University of Texas Southwestern Medical School

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Ophthalmology Residency Program Compendium Table of Contents

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Department of Ophthalmology
5323 Harry Hines Blvd
Dallas, Texas 75390-9057

http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/home_pages/ophth/

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Originally Posted by mjl34

UTSW - good location, but now it's hot; great surgical volume (they say 130, but really 160-200+) lots of autonomy and you work hard; overall - good academic and very strong clinical program.

Overall I got a very good impression of UTSW. It's a big program (9 residents) which was unique and could be cool, as opposed to being stuck with 2-3 other people. Very good surgical #'s, academic, good nice hospitals, VA, they're the only program in the huge Dallas-Ft. Worth area. They are very busy though, moreso than most other ophtho programs they say. It could be a good thing if that is your style. You have to go to Ft. Worth (a 45 min to 1 hr drive) for some rotations but they compensate you for gas.

The PD does an excellent job of selling an excellent program. Training is top-notch. Dallas is a pretty cool city. The huge resident pool looks like they have a lot of fun. They work pretty hard, but they still leave at a decent hour because they have very good support from techs. The hospital is very rich so facilities are great. Alcon sponsers a lot of events beacuse they are nearby which is a nice perk. Some of the faculty can be malignant, but overall very nice. This is a really excellent program.

Does anyone know if UT Southwestern changed program directors recently? How happy do the residents seem?

Thanks!
moocow

Originally Posted by Moocow2011

Does anyone know if UT Southwestern changed program directors recently? How happy do the residents seem?

Thanks!
moocow

No recent change in PD. I think he's been the PD for 8-10 years now, but I can't remember for sure. Not only has he been PD for a while, but he's one of the most impressive PDs on the interview trail. He knew each of our names when we showed up for the pre-interview dinner and knew our applications backwards and forwards, asking each of us detailed questions about our background/family/etc. He's very well organized (as evidenced by his excellent "overview of the program" talk on the interview day - if only other PDs would do the same), supportive of the residents, and really seems to know how to run a residency program.

As for the "happiness" of the residents, I'm not sure I would call them "happy". Content seems more like the word. They work hard but seem to appreciate what they gain from that hard work - excellent clinical and surgical training. Happier residents can be found elsewhere (Wills, Michigan, Casey come to mind among others), but in my opinion, the training is pretty hard to beat at UTSW. I think it's one of the most under-rated programs in the country.

By the way, the UTSW PD's name is Preston Blomquist.

Originally Posted by clayito

No recent change in PD. I think he's been the PD for 8-10 years now, but I can't remember for sure. Not only has he been PD for a while, but he's one of the most impressive PDs on the interview trail. He knew each of our names when we showed up for the pre-interview dinner and knew our applications backwards and forwards, asking each of us detailed questions about our background/family/etc. He's very well organized (as evidenced by his excellent "overview of the program" talk on the interview day - if only other PDs would do the same), supportive of the residents, and really seems to know how to run a residency program.

As for the "happiness" of the residents, I'm not sure I would call them "happy". Content seems more like the word. They work hard but seem to appreciate what they gain from that hard work - excellent clinical and surgical training. Happier residents can be found elsewhere (Wills, Michigan, Casey come to mind among others), but in my opinion, the training is pretty hard to beat at UTSW. I think it's one of the most under-rated programs in the country.

By the way, the UTSW PD's name is Preston Blomquist.

I have to agree with almost everything written above with one exception. It is not necessarily under-rated, but I guess that's a perspective issue. I think it's well regarded as an outstanding program, but I see your point in that it may not get the billing of some other big name programs.

UTSW is an excellent program with a GREAT mix of clinic, surgery, and academics. Anyone would be truly lucky to match here. I know plenty of people who ranked this place above the likes of Wills, Emory, UPenn, etc because it was a good fit for them. Good luck and hope this helps!

Dr. Blomquist's ears are burning right now.

I'll pitch in. General impression of this place is that it's a huge program; 9 residents a year, yet they all still remain pretty busy. From what I remember, lots of pathology and patients to be seen at Parkland County Hospital, and overall everything is excellent. Their cornea department seems to be pretty good. It's sort of a "throw you to the wolves" training program, but not in a bad way, and you learn to become autonomous fast.

Pros - 9 residents, meaning spread out call. Lots of great attendings, both a mix of old and new school. Very diverse class. Great surgical volume. Good mix of academic and clinical. Dallas-Ft. Worth is overall a great place to stay.

Cons - traffic (as is any city), long days at times. In terms of applying, last year they took several internal candidates, so despite the 9 slots open, it's tough to secure a spot.

Overall - a great training program, easily top 25 in the country. Though it's often overshadowed by its southern neighbor, Baylor, still a very well-respected program. You would be very lucky to match here. I ranked this program very highly, and in retrospect, I wish I had done an away rotation here.

Very good program. Agree with previous post above. I liked their residents a lot, thought the clinical and surgical training is great, and its a well respected program. It's not considered one of the big guys but definitely not far behind and matching here would be an honor.

The one thing that made me rank it lower than I would was that I'm more into the "graduated hand holding" approach I guess, and they do expect a lot of autonomy real fast - not something that fits me. I don't think I'd survive being thrown into the fire right away.

Great program in a very nice and affordable city. Diverse pathology with lots of end stage path from the only level I trauma center in dallas county, which is also a public hospital. Huge amount of autonomy. first two months of residency can get busy with clinics running to 6 and sometimes 7 but afterwards, mostly end between 5-6 pm. morning lectures start at 7:30 am. grand rounds on fridays. the program has two county hospitals (other one being jps hospital in fort worth), $500 per month of gas money, which more than makes up for driving to fort worth. Also has one of the largest VA in the country with huge surgical volume. calls can get busy like most other places, but pgy 2 only take weekend calls and averages out to be q12 call, pgy 3 has all weekends free and only take weeknight calls and average to be q9 calls. large and strong faculty with more than 2 deep in every subspecialty except pathology, but has a very well known oculopathologists. good resident-fellow harmony and no competition over cases because all cataracts are restricted to residents. most recent pgy 4 graduated with 210 cataracts average. good fellowship match with 2-3 retinas every year. In the past, retina has gone to tufts x3, emory, bascom palmer (medical), multiple utsw, texas retina and national retina institute. strong cornea and glaucoma with multiple residents to jules stein, and one wilmer. program director is very resident friendly and knows how to run a residency program, also was on the acgme accreditation committee. chair is old school but nice on the inside. lots of money in the program with all new equipments. nice wet lab and goes to alcon's wetlab twice a year. new 1.2 billion county hospital will be completed in 2014 and 900 million university hospital a year later. residency salary on the 75 percentile. although not as big as LA/NYC/Chicago, dallas is a large city with many nice places for family and singles. Low cost of living. Can get hot in the summer but not humid. Residents are all very happy, down to earth, and have time to do things outside of work. second year residents are extremely happy.

Posting Anonymously for SDN User

Excellent program -- PD (Dr. Blomquist) is an excellent administrator who really takes care of his residents. Chair can be a bit crusty/old-school but will stand up for you and has the reputation to make things happen in the public forum. Two county hospitals (Parkland and JPS in Ft. Worth) are served by these residents, which gives an unbelievable amount of autonomy. JPS is about 45mins west of Dallas which can be a painful drive, but the majority of rotations are in Dallas. Parkland is the quintessential county (like Grady) and is super busy/has lots of pathology. All sites are on EMR. Excellent Children's Hospital of Dallas with great faculty. University Hospital (2 sites -- Zale Lipshy and St. Paul, which are across the street) for the fancy private patients, as well as the VA (a 15-20 minute drive away) round out the experience. Top-notch equipment and ancillary staff make it pleasant. You will work, but you will learn. Also, new Parkland hospital and new University Hospital are scheduled to be completed in 2014, which will make the facilities even nicer. Excellent research as well; can't go wrong with this program!