The purpose of the initial year of residency training is to develop basic ophthalmologic examination skills with emphasis on refraction and the use of instrumentation, and to train medical ophthalmologists skilled in differential diagnosis. Residents also receive a through introduction to ophthalmic surgery. The resident spends 4 months of the year in the Comprehensive ophthalmology clinic focusing on a broad range of ophthalmic disorders. The resident is involved in medical and pre-operative evaluation of patients as well as operative management. In addition, the resident will be introduced to subspecialty ophthalmology spending 4 months in the Neuro-op/Pediatrics clinic and two months in the Cornea/ External Disease and Glaucoma clinics. First year residents also participate in the in-patient consult service. During the first year residents will be introduced to the management of ocular trauma, participate in extraocular surgery and begin participation in intraocular surgery. By the end of their first year, residents will have completed many strabismus surgeries as well as have completed most or all of several cataract surgeries.

The purpose of the second year is to refine the resident's diagnostic skills while developing a solid foundation in intraocular surgery. Four months are spent at the new Mather VA facility where the resident will work one on one with the VA faculty. During this time, the resident will also rotate through the Oculoplastics/Cosmetic Surgery service, participating in the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of oculoplastic disorders. Residents will also rotate to satellite offices, obtaining additional experience in Pediatric ophthalmology as well as exposure to the practice of ophthalmology in private and HMO settings. Additional clinical and surgical exposure to Glaucoma is also provided.

The emphasis of the third year is in perfecting surgical techniques and diagnostic skills as well as learning techniques of advanced intraocular surgery. Each resident will spend 4 months at the Martinez VA clinic running his/her own clinic with direct one-on-one faculty supervision. Four additional months will be spent as Chief resident, arranging his/her own clinic schedule and surgical practice. As Chief, the resident may select from a variety of academic and clinical faculty with whom to expand their operative skills. The remainder of the year is spent on subspecialty rotations participating in advanced Corneal and Vitreo-Retinal surgery. Residents complete the program with extensive surgical experience in all aspects of ophthalmology.

Our program currently has fellows in both Cornea/External Disease and Vitreo-Retinal surgery. The program is structured such that the fellow greatly benefit the residents education without taking away from the surgical volume. Throughout the three-year program, the residents participate in a wide variety of didactic programs and conferences provided by the department.