I think some of Sunshine's comments are a little misleading or inaccurate. I was a student at UIC and rotated there.
1) Very FMG friendly... The Chairman, Program Director, General Eye Service Director, Uveitis Director, Pediatrics and Strabismus Director and Fellowship Director are all FMGs. Has a long history of accepting FMGs... While some may see this as diversity, others may view this differently.
Yes, there are a few attendings (including Dr. Azar) that are FMG's, but I question how big a deal that is, when the people that would fall into that group trained (residency and fellowship) at top-notch US institutions (Wilmer, MEEI, etc.), are leaders in the field, and were former faculty at top-notch institutions before they came to UIC. Also, the General Eye Service director is
not an FMG... Puerto Rico is not a foreign country and is listed under US med schools in the AAMC! Also, since Dr. Azar became chair, no FMGs have gotten into the residency program.
2) Very Optometry Friendly... The General Eye Clinic is staffed regularly by optometrist. (3 day/week) The UIC has a close and intimate affiliation with the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center Optometry Residency Training Program. The Director and Co-Diector of the program are UIC Faculty members. One of these sits on the American Board of Optometry. Recently, one UIC optometrist helped sponsor a bill in Springfield to allow optometrist from outside the US to come to UIC to participate in a "Optometrist Therapeutics Fellowship" where they would be granted permission to train to prescribe medications. The Illinios Association of Ophthalmologist had to fight against this optometry expansion bill. There are more optometry residents at the VA than there are ophthalmology residents.
The General Eye Clinic is staffed by an optometrist only one half-day per week, and he is one of several attendings that staff during that half-day (the rest are ophthalmologists btw). Not sure the exact relationship with the Jesse Brown optometry program, but they function separately... UIC residents don't really work with them, other than sharing the same clinic area when they go to the VA.
3) Surgical Volume Low and Going Down... One of the reasons every graduate from this program (except for two in the last three years) has done a fellowship is that the residents do not get enough surgical training is that they do not feel confident enough to go out and practice. The two residents who did leave the program without doing a fellowship were both FMGs who had aready completed ophthalmology training programs or fellowships prior to coming to UIC. Recenty, to counter this trend senior residents are being sent to Danville VA (180 mile drive south), and North Chicago VA (40 miles north) to get more surgical experience. A large portion of your surgical experience will be derived from working with fellows rather than attendings.
Surgical volume is stable, and decent for an academic program (about 120 for cataracts). Very few of the cases are staffed by fellows; 90% are staffed by various attendings. I think UIC probably attracts residents who are looking to go into fellowship, because the program has an academic bent... but several current residents are planning on going into comprehensive/general ophth and don't feel like they need a fellowship to do so.
4) Very UIC Friendly - At least 1/3 to 1/2 of residents fare former UIC medical students.
This is also changing... From what I can tell, the best qualified are ranked higher, and being an "insider" is less important. The current third year class (3 former UIC med students) matched before Dr. Azar became chairman, and is somewhat of an anomaly. (I think a lot of qualified UIC students applied that year.) Since then, very few of the matching residents are former UIC students.
5) Senior Faculty Leaving / Retiring - The institution has had difficulty recruiting replacements for an aging faculty leaving positions unfilled. There have been a number of faculty members who have left recently without replacement.
Since Dr. Azar came on board, this has been one of the biggest areas of change. There have been a lot of big name hires, and a large influx of younger dynamic attendings. Just to name a few: Retina (Dr. Jennifer Lim, Dr. Bill Mieler), Cornea (Dr. Jain, Dr. De la Cruz), Glaucoma (Dr. Vajaranant), Oculoplastics (Dr. Setabutr), Peds (Dr. Nathalie Azar, Dr. Irene Maumenee). Supposedly, there is also a big name hire in the works for glaucoma head. Most of the key faculty members that were at UIC before Dr. Azar arrived have remained stable (which is a good sign).
