University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Medical Education

Ophthalmology Residency Program Compendium Table of Contents

University of Pittsburgh
Eye and Ear Institute of Pittsburgh
203 Lothrop Street
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213

http://ophthalmology.medicine.pitt.edu

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Haptic said:

Hey Xaelia,

I'll be going this weekend so I can give you an update about it afterwards although I guess you may be going down there too. There is a fellow I know who was there and he said he liked it a lot but that it was a busy program with intense call q6...up all nightish type of call. My PD also recommended it and that's why I'm going down to see it as well.

These programs where you're the only show in town I think are going to be at least good for clinical training.

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xaelia said:

Pittsburgh was kind of a schizophrenic program to me; six residents a year, big program, but they really seemed overworked from a clinical perspective. Nice facilities like a huge, dedicated wet lab for practicing surgical experience, their Eye & Ear institute was recently remodelled, and Dr. Waxmane is very focused on resident education. Some parts of Pittsburgh are appealling, and some parts are less attractive. Sort of symbolized how I felt about the program as a whole. Overnight call in-house as a first year, and I guess you don't sleep much at all. Depends on how much you like sleep, I guess.

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GAA said:

I liked my interview at UPMC. I think they have great clinical tranining. Does anybody know if the get good fellowships?.
Thanks

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Does anyone else have any input on Pitts placement for fellowships, particularly retina/ plastics? I got the sense that they do well for anterior segment/ glaucoma, but I didn't get straight answers for the rest.
Thanks!

I did an away at UPMC and also interviewed there this cycle (for 2016 match).

Overall great program with good surgical volume, good VA experience, and excellent faculty. Very tech-savvy faculty (especially the PD Dr. Waxman, who maintains a website just for the residency program). Great international network for service work abroad. Travel to New Mexico required during PGY-4 year (residents like this rotation b/c they get lots of autonomy and get to see an interesting area and unique population very different from Pittsburgh).

Pittsburgh is a fabulous place to live. Cost of living is quite affordable, and UPMC gives you plenty of perks to make it worth your while.

Would have ranked it much higher had we not found out on the day of the interview that the chairman was leaving for NYU. I'm sure they will fill his spot with someone great (whether internal or external). I do think the program will keep up its strong reputation, but I was nervous about the unknown, so it crept down in my rankings.