University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

[Andrew_Doan]

Ophthalmology Residency Program Compendium Table of Contents

University of Oklahoma Medical Center
Dean A McGee Eye Institute
608 Stanton L Young Blvd
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104

http://main.ouhsc.edu

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mye Eye]

try this link y'all

http://www.dmei.org/index.php

 

[Andrew_Doan]

.

i thought mcgee eye in oklahoma was another amazing clinical program with less recognition and really happy residents.

 

[MAYOphtho]

DMEI is quite possibly one of the best programs in the country. Not only do they compete with Utah for the highest surgical volumes EVERY year, but their facilities are amazing. The chair is now the president of the AAO and almost every single faculty member is VERY well known in their respective fields. There is an enormous financial commitment to the DMEI as it is probably premier residency at the OU campus in OKC. The fellowships obtained by graduates are truly outstanding. I would easily rank this with the Iowa, Dukes, Mayos, WashUs (and I did) if you can live in OKC. OKC is a small city with less night life than I am used to, but I still ranked this program VERY high. I would bet this program is a top 10 or even top 5 program consistently by the time I finish residency...it's THAT impressive.

AWESOME program...I would DEFINATELY apply/interview here again...and think I'd like to try to do my fellowship here.

 

[ArtfulDodger]

I don't care what Ophthalmology Times says, DMEI is a top ten program in every conceivable way. Surgical volume in the 99th percentile EVERY year (one recent resident graduated with 300 cataracts, but most do 200, as well as 20-30 open globes, tons of strabismus, plastics, glaucoma), clinical volume and variety of pathology that rivals the likes of Bascom, UTSW, and UCLA, and extraordinary faculty. As mentioned by previous posts, the faculty here are indeed EXTREMELY well connected and well known within the ophtho world (past chair is currently president of AAO, current chair former president of major glaucoma society, multiple other faculty are members of residency review committee or other high ranking offices within the academy), so if connections are important to you, DMEI is second to none. This institution actively recruits faculty with a strong interest in giving back to the field via political activity or strong commitment to teaching. Faculty have a very collegial and pleasant relationship with residents--malignant behavior is simply not tolerated. Very light mood and pleasant atmosphere during grand rounds when I visited. Residents are genuinely happy and very accomplished, most having interviewed at multiple top ten schools prior to matching at DMEI. About 2/3 have gone on to fellowship training in recent years. Residents have 100% boards pass rate over the last 10 years, as well as phenomenal OKAP scores. Program has its own separate surgery center across the street from their main building, which is a wonderful environment to operate in. All hospitals covered by DMEI are within easy walking distance, so no driving all over town while on call, either. New 40+ million dollar addition to DMEI is scheduled to open next summer and will double clinical space, followed shortly by renovation of current clinical space. Research program is among top ten in NEI funding every year. Despite what you may have heard, OKC is not that bad either, unless you are someone who has lived in NYC, LA, or Miami for most of your life and cannot function properly outside of a massive city. Several residents here purchased new 2 or 3 bedroom homes with monthly payments that are HALF the price of a small apartment in one of the aforementioned large cities. OKC is among the most affordable cities in the entire country, as supported by several articles from national magazines we were given as part of interview day info. So besides the location which some may see as unglamorous, DMEI is a stellar program with little to no major drawbacks. After interviewing here, it blows my mind that they are not recognized among the best of the best.

 

[dri]

Just wanted to bump this thread to see if any current/previous residents had anything further to say about the program. Before starting the application process I had not heard much about DMEI, but after learning more I am very excited to have an interview here. Particularly, the international education programs in China and Africa sound great. The mix of hospitals also suggests that residents there will get to see a wide spectrum of pathologies. One thing I am wondering about is why all 12 residents are male! I'm male myself, but such an obvious gender gap is concerning to me. At least there appears to be a fairly good mix among the clinical faculty. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[DoctorMyEye]

dr bacon, they actually just matched a female resident for the incoming class starting fall 2015. This was actually brought up at the interview day informally and it was clear that this was by coincidence only (only 4 residents per year, not impossible to imagine all same gender). There may also be some degree of self selection on the part of female applicants in the last few years (understandably) for the reason you allude to. 11 of the 29 MD faculty members are female for what its worth, multiple of whom are big names in the field. Regarding the program as a whole, I would certainly echo what the users before me have contributed. Here are a few of my notes from the interview day (2013-2014 cycle):

Surgery: excellent volume, second only maybe to Utah. Catract volume can be up to 275, all residents over 200 easily. Other surgical volume is also high (>100 plastics procedures), getting EyeSi/nice wet lab.
Call: q8 for two years, averages out to 6-7 weekends/yr and one day per week, 1month of buddy call
VA: walking distance to VA, strong source of surgical volume, stable relationship
Resident clinic with good continuity, plenty of indigent care and a dedicated consult resident
Fellows are involved in education and patient care, do not steal cases, good relationship
Location: very cheap cost of living, OKC has really improved since Thunder moved in, suprisingly nice city, obviously not on the level of NYC/LA/Miami but nice people, affordable and drivable.
Excellent facilities, strong balance of automony and supervision.
Fellowship placement: ~75% of graduating resident pursue fellowship, most recent graduating class went to bascom (medical retina), iowa (retina), utah (private practice) and one stayed at oklahoma (glaucoma).
International elective: 2 weeks, fully paid to swaziland or china, sustainable efforts, top notch
Research: In the last 5 years was ranked in top 10 for NIH funding.
Influence: The program director is on the ABO board of directors and the Department Chair is the AAO President elect.​

I could go on, but suffice it to say that it's a great program and certainly a hidden gem which deserves to be widely recognized as a top program. I ranked it in my top 3 after interviewing at Iowa, Bascom, Wash U, MEEI, Utah, Casey (OHSU) and a few other "traditionally" top programs.

 

[ophthope]

Pretty small sample size to be concerned about a 'gender gap' especially when considering the faculty gender ratio. Anyone familiar with the faculty and residents will tell you that there is no gender bias there. If you didn't know about DMEI before now you may not realize the opportunity you have interviewing there.

I am not a resident there, but I interviewed and it was very high on my rank list. Among those of us who are familiar with the program, Dean McGee is among the best of the best in Ophthalmology training programs for all of the reasons mentioned above. The residents are very well supported and the faculty are top notch. Surgical volume is excellent. Numerous research opportunities and numerous opportunities for missions work. Varied pathology. Residents work hard but this is not a malignant environment and as a result of all of this their residents are considered extremely well trained as evidenced by the fact that they routinely match into high powered, well-recognized fellowships. You are quite simply not going to be better trained elsewhere.

Some people complain about the location, but living is very affordable even if you have a family and the area where many residents live seems very safe. Unless you're a hardcore urbanite that requires immediate access to on-broadway productions and multiple michelin 3-star dining experiences that you won't be able to afford on a resident's salary anyway, OKC really seems like a fine town. It's the 27th largest city in the US by population so if the city is a problem for you then there are literally only 26 other places in the US that you could live and possibly be happy. At least among those of us that dwell in the more Southern US latitudes this program is well known. Perhaps it is not so elsewhere and it's just our little secret.

 

[dri]

Here are a few of my notes from the interview day (2013-2014 cycle):

Surgery: excellent volume, second only maybe to Utah. Catract volume can be up to 275, all residents over 200 easily. Other surgical volume is also high (>100 plastics procedures), getting EyeSi/nice wet lab.
Call: q8 for two years, averages out to 6-7 weekends/yr and one day per week, 1month of buddy call
VA: walking distance to VA, strong source of surgical volume, stable relationship
Resident clinic with good continuity, plenty of indigent care and a dedicated consult resident
Fellows are involved in education and patient care, do not steal cases, good relationship
Location: very cheap cost of living, OKC has really improved since Thunder moved in, suprisingly nice city, obviously not on the level of NYC/LA/Miami but nice people, affordable and drivable.
Excellent facilities, strong balance of automony and supervision.
Fellowship placement: ~75% of graduating resident pursue fellowship, most recent graduating class went to bascom (medical retina), iowa (retina), utah (private practice) and one stayed at oklahoma (glaucoma).
International elective: 2 weeks, fully paid to swaziland or china, sustainable efforts, top notch
Research: In the last 5 years was ranked in top 10 for NIH funding.
Influence: The program director is on the ABO board of directors and the Department Chair is the AAO President elect.​

Thanks DoctorMy Eye! This is super helpful information!. It certainly makes me more enthusiastic to interview there.

Pretty small sample size to be concerned about a 'gender gap' especially when considering the faculty gender ratio. Anyone familiar with the faculty and residents will tell you that there is no gender bias there. If you didn't know about DMEI before now you may not realize the opportunity you have interviewing there.

Hi ophthope! Thank you for your response as well. More great info to help all of us prospective applicants make our decisions. I admit, while initially I might not have understood how lucky I am to receive an interview at DMEI, my good fortune has quickly become apparent to me! I suspect there is a fair amount of regional bias at play, which is one reason why I might not have been as aware of the caliber of DMEI's program as I should have been. Often, as I go through these types of processes (e.g., applying to medical school, applying to residency, etc...), I am humbled by how little I know and by how I must make important, life-altering decisions with incomplete information. Of course, it is also possible (likely?) that I am just a goon who does not know what he ought to 😀

With regard to my previous comment regarding a "gender gap." While I certainly didn't mean to imply a conscious gender bias was at play, I still think my concerns are valid. While I agree that n=12 is a small sample size, given that approximately 40% of applicants to ophthalmology residency are female (see link below), I believe I am within reason to question why 12 of 12 residents are male. To be nerdy and crunch the numbers (because I like to do this sort of thing), the odds of this occurring by chance are less than one percent (0.2%; using a binomial distribution). Again, I do not believe there is a conscious bias at play nor is this such a concern that I am not still eagerly awaiting my interview. Nonetheless, in a society and a profession in which women have long been marginalized I think my concerns are more than reasonable. Systemic bias can be insidious, and I believe that these are the types of questions we should be asking if we hope to create more egalitarian institutions. Thanks!

Table 2 from AAMC's "Women in Academic Medicine Statistics and Medical School Benchmarking, 2011-2012": https://www.aamc.org/download/305520/data/2012_table2.pdf

 

[Pink Eye]

I also think applicants have a gender bias for programs like this program. From my own personal observation, there seem to be more female residents in big cities and less women in programs that are in the middle of no where. Is this because New York, Chicago, and other large cities have a "bias" towards women? Do programs in small cities have a bias against women? I believe no.

Many women that I have spoken to, especially single women do not want to be in small cities that are in the middle of no where. They are afraid that that there are no single men and they do not want to spend their late 20s and early 30s in an area where their chances of meeting their future husband are slim.

 

[peanutbutterman]

Recently graduated from DMEI. Loved my training there and agree w/ most of what has been written. You will work hard but generally clinics are finishing between 5-6. I wouldn't say that surgical experience is second to Utah. I'll let residents from there speak to their own numbers but I felt that the volume was at least as high and had an even broader experience (based purely on my perception of Utah from 1 month rotation and an interview--this could be totally off base). Some of my primary numbers are: phacos >280, plastics >150 (I was the low end for my class--I feel comfortable doing blephs and treating ptosis/entropion/ectropion/lid lesions that aren't huge), dsek 2, scleral fixated IOL 3, filter ~20, tube 2, canaloplasty 5, ECP 1, PPV 1 (wasn't really interested in doing more), strabismus ~50, tons of lasers (glaucoma/retina), lots of pterygiums. Training was very well rounded. Refractive experience could have been better.

As far as gender bias goes, I was on the selection committee and can tell you that every year the numbers of women in DMEI's top 20 are equal or outnumber the men. There was a female resident that graduated in 2010, 2012, 2013. Last year we had a female resident switch to medical genetics because she didn't want to be in ophthalmology. About 10 years ago, there was an entire class of 3 women in one PGY year. I didn't feel as though we had a bias against women there but you can take that for what it's worth.

If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.

 

[ophtho_applicant15]

University of Oklahoma - Dean McGee Eye Institute

I have to echo some of the prior posts, this was a superb program. 4 residents per year with a great PD that really is a resident advocate. Chair is extremely well-connected, past president of AAO. I don't recall the exact number of faculty, but they certainly had multiple in every subspecialty with a few research faculty as well. Consistently ranked in top 10 of NIH funding.

Facilities: All work is done on the same campus - public hospital, Dean McGee Eye Institute, VA all on the same campus grounds.

Fellows: neuro/plastics, glaucoma, cornea, retina, global health

Call: PGY2/3: Q8 weekdays, Q8 weekends. PGY4: Q4 backup

PGY-2: Intro course, 3 months VA, 3 months resident clinic, 1 month peds, 1 month neuro, 1 month retina, 1 month cornea, 1 month consults

PGY-3: 3 months VA, 2 months peds, 1 month neuro, 1 month retina, 1 month cornea, 1 month plastics, 1 month glaucoma, 1.5 months consults, 0.5 months research

PGY-4: 3 months VA, 3 months resident clinic, 1 month peds, 1 month retina, 1 month cornea, 1 month glaucoma, 1 month plastics 0.5 month consults, 0.5 month elective

Surgery: 250-300 cataracts, > 150 plastics, 20 globes, >10 trabs [see resident post above for real sample of data]

Other: 7am lectures 3 times per week, 18-month lecture cycle. $1250 academic fund per year, funding for all conferences that you present at. AAO as 3rd year. 2 week trip to China/Africa during PGY4 year, all paid for.

Pros: Excellent clinical training - only program in the state. Great depth of pathology, very approachable and respected faculty. Well-connected also. Good academic reputation too. I thought it was an outstanding mix of clinical and academic exposure.

Cons: OKC may not be for everyone, but it is quickly becoming a very cool place to be