Canadian Retina Fellowship

[Perzian]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi,

I heard there was a Canadian Retina Fellowship that was 1 year in length, but was "equivalent" to the 2 yrs of medical/surgical fellowships that are available in the U.S.

Is this true? If so, where is this program?

Thanks.

 

[PDT4CNV]

Hi,

I heard there was a Canadian Retina Fellowship that was 1 year in length, but was "equivalent" to the 2 yrs of medical/surgical fellowships that are available in the U.S.

Is this true? If so, where is this program?

Thanks.

I believe there are still some 1 year surgical retina fellowships left in the US. However, to say that this is equivalent to 2 years of retina training I think would be stretching the truth. Majority of US fellowships have moved to two years.

 

[Retinamark]

Nearly all retina fellowships in the US are 2 years. There are a few 1 year retina fellowships, and these are usually done by overseas fellows who have done a year of retina in their home country, or somewhere else.
To do retina properly, and be respected within the retina community you really need to do 2 yrs.
The fellowship you have heard about is the Vancouver one. They do get a lot of surgery in the 1 year, and more than some of the low volume 2 year US fellowships. However while the US 2 year fellows are not in the OR, they are busy in the medical retina clinic, doing lasers, doing intravitreal injections, interpreting angiograms and learning pre-op and post-op vitreoretinal decision making. No matter how you spin it, a 1 year fellowship can't cram in as much retinal training as a 2 year fellowship. The Vancouver fellowship is outstanding from what I have heard, but you really need to do 2 years, otherwise you will spend your whole career never really feeling comfortable with tough cases.
Having said that, there are some less desirable 2 year fellowships. Be very wary of those with just 1 or 2 bosses, especially in a private practice setting. Fellowships like that can never provide the comprehensive training of a big hospital / university with 4 or 5 different bosses to learn from.

 

[4424]

Nearly all retina fellowships in the US are 2 years. There are a few 1 year retina fellowships, and these are usually done by overseas fellows who have done a year of retina in their home country, or somewhere else.
To do retina properly, and be respected within the retina community you really need to do 2 yrs.
The fellowship you have heard about is the Vancouver one. They do get a lot of surgery in the 1 year, and more than some of the low volume 2 year US fellowships. However while the US 2 year fellows are not in the OR, they are busy in the medical retina clinic, doing lasers, doing intravitreal injections, interpreting angiograms and learning pre-op and post-op vitreoretinal decision making. No matter how you spin it, a 1 year fellowship can't cram in as much retinal training as a 2 year fellowship. The Vancouver fellowship is outstanding from what I have heard, but you really need to do 2 years, otherwise you will spend your whole career never really feeling comfortable with tough cases.
Having said that, there are some less desirable 2 year fellowships. Be very wary of those with just 1 or 2 bosses, especially in a private practice setting. Fellowships like that can never provide the comprehensive training of a big hospital / university with 4 or 5 different bosses to learn from.

Are medical retina fellowships separate from the full 2 yr retina fellowships?

 

[Retinamark]

Are medical retina fellowships separate from the full 2 yr retina fellowships?

Yes, they are all totally separate.
Nearly all surgical retina fellowships are 2 years include a lot of medical retina (to a varying degree)
But medical retina fellowships are usually 1 year and do not include any surgery. The big advantage of medical retina, is that there is virtually no on call emergencies, and the working hours are much better and more predictable.

 

[eye3md]

If you are not planning on doing academic work and you can get a one year fellowship, GO FOR IT!!!!!!!!! I did a one year retina fellowship and I did a lot of surgery on very tough cases so I do feel very comfortable with anything that walks thru the door. It helps, that the area of the country I trained in, is overrun with retinal pathology. The one area I did feel less well trained in was medical retina. I did a lot of studying my first year out but it really was great. I learned so much and do NOT for a second regret doing a one year fellowship. I go to all the conferences and communicate with (cover call) other retina docs who are two year trained and my work has always been complimented.

Most programs will eventually be two years, which I believe will be needed, with the explosion in knowledge/technology. But, while you can, take a one year if you can. That Vancouver program is the real deal. You will be an operating machine.

 

[onboard]

Could someone post a list of 1 year surgical retina programs
thanks

 

[Retinamark]

Mayo Clinic - for the moment for internationals only, but in the future may move to a 2 yr US fellowship
Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston - good medical diabetes, but minimal surgery
U Virginia, Charlottesville
Vancouver
Toronto
I think there is one in Indiana
There are some I think in Louisiana
I think there is one in Texas

There are some private practice one year fellowships, esp down south, but be VERY careful. They are usually designed so the private guy can dump his on call & they give you minimal surgical experience, exposure to only 1 or 2 guys, and you do lots of scut work
Check out sfmatch.org

If you want a busy 1 year surgical fellowship with lots of operating, consider some of the retina fellowships in Australia - Sydney Eye Hospital, Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital in Melbourne x 2 spots, Perth x2 spots. They pay very well & you get as much operating in 1 year as you would in 2 yrs in US fellowships.
There is an awesome 1 yr surgical fellowship at Columbia in NY for international people who have done a 1 yr retina fellowship in their home country
There is another at UC Irvine, also for international people who have done a 1 yr retina fellowship in their home country

 

[Toadkiller Dog]

Doesn't USF in Tampa have a 1-year surgical retina fellowship as well? I know they did in the past.

 

[Retinamark]

Doesn't USF in Tampa have a 1-year surgical retina fellowship as well? I know they did in the past.

Yes you're right, I forgot about that one.

 

[nhs]

Hello
I just wanted to know that I have done my MRCOPHTH from UK.Can I apply for fellowship programmes in USA especially in Retina.What are the chances and what credentials will I be needing to get one.And if I get a fellowship then can I practice in USA afterwards keeping in mind that i haven't done my residency in states.

 

[Retinamark]

Hello
I just wanted to know that I have done my MRCOPHTH from UK.Can I apply for fellowship programmes in USA especially in Retina.What are the chances and what credentials will I be needing to get one.And if I get a fellowship then can I practice in USA afterwards keeping in mind that i haven't done my residency in states.

Hi,
It is very difficult, but it can be done. You will need to get your ecfmg certificate for any clinical fellowship. (www.ecfmg.org)
Then you will need to get the visa, usually a J1.
A J1 visa means you must return to your home country for 2yrs once you finish your fellowship. (Although you can get a J1 visa waiver for working in an area of need). If you wanted to stay, you would have to get a H1B visa, which is much more complicated, and most retina fellowships don't want to go through the hassle of getting one of those for international fellows.
If you have not done your residency in the US, you can never be board certified, so would have trouble finding jobs afterwards, because unless you are board certified in the US, you are treated as a 2nd class physician. If you wanted to do academics, you could practice at a big university without being board certified, but you would have a lot of trouble doing private practice in a big city. Maybe you could do it in a rural area.

Hope this helps
Good luck!

 

[retinasurgeon]

Here's my experience in the University of Toronto as a clinical fellow in vitreo-retina surgery.

We have 4 attendings, where you divide your time into three month blocks per attending. You get exposed to different styles, opinions. However, you still get a chance to scrub in with the attendings you rotated if you are on call with them.

Heavy surgical volume - minimum of 8 - 10 cases / week / fellow divided into 2 OR days. Cases range from simple vitrectomies for vitreous hemorrhage to macular holes, membranes, to complex PVR cases. Lots of buckles, primary vits, combined vit buckles, perfluorocarbon usage, silicone oil. Occasional pneumatic retinopexy. Attendings let you do some stuff at first, but you'll get to do a lot as the fellowship progresses. Scrubbed in over 500 cases in one year, majority (>60%) of which I was the primary.
Attendings almost always scrubs with you, guiding you all the way.

Heavy clinic volume - 60 - 80 cases / clinic day in the private clinic, and another 20 - 30 cases in the hospital clinic. You also do injections of IVK's during office hours. Average laser for the fellows per week would run from 15 - 20 cases, while some attednings would have 30-40 lasers scheduled in a day. (Usually, the fellow does 90% of the lasers) diabetics, vein occlusions, retinal breaks, extrafoveal CNVMs, vascular problems. Ample opportunities for PDT. You get to read 10 FAs per clinic day.

Call depends on how many fellows there are (We were 1 in 3, as there were 3 fellows). We have city wide on call for a week during holidays and summer. (REALLY BUSY). We usually keep our OR days for emergencies, and believe me, they get filled up really fast. We even have to book on our usual clinic days.

Excellent rapport with residents.

All in all, it is a well rounded clinical fellowship, very busy, with very nice attendings, but not much avenues for research. At first, when I was starting my fellowship, I thought maybe I could ask them if I could get to do it in 2 years instead of 1 year, after seeing the volume, I felt 1 year is enough. Asked one of the preceptors there, and he said he was willing to make me a clinical fellow for 2 years, as I think they liked my work ethics. One year in Toronto will really keep you busy.

In practice, I'm very comfortable doing any surgical case from the most simple to the most difficult cases, medical retina wise, I think I'm ok as I still read a lot. though I have to admit that exposure to research is almost none.

 

[VR surgeon]

Does anyone knows if UBC Vancouver Fellowship application is made via SF match ?

 

[scienceguy123]

Does anyone know what is taken into consideration when applying for competitive retinal fellowships in America? In general, how important are high USMLE Step 1 scores? I ask because I am a Canadian medical student, hoping to do an Ophtho residency in canada then a fellowship in America- I am trying to gear myself towards achieving a certain score on the USMLE... does anyone know how competitive a score should be? would being in the 80th percentile be a significant disadvantage?

thanks

 

[scienceguy123]

Does anyone know what is taken into consideration when applying for competitive retinal fellowships in America? In general, how important are high USMLE Step 1 scores? I ask because I am a Canadian medical student, hoping to do an Ophtho residency in canada then a fellowship in America- I am trying to gear myself towards achieving a certain score on the USMLE... does anyone know how competitive a score should be? would being in the 80th percentile be a significant disadvantage?

thanks

bump... anyone have any links as to where this information would be posted?

 

[MullerCell]

I don't think that USMLE scores are important, but it can't hurt to do well. It may be more difficult for Canadian grads to obtain US retina fellowships from this year onward. From what I understand, the govt. in Canada is no longer paying fellows salary while they are in the US. In the past this was a major bonus that made taking a Canadian fellow in a US program much more attractive since this is essentially money in the pocket of the fellowship faculty (similar to US military residents). I would focus on getting some good retina research started and have your name on at least a few good papers that have been published prior to applying.

 

[mdsg811]

Seems like this thread has been quiet for some time.. Would anyone here be able to provide som information on the training of the Canadian Retina fellowship programs? Eg Toronto Western, McGill, UBC?

Like training experience and retinal surgery numbers in one year - number of first surgeon cases? Number of operating days (AM/PM) per week? Number of clinic sessions a week? Number of laser procedures?

Seems like there was a previous fellow from Toronto here.. any from UBC or McGill?