Imaging Summit (Pre-ASRS), Cole Retina Summit (Pre-ARVO), (ISOO) International Society of Ocular Oncology
- No weekend lectures
- Periodic national courses hosted by Cole Eye Institute
Research Highlights
- Scheduled research time
- Participation as co-investigator in multiple clinical trials
- Covered expense allowance provided for national meetings, if presenting
- Strong basic and translational science research group onsite
- Database support to facilitate chart reviews
- Great electronic access to library resources. Receive rare journal articles delivered directly to your e-mail
