Pre-Residency Fellowships

The Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences offers two pre-residency research fellowship programs.

The Ophthalmic Pathology Pre-Residency Fellowship

Program Directors:  Drs. Heather Potter, Barb Blodi and Amitha Domalpally 

Description: The Ophthalmic Pathology/Imaging fellowship program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is a one-year pre- residency fellowship. This fellowship position is a paid position and will be at the Research Specialist level. In this fellowship, 50% time will be spent in Ophthalmic Pathology and 50% time at the Wisconsin Reading Center (WRC). The responsibilities of the fellow are listed below for both units:

Ophthalmic Pathology Lab

The fellow evaluates specimens received by the lab, assisting with gross dissection of globes and performing a microscopic examination. The fellow prepares preliminary pathology reports for the attending physician to review at sign-out of cases by Dr. Heather Potter, Director of the Ophthalmic Pathology lab. The fellow is then responsible for follow-up of these cases including seeking secondary consultation, communicating the results to the surgeon, and facilitating secondary testing such as genetic analysis and microbiology PCR.  There are opportunities to participate in either basic science research or histopathologic studies reviewing the substantial library of former cases seen in the laboratory. The fellow is also involved in several educational opportunities including teaching pathology the ophthalmology residents and medical students.

Wisconsin Reading Center

The fellow’s involvement at the WRC includes exposure to and training in the analysis of retinal images such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), OCT angiography, ultra-wide field imaging, color photographs, auto-fluorescence images, and fluorescein angiograms. The fellow will be involved in multiple projects, including clinical trials and grants, to assess novel imaging outcomes for retinal diseases such as retinal vein occlusion, diabetic retinopathy, retinal dystrophies and macular degeneration. There will be opportunity to work with new and     ongoing imaging research aimed towards conference presentations and publications.

Background:

The UW Eye Pathology Lab, established in 1925 by F.A. Davis and directed for many years by Daniel Albert, is the only dedicated eye pathology in Wisconsin. The laboratory evaluates specimens received not only from ophthalmologists within the state of Wisconsin but also from pathology laboratories across the United States. Given the many unique specimens seen by our service, there are ample opportunities for case reports and photo submissions.

The Wisconsin Reading Center within the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences provides image evaluation services in support of clinical trials and epidemiologic studies of eye diseases. In partnership with the National Institutes of Health, the WRC has developed scientific methodologies for the analysis of ophthalmic images. The WRC participates in a number of clinical trials with a large dataset of standardized images in retinal diseases. Images are received from clinics all over the world with more than 30,000 images evaluated per year.

Supervision: The fellow will be supervised by Dr. Domalpally, WRC Research Director, and mentored by Drs. Blodi and Domalpally, as well as Co-Medical Directors, faculty and senior research staff. Training may occur with WRC Co-Medical Directors, faculty and senior research staff.

Length of Fellowship: 1 year
Number of Fellowships per year:  2
Start date:  May or June
Application deadline: February 15, 2023
Clinical Research Required: Yes
Block Time Assigned to Research: Yes

Apply

The Ophthalmic Imaging Pre-Residency Fellowship

Director:  Drs. Barb Blodi and Amitha Domalpally

Description: The Ophthalmic Imaging fellowship program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is a one-year pre-residency fellowship. This fellowship position is a paid position and will be at the Research Specialist level.

The fellow will spend 100% time at the Wisconsin Reading Center (WRC) as part of a one-year position. The WRC fellowship includes exposure to and training in the analysis of retinal images such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), OCT angiography, ultra-wide field imaging, color photographs, auto-fluorescence images, and fluorescein angiograms. The researcher will be involved in multiple projects, including clinical trials and grants, assessing novel imaging outcomes for retinal diseases including retinal vein occlusion, diabetic retinopathy, retinal dystrophies, and macular degeneration. There will be opportunity to work with new and ongoing imaging research aimed towards conference presentations and publications.

The fellow will be supervised by Dr. Domalpally, WRC Research Director, and mentored by Drs. Blodi and Domalpally, as well as Co-Medical Directors, faculty and senior research staff.

Training may occur with WRC Co-Medical Directors, faculty and senior  research staff.

Background: The WRC within the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences provides image evaluation services in support of clinical trials and epidemiologic studies of eye diseases. In partnership with the National Institutes of Health, the WRC has developed scientific methodologies for the analysis of ophthalmic images. The WRC participates in a number of clinical trials with a large dataset of standardized images in retinal diseases. Images are received from clinics all over the world with more than 30,000 images evaluated per year.

Length of Fellowship: 1 year
Number of Fellowships per year:  1
Start date: May or June
Application deadline: February 15, 2023
Clinical Research Required: Yes
Block Time Assigned to Research: Yes

Apply