Education

The UIC Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences trains medical students, residents, and fellows in clinical ophthalmology. We also offer CME training for practicing physicians. All of our training programs instill the knowledge, values, and skills needed to effectively and compassionately treat people who may lose some or all of their vision as a result of disease, injury or genetic predisposition. Trainees examine patients in the General Eye Clinic and 11 subspeciality clinics, as well as at satellite clinics and cooperating hospitals.

Research training opportunities for graduate students in the vision-related basic sciences, ranging from cell biology to bioengineering, and for postdoctoral fellows pursuing careers in academic ophthalmic research are available in the laboratories of the department's researchers. Basic vision research is supported by over 15 NIH grants to department investigators, as well as funding from the Veterans Administration, National Science Foundation and major private sponsors, such as Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., and the Foundation Fighting Blindness.

While each of our training programs has its own objectives, our department's overall goal is to ensure that everyone we train obtains the knowledge, skills and values that will move vision science and ophthalmic practice forward in finding better treatments, and possibly cures, for vision loss and blindness.