I'm finishing up my ophthal training in Melbourne, & would love to do my fellowship in the US. I'm having heaps of trouble though working out all the different medical board / license rules, bc every state is different.

It would be awesome if I could get in touch with some surgical fellows in the US who have managed to get through all the red tape. If anyone knows any Aussie or British or NZ fellows working in their hospital, I'd love some help to get in contact with them. (I'll send you my email address, or you could send me theirs).

We often have US or Canadian fellows at the Eye & Ear Hospital in Melbourne, & they have no trouble getting a license. It seems like it's much harder the other way. Most Aussies take the easy road & go to the UK, but I kinda have my heart set on the US. :love:

Any advice?????

Mark,

Check out the BMJ careers website. They have a section called "share your international experience" - the people who have posted are willing to be contacted, and several have been to the US. Whilst none are ophthalmologists, much of the advice you need is "generic". Here is the link - http://classified.bmj.com/cgi-bin/section.pl?sn=int/world

How do you rate ophthalmology training in Australia? I'm from Australia originally but came over to the UK to do my PhD and medical degree (at Cambridge). I'm thinking of heading back home to do post-grad training. I understand that ophthalmology is as competitive in Australia as it is in the UK.

How do you rate ophthalmology training in Australia? I'm from Australia originally but came over to the UK to do my PhD and medical degree (at Cambridge). I'm thinking of heading back home to do post-grad training. I understand that ophthalmology is as competitive in Australia as it is in the UK.

Thanks for the reply. I've checked out the website & it's very good.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my training so far. I'm from Queensland, but came down to Melbourne to train at the Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hosp. It's a great place to work & I think, the best ophthalmology teaching hospital in the country. (Although the guys at Sydney Eye Hosp would disagree I'm sure. :) ) The focus is much more on training than some other hospitals, where registrars are used as workhorses in a service role, without much teaching. It's a very academic environment here, with an hour of consultant teaching per day on average - Angiogram meetings, Neuro-ophthal lectures, neuro-radiology meetings, OSCE exam practice cases once a week, journal clubs & a general lecture program.
The surgical experience has been pretty good too. Most people do around 300 solo Phaco's during their training, & if you're good you can get up to 400. Not as much experience with trab's, vitrectomies or grafts though. The sub-specialists really protect their turf & you have to do a fellowship to get good at that sort of stuff.

It is extremely competitive for ophthalmology training positions - the competition is intense & it's very difficult to get into for Australians & almost impossible for overseas trained doctors. If you are an Australian citizen though it would be much easier for you. I think the big hurdle for overseas trained doctors is getting permanent residency. With a PhD from Cambridge & some Ophthalmology related research & references, you certainly have a chance at getting a training position in Melbourne or Sydney. To get jobs in the other states, you pretty much need some ophthalmology registrar or SHO experience.

Fellowships though are easy to get & there are plenty of UK doctors doing sub-specialty fellowships all around Australia.

Good luck

Thanks for the advice. I am Australian, so I won't have any problems with visas. I've been told that there is a bias against those trained overseas as a general rule, but that having done my medical degree at Cambridge won't be seen as a disadvantage. I've got 10 peer reviewed publications in ophthalmology/vision science journals and some teaching experience, and I did optometry at UNSW as an undergrad (so I should be able to "hit the ground running" - or at least stumbling - when let loose in out-patients). My PhD co-supervisor is a professor of ophthalmology and quite well known - he did a series of lectures at Sydney Eye Hospital in 2002 so he should have some contacts in Australia. I realise that ophthalmology is competitive in Australia, but it is over here too.

As an aside, I think that the Melbourne Eye & Ear has some sort of link with the ophthalmology department at Addenbrooke's.

I spoke with our current retina fellow who is from Jamaica. She is not a US citizen/resident, but it was easy for her to match in retina because she completed a US residency. The main issue with non-US trained ophthalmologists is that they cannot bill as a fellow because a full, unrestricted medical license is needed.

Her advice is to inquire with specific programs to determine which ones are willing to support non-US trained ophthalmologists. Otherwise, she also suggested training in Canada.

Thanks Andrew. That does seem to be the biggest hurdle. It's really easy for US & English fellows to get a full license for billing during a fellowship in Australia - just fill out a form.
It's much harder to get a license in the US. I can totally understand why its really hard to get a permanent resident license & it is just as hard in Australia. But I'm not sure why it is so hard to get a temporary license for a 1 or 2 yr fellowship.

But I'm not sure why it is so hard to get a temporary license for a 1 or 2 yr fellowship.

I believe the key is that a temporary license will not allow physicians to be the billing physician. If the program is okay with the fellow not billing, then you should be okay. However, billing is needed to support your salary.

I met a cool chick from Sydney I think, who was doing a fellowship in transplant surgery in Colorado. Ii met her at a conference - can't remember her name though.