Just to clarify: Used to be called Medical College of Georgia, then was briefly known as Georgia Health Sciences University, now it's Georgia Regents University. Confusing! I remember when I received the interview invitation my first thought was, "Wait, what is GRU? Did I even apply there?" Lol.
Anyways, the chair is Dr. Nussbaum and he used to be chair at Henry Ford. He did really good things for HF (or so I hear) and has a very clear and persuasive vision for GRU. His wife is Dr. Goei and she is super smart and friendly. The VA and children's hospital are located on the same campus as the main hospital so this means very little driving… awesome! Other time is also spent at a private practice site 15 minutes away and at the Augusta State Medical Prison (25 minutes away). The department has a small resident room with desks and a small conference room/library. They interviewed over 60 of us for 3 spots which is soooooo many people for so few spots. Call is q3 for the first year and you don't take any call second year. Dr. Nussbaum is currently pushing the formation of their new Eye Discovery Institute. Good opportunities for bench research, but few opportunities for clinical research. 170 cataracts on average. 11 full time faculty currently and some subspecialties only have 1 faculty member. The department seemed very dependent on Dr. Nussbaum and Dr. Goei (married to each other) and would be in a tough spot if they decided to leave--BUT it does not seem like they have intentions to leave any time soon. I asked one interviewer what makes GRU unique and they replied, "Nothing really." The entire residency is divided up into 4-month subspecialty blocks which allows for total immersion into each subspecialty. I liked that. Recent peds match at CHOP and retina match at UTSW. The author of ophthobook (Tim Root) trained here. The program loans you lenses if you match here and gives you the BCSC books. Downtown Augusta looks kind of like a ghost town, but there is a beautiful local river walk. Housing is very affordable. Residents spend 1 month in NYC with Dr. Jeffery O'Dell in neuro ophtho and reportedly love the rotation. Brand new surgery simulator. The residents were all very nice and easy to talk to.
I think this program would provide a great quality of life. The residents told me that they have tons of free time for other stuff and estimated that they work 40-50 hours per week, including call, during their first year. However, another faculty member reported that a recent grad completing a peds fellowship elsewhere mentioned now working way harder in fellowship than in residency. And that was peds, not even something like retina or plastics. So the lighter work load seems like a plus/minus to me. More time for reading/research but less clinical volume to prep you for fellowship/practice.
