About the Program

Ophthalmology Residency at the University of Iowa

UIHCPhoto by University Relations Photography/University of Iowa

We invite you to consider the advantages of a program that will expose you to:

  • high-powered faculty members dedicated to your success
  • comprehensive exposure to all subspecialties
  • state-of-the-art clinical facilities

The accomplishments of our residency graduates demonstrate our commitment to help you develop necessary medical judgment to succeed in your career endeavors.

The ophthalmology resident training program gives residents a broad comprehensive ophthalmology background and opportunities to gain experience subspecialties as well.

In training residents, the Department strives to produce excellent practitioners. We also want our residents to learn to be good teachers and to acquire a critical and inquiring approach to investigating the unsolved problems of ophthalmology.

Residents rotate through every service, work closely with faculty and fellows, and participate fully in surgery under the expert guidance of faculty. Residents are required to actively participate in clinical or basic research during their training.

Committed to Education

The ophthalmology resident training program lasts three years with five residents appointed annually. Our program is poised to meet the needs of the changing face of today’s health care. We aim to assure that residents receive a broad comprehensive background in ophthalmology and develop research skills to make them better clinicians. We want to assure our graduates are completely ready for whatever they may encounter in private practice or in further training in a subspecialty. We are committed to providing all our trainees with an appropriate and varied surgical experience to achieve competence as ophthalmic surgeons. With this commitment, we feel we have a moral obligation to our patients and the public to foster the highest moral and ethical behavior.

Approximately half of our graduates enter private practice immediately upon completion of the 3-year residency. Others pursue fellowship training before going into practice or entering an academic career. Regardless of a resident or fellow's choice of career path, he or she should feel fully confident of having received the best possible training in ophthalmology. As part of the Iowa Ophthalmology Family, they have worked with dedicated and experienced faculty in a contemporary and world-renowned program. We believe at the completion of training, graduates of the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences are prepared for the challenges ahead and can look forward to the fulfillment that comes from pursuing a career that fosters life-long education.