About the Program
The one-year cornea fellowship provides diverse education and training in medical and surgical cornea, cataract, anterior segment surgery, refractive surgery, ocular surface tumors, ocular surface and anterior segment infections, anterior uveitis, and newest technologies for assessment and treatment for dry eye and ocular surface diseases. There are four cornea fellowship trained faculty and six additional faculty members who provide this diverse training at the Havener Eye Institute and Dept. Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (DOVS) at The Ohio State University, Columbus VA, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Surgical training includes PK, DALK, DSAEK, DMEK, Boston keratoprosthesis, temporary keratoprosthesis, corneal and scleral patch grafts, pterygium excision, excision of ocular surface tumors and lesions, amniotic membrane grafting, ocular surface reconstruction, limbal stem cell transplants, Gunderson flaps, tarsorrhaphy, corneal laceration repair, superficial keratectomy, refractive surgery with incisional and excimer laser options, simple and complex cataract surgeries, lens implant exchanges, exposure to scleral-fixated IOLs, corneal cross-linking, and pediatric anterior segment management. Unique learning of medical contact lenses from two expert optometric faculty and state-of-the-art dry eye diagnosis and treatment are part of medical cornea management. In recent years, the cornea fellow has performed 50-90 corneal transplants and 80-100 cataract surgeries as primary surgeon in addition to many other surgeries. Recent fellows have performed as many as 300 primary surgeries during their fellowship year. Call responsibilities include primary call for the Cornea Division with one week off each month and trauma call shared among the other fellows. The fellow will have twenty-two days of leave, which includes vacation, interviews and CME conferences.
Teaching opportunities include residents and medical students in the following activities at both Ohio State and the Columbus VA: staffing resident cataract surgeries, staffing ruptured globes, helping to staff hospital consults for complex cornea diseases on inpatients, and staffing bimonthly BuckEYE Clinic, which provides full service ophthalmic care for patients who are uninsured or underinsured. The cornea fellow will participate in a Grand Round case presentation and resident teaching conferences.
Research opportunities are available with potential funding depending on the breadth and scope of the project while balancing the main expectation and responsibilities toward this busy clinical fellowship. The chair of DOVS has built a strong research infrastructure to support biostatistics, database management, and collaborations. The fellow is encouraged to present a poster/paper at a national meeting and will be provided travel support with prior approval from the chair.
Eligibility requirements for cornea fellow: applicant must be a graduate of an ACGME-accredited residency program and must be eligible to obtain a full medical license in the state of Ohio.
Please contact Meredith.Hess@osumc.edu with questions.
Fellowship Director
Rebecca Kuennen, MD