Each year the ophthalmology residency program accepts five first-year trainees. The program seeks to select well-rounded, motivated, and team-oriented candidates with outstanding academic records and superlative letters of recommendation.  Trainees must enter the program at the PGY2 level, having completed general medicine, surgery, or transitional internships. The residency program lasts 36-months, from July 1 to June 30.

Interview Dates 2024

Applicants who are invited for interviews may choose from the following dates:

• Wednesday, November 13
• Tuesday, November 19

Application Portal

The ophthalmology residency program accepts applications only from the Central Application Service (CAS). Applications and/or supporting documents sent directly to Scheie Eye Institute will not be accepted.

Register with and apply through the Central Application Service of the Ophthalmology Matching Program.

Ophthalmology Matching Program
P.O. Box 7584
San Francisco, CA 94120-7584
Phone: 415-447-0350
FAX: 415-561-8535
Program #: 4013 Scheie Eye Inst / U Penn

Non-Discrimination Clause

The University of Pennsylvania values diversity and seeks talented students, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds. The University of Pennsylvania does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or status as a Vietnam Era Veteran or disabled veteran in the administration of educational policies, programs or activities; admissions policies; scholarship and loan awards; athletic, or other University administered programs or employment. Questions or complaints regarding this policy should be directed to:

Executive Director, Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Programs, Sansom Place East, 3600 Chestnut Street, Suite 228, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6106 or by phone at 215-898-6993 (Voice) or (215) 898-7803 (TDD)

Residents rotate through all ophthalmic subspecialties and begin surgical training in their first year, with levels of autonomy, responsibility, and complexity of cases increasing gradually throughout the course of the program. In addition to five 10-week rotations per year, residents see a high volume of diverse patient cases in the resident-run emergency clinic at the Scheie Eye Institute, which is staffed by an attending physician. To further broaden the scope of training, the program offers an elective block in the third year, which allows many residents to pursue international clinical experiences.   

All clinicians are involved in supervising resident outpatient clinics and surgeries, imparting a variety of clinical management styles and surgical techniques. Residents form strong relationships with faculty, receiving individualized guidance and thorough feedback.

Resident Rotation Schedule PDF

Locations

Scheie Eye Institute / Penn Presbyterian Medical Center 

51 N. 39th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Directions

Orientation

The Ophthalmology Department provides an orientation to familiarize incoming residents with ophthalmic terms and specific tools and techniques for ophthalmic examinations, refraction, and vision testing. Presentations by faculty emphasize commonly encountered ophthalmic problems and differential diagnosis.

Weekly Didactic Program

Monday	7:00 AM - 10:00 AM Structured BCSC Subspecialty Lectures
Tuesday & Wednesday	7:00 AM - 8:00 AM Fluorescein conferences and subspecialty lectures (e.g. retina and glaucoma)
Thursday	7:00 AM - 7:45 AM Grand Rounds  7:45 AM - 8:30 AM  Visiting Professor and Guest Lecture Series
Friday	7:00 AM - 8:00 AM Cornea Journal Club, Cornea M&M, Neuro-Ophthalmology Conferences

Journal Club

Each month, residents are assigned three to four articles from prominent medical journals (on retina, cornea, glaucoma, pediatric, or oculoplastics). A discussion is held with residents, fellows, and attending faculty about a current topic in ophthalmology based on these readings. These sessions provide ample opportunity for residents to speak directly with attendings about their area of specialty.    

Continuing Medical Education Activities (CME)

Visiting professors who are leaders in their fields are invited to the Scheie Eye Institute to give CME lectures on a regular basis. The CME activity includes lectures by the Visiting Professor and Scheie faculty members with expertise in that specialty area.

Penn Ophthalmology is a leader in clinical and basic research, with over $16 million in National Eye Institute funding, 185 faculty publications, and an H-index (research impact) of 122 in the past fiscal year. Residents have access to close faculty mentorship and support from the full array of research programs, including cutting gene therapy research at the Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics (CAROT) and a team of biostatisticians at the Center for Preventative Ophthalmology and Biostatistics. Many residents pursue faculty-supervised projects, publications, and presentations at national conferences. Attendance at meetings is supported by the Department for residents who are authors or co-authors. All residents are encouraged and offered funding to attend the American Academy of Ophthalmology or the Association for Research in Vision in Ophthalmology.  

See the News Page to learn more about the Department’s latest research advances.

Alumni Fellowship Placements 2002-2021

Alumnus	Class	Specialty	Institution
Yafeng Li, MD, PhD	2021	Retina	New York Ear and Eye Infirmary
Enny O. Oyeniran, MD	2021	Uveitis	National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Eye Institute (NEI)
Meera S. Ramakrishnan, MD	2021	Retina	Columbia University
Delu Song, MD	2021	Retina	University of California San Diego
Lana D. Verkuil, MD	2021	Pediatric Ophthalmology	Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Brian M. Shafer, MD	2020	Cornea	Vance Thompson Vision
Drew H. Scoles, MD, PhD	2020	Surgical Retina	Beaumont
Kurt T. Scavelli, MD	2020	Surgical Retina	Vanderbilt Eye Institute
Erin C. O'Neil, MD	2020	Retinal Degeneration & Medical Retina	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
J. Clay Bavinger, MD	2020	Surgical Retina	Emory Eye Center
Michael E. Sulewski, Jr., MD	2019	Cornea	Wills Eye Hospital
Jaclyn B. Gurwin, MD	2019	Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery	University of Wisconsin
Lindsay E. Dawson, MD	2019	Glaucoma	Duke Eye Center
Rebecca B. Bausell, MD	2019	Cornea	University of Maryland
Michael J. Ammar, MD	2019	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Wills Eye Hospital
Preema M. Buch, MD	2018	Cornea & External Disease	Wills Eye Hospital
Iga N. Gray, MD, PhD	2018	Glaucoma	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Christopher K. Hwang, MD, PhD	2018	Medical Retina	National Eye Institute
Akosua A. Nti, MD	2018	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Keirnan L. Willett, MD	2018	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Mayo Clinic
Nicole M. Fuerst, MD	2017	Cornea	Duke Eye Center
Marisa K. Lau, MD	2017	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	University of Colorado Denver
Christiana M. Munroe, MD	2017	Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery	Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Daniel H. Sarezky, MD	2017	Cornea & External Disease	Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Katherine E. Uyhazi, MD, PhD	2017	Retinal Degeneration & Medical Retina	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Aida Bounama, MD	2016	Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery	University of Texas San Antonio
Anne K. Jensen, MD	2016	Pediatric Ophthalmology	Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Anita A. Kohli, MD	2016	Neuro-Ophthalmology	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Purak C. Parikh, MD	2016	Cornea & External Disease	Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan
Neepa Shah, MD	2016	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Weill Cornell Medical College
Mausam R. Damani, MD	2015	Cornea & External Disease	UC Davis Eye Center
Clare Kelliher, MD	2015	Cornea & External Disease	University of Illinois Chicago
Nicole A. Langelier, MD	2015	Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery	Duke Eye Center
Karen E. Revere, MD	2015	Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery	Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Jessica S. Watson, MD	2015	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa
Tomas S. Aleman, MD	2014	Retinal Degeneration & Medical Retina	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania (Research Faculty)
Hilary S. Brader, MD	2014	Medical Retina	Mass. Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School
Kian Eftekhari, MD	2014	Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery	Center for Facial Appearances, Salt Lake City, Utah
Devon H. Ghodasra, MD	2014	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan
Dana M. Hornbeak, MD, MPH	2014	Uveitis	Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Esther R. Bisker, MD	2013	Neuro-Ophthalmology	Wills Eye Hospital
Dina Y. Gewaily, MD, MS	2013	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Luxme Hariharan, MD, MPH	2013	Pediatric Ophthalmology	Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami
Deepika N. Shah, MD	2013	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Mass. Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School
Ankoor R. Shah, MD	2013	Retinal degeneration & Medical Retina	Beaumont
Jason Jun, MD, MPP	2012	Cornea & External Disease	Stein Eye Institute, UCLA
Marc Levin, MD, PhD	2012	Neuro-Ophthalmology	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Joshua Ney, MD	2012	Glaucoma	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Sriranjani Padmanabhan, MD	2012	Glaucoma	Emory Eye Center
Maulik S. Zaveri, MD, MS	2012	Cornea	Emory Eye Center
Henry Lee, MD	2011	Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery	Aesthetic Eye Associates, Kirkland WA
Vivian Lee, MD	2011	Ocular Pathology	University of Wisconsin Madision
Sonia Mehta, MD	2011	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Emory Eye Center
Apurva Patel, MD	2011	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, Mount Sinai
Jon Peet, MD	2011	Comprehensive Ophthalmology	Private Practice
Lili Grunwald, MD	2010	Medical Retina	Duke Eye Center
Paul Hahn, MD, PhD	2010	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Duke Eye Center
Nicholas Mahoney, MD	2010	Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery	Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Anton Orlin, MD	2010	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Weill Cornell Medical College
Lorri Wilson, MD	2010	Pediatric Ophthalmology	Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Leon Charkoudian, MD	2009	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Emory Eye Center
Netan Choudhry, MD	2009	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Mass. Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School
Sudha Nallasamy	2009	Pediatric Ophthalmology	Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Meredith Regina, MD, PhD	2009	Glaucoma	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Ali Zaidi, MD	2009	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Tamiesha Frempong, MD, MPH	2008	Pediatric Ophthalmology	Duke Eye Center
Margot Goodkin, MD, PhD	2008	Glaucoma	Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami
Bojidar Madjarov, MD	2008	Medical Retina	Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami
Naureen Mirza-George, MD	2008	Pediatric Ophthalmology	Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Tushar Ranchod, MD	2008	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Beaumont
Catherine Cukras, MD, PhD	2007	Medical Retinal	National Eye Institute
Catherine Hwang, MD	2007	Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery	Stein Eye Institute, UCLA
Jason Skalet, MD	2007	Cornea & External Disease	UC San Francisco
Madhura Tamhankar, MD	2007	Neuro-Ophthalmology	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Robert Wong, MD	2007	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	California Pacific Medical Center
Gil Binenbaum, MD	2006	Pediatric Ophthalmology	Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Jennifer Hall, MD	2006	Neuro-Ophthalmology	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Newman Sund, MD, PhD	2006	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Beaumont
Bairn Michael Walker, MD	2006	Cornea & External Disease	Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Wayne Wei Wu, MD, PhD	2006	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Vanderbilt Eye Institute
Jason Hsu, MD	2005	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Wills Eye Hospital
William Katowitz, MD	2005	Pediatric Ophthalmology & Oculoplastics	Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Shane Kim, MD	2005	Cornea & External Disease	UC San Francisco
Linda Rose, MD, PhD	2005	Cornea & External Disease	Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Wai Wong, MD, PhD	2005	Medical Retina	National Eye Institute
Gabrielle Bonhomme, MD	2004	Neuro-Ophthalmology	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Damon Chandler, MD	2004	Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Leonard Feiner, MD, PhD	2004	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Washington University in St. Louis
Leila Khazaeni, MD	2004	Pediatric Ophthalmology	Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Michael Tracy, MD	2004	Cornea & External Disease	Bascom Palmer Eye institute, University of Miami
Carolyn Glazer-Hockstein, MD	2003	Medical retina	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Michael Ibarra, MD	2003	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Beaumont
Lisa Schocket, MD	2003	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	New England Eye Center, Tufts Medical Center
Kenneth Shindler, MD, PhD	2003	Neuro-Ophthalmology	Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania
Paul Tapino, MD	2003	Comprehensive Ophthalmology	Scheie Eye institute, University of Pennsylvania (Faculty)
Raymond Douglas, MD, PhD	2002	Oculoplastic & Orbital Surgery	Stein Eye Institute, UCLA
Matthew Gardiner, MD	2002	Cornea & External Disease	Mass. Eye & Ear, Harvard Medical School
Jonathan Prenner, MD	2002	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Beaumont
Atul Sharma, MD	2002	Vitreo-Retinal Surgery	Mass. Eye & Ear, Harvard Medical School
Alan Westeren, MD	2002	Cornea & External Disease	Shiley Eye Institute, UC San Diego

Night Call

First-year residents attend night call at the Scheie Eye Institute/Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where Penn’s Trauma Center is located. The Emergency Department offers a fully-equipped eye lane for ophthalmic medical, surgical, and trauma emergencies. Call is taken from home. The frequency of on-call responsibilities is approximately every 5th night. The senior resident is available as on-call backup for consultation. During the first two months, a third-year resident accompanies the first year resident at all times during the overnight call.
During the second year, night call coverage is from home, every 5th night, covering HUP, CHOP, and the VA. 
Third-year residents provide backup call for the first and second year residents. Attending night call coverage also is provided on a rotating basis by all faculty with surgical privileges.

Salary and Benefits

All residents receive a salary determined by their PGY level and set by the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Residents have health insurance covered through the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Other benefits, including life insurance, are extended as well.

Vacations

Each resident has three weeks of vacation per year. The remaining weeks can be scheduled anytime, albeit with the following considerations: no vacation is allowed during the surgical senior rotation, during July and August, or during the last week of each academic year. Prior approval by the Residency Program Director is required to be certain that two residents on the same rotation (Retina, VA, CHOP, etc.) are not away at the same time. Both the Residency Director and the Chair must approve exceptions to the above policy in advance.

Resident Meetings

Residents meet with the Chairman, Residency Program Director, and Assistant Program Director regularly to discuss administrative, academic, and other issues related to the day-to-day activities of the residents. 

OKAP Examination

In the spring of each year, the OKAP (Ophthalmic Knowledge Assessment Program) examinations are administered. Residents throughout the country take this test as an in-service exam to monitor their knowledge base. Penn Ophthalmology’s structured didactic curriculum and two-month review is designed to prepare residents for this exam. The exam fee is covered by the Department.