UAB -- Morris or Mason Fellowship
Simply put, it will be hard for any retina fellow to truly find a retina fellowship that matches these two positions.
A retina fellow here should expect upwards of 1000 retina surgeries as primary surgeons. No observational fellowship here or 200-400 case retina load like most places. These two places in Birmingham are exactly what you are looking for if you are looking to be trained.
As a retina fellow with the Morris fellowship I was in the OR 3.5 days a week for 2 years straight and did 1400 surgeries. By the time I finished, I was completing EMP cases counting peripheral laser in 20 minutes and standard retinal detachments in under 30 routinely. The doctors in Birmingham are top notch and the best I have heard of or seen. They want you to be better and pride themselves on making you solid retina surgeons. If doubtful, I encourage you to ask your Alcon reps where most retina surgery is done. You will be surprised to hear that Birmingham is consistently in the top 2 in the country -- let me repeat, there is just as much retina surgery in Birmingham as there is anywhere -- and Morris and Mason are some of the best, if not the best, retina surgeons in the country. You can learn a great deal from each of them.
Obviously, I am a big supporter of these two programs. When you are considering a retina fellowship, you cannot pick a place solely on name. Some of these places may allow you to only do 100-200 surgeries or just watch for the most part. Ultimately, a name does not help you when you are the one responsible for a person's care. The name does not do the surgery for you. The programs in Birmingham will make you good surgeons and will give you the tools you need for success. I strongly recommend these programs.