Program Overview

The overall goals of the Integrated Eye Residency Program of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School under the direction of Albert S. Khouri, MD are to provide residents with superior clinical training in every subspecialty of ophthalmology and to afford opportunities for productive clinical and/or science research.

The Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Science is unique in that it is the only institute in New Jersey to offer an Ophthalmology Residency Program and the only program in the State of New Jersey staffed by full-time academic ophthalmologists. As a result, residents benefit from an exceptionally large number of patient visits, are exposed to a broad spectrum of ophthalmic pathologies, and receive the utmost in attending supervision in both the clinical setting and the operating theater.

The Institute's commitment to resident education is underscored by the fact that it has elected not to sponsor fellowship training programs. Instead, the faculty remains completely dedicated to resident training. In fact, since there are no fellows in the Institute, residents participate either as primary surgeon or first assistant in all surgical cases, resulting in resident surgical volume that ranks among the top 10% of ophthalmology residencies nationally in many surgical subspecialties. Furthermore, all didactic lectures are presented by faculty, and all surgical cases in which the resident is primary surgeon (including after-hours cases of ocular trauma) are staffed by an attending physician.

The Ophthalmology Residency at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School has a joint internship program (PGY1) with the Internal Medicine Residency that commenced in July 2020. The joint internship includes three months of ophthalmology experience. During those three months the interns will receive broad ophthalmology exposure through 2 week rotations in general and specialty clinics (glaucoma, retina, cornea, neuro-ophthalmology, oculoplastics, among others), as well as the in-patient consult and Emergency Department Ophthalmology services. PGY1 residents also attend all lectures and clinical conferences while rotating in Ophthalmology.