Vanderbilt on the up?

[ASDA DDOC]

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It's down to the Wire, and I'm trying to decide where to rank this program. The chairman seems like a fantastic person to know, though busy.... They have a lot of seemingly well-trained YOUNG faculty with what appears to be a nice balanced emphasis on both research and clinic. But truthfully, I can't tell if this is a program on the up, or just a lot of flash from a program trying to halt the decline (their surgery numbers weren't the highest if I remember correctly even though their cachement is huge...? )

Anyone have any thoughts on general impressions. I know everyone seems to love living in Nashville, but should I be wary of this program or take it at face value. Is it really as good as it seems and as Chairman preaches?

 

[ASDA DDOC]

It's down to the Wire, and I'm trying to decide where to rank this program. The chairman seems like a fantastic person to know, though busy.... They have a lot of seemingly well-trained YOUNG faculty with what appears to be a nice balanced emphasis on both research and clinic. But truthfully, I can't tell if this is a program on the up, or just a lot of flash from a program trying to halt the decline (their surgery numbers weren't the highest if I remember correctly even though their cachement is huge...? )

Anyone have any thoughts on general impressions. I know everyone seems to love living in Nashville, but should I be wary of this program or take it at face value. Is it really as good as it seems and as Chairman preaches?

 

[ASDA DDOC]

NO takers,
Well if it makes any difference. I'm trying to decide between
a) Case
b) Yale
c) Vandy
d) Tufts

as my 1st choice. So any insight on these programs would be good...

 

[Corn Dog]

I don't think you could go wrong with any of the four, but I think it depends on what you are looking for. Do you have a geographic preference? What is your learning style (more versus less autonomy)? Are you interested in doing bench research?

I would pick Vandy over the other three if you would not mind living in a smaller city like Nashville and prefer being autonomous. Their call schedule is pretty rough, but I think it's a great learning experience for residents.

If you are interested in doing bench research, I think Case might be a better option. They have a lot of interesting laboratory research projects.

Case -

Pros:
- new, enthusiatic chairman from Harvard (Doug Rhee) who has big plans to renovate the eye clinic in the University Hospital
- great bench research opportunities-- #5 in funding from the NEI
- #3 VA hospital in the US--new and top-tier facilities
- chill call schedule, very laid back program

Cons:
- recently lost affiliation with Metro (Cleveland Clinic now covers the hospital completely)
- was on probation 3 years ago
- most residents went into private practice, and I wasn't impressed with the fellowship match for those who went into fellowships

Yale - don't know too much about this program... but I did run into a retina fellow at UCLA and cornea fellow at Harvard who were both from Yale, so at the minimum, I think they match pretty well.

Vandy -

Pros:
- Nice facilities & well-funded research program
- Big names especially in retina
- Busy program: high clinical volume with good surgical numbers (~150 phacos)

Cons:
- Required rotations at remote locations (Blachfield, Emory)

Tufts -

Pros:
- big names in the field esp in retina
- great surgical training (>180 phacos)

Cons:
- Boston is expensive
- old facilities, no EyeSi
- 3-month rotation in New Mexico

 

[JayZBlue]

All great programs. To make an attempt at being helpful, IMHO:

Best clinical training: Vandy
Best basic science research: Case
Best clinical research: Vandy / Tufts
Best chairs: Duker, Rhee, Tsai, Sternberg all amazing chairs
Best retina: Vandy / Tufts
Best glaucoma: Yale
Best oculoplastics: Vandy only one with ASOPRS fellowship
Not sure about cornea/peds

 

[dore2013]

I'm at Vanderbilt now and feel qualified to comment.

But truthfully, I can't tell if this is a program on the up, or just a lot of flash from a program trying to halt the decline...

Vandy isn't in decline at all, quite the opposite in fact. By almost any metric they're a strong program that's growing even stronger every year. They've been steadily recruiting top-notch faculty in almost every sub-specialty (retina, uveitis, cornea, peds, & plastics) for the past decade, including some well-regarded researchers. Surgical volume is high, and although most residents do fellowships they're well-trained enough to run their own comprehensive clinic if needed. Their recent fellowship matches have been impressive (Wills, Bascom, Wilmer, UIC, Duke among others). They built a gorgeous new eye institute only a few years ago but it's already seeing significant patient volume. They keep expanding their patient base and are now the main player in the region (no competing with other institutions within the same city, which is a major problem for many training programs).

Cons:
- Required rotations at remote locations (Blachfield, Emory)

These are short one-time courses, not regular rotations. The majority of rotations take place at the eye institute, Nashville VA, Vanderbilt hospital, and children's hospital. All of these are on the same campus, which means you'll never need to walk more than ~10 minutes.

Not sure about cornea/peds

Vandy has an extremely active peds practice so you'll get plenty of clinic & OR exposure.


Biggest pros of Vanderbilt, from someone who knows it well:
--Very, very strong clinical training. Yes, call can get busy, but you learn a tremendous amount... isn't that the point?
--Strong clinical & basic research, if you're interested
--Well-connected for fellowship match
--Gorgeous new clinic facilities
--Two VA hospitals, where residents get lots of autonomy
--Nearly everything is located right next door, so no commuting required on most rotations
--Nashville is a great place to live

 

[ASDA DDOC]

dore2013 and everyone else. Thanks for the feedback. Definitely cleared the air for me...

 

[pitt1166]

there has to be a reason that vanderbilt has been getting bad press. when i was there i was fairly impressed by the program, def the chariman, and the city was great. however my advisor recommended that i do not rank them highly. others confirmed his opinion. i didnt inquire further because i'm not terribly interested in the program due to its location. but i'm curious there has to be a reason why? were there problems in the past?

 

[DrDalia]

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