Descriptions of On-Campus Residency
Primary Care
Chief Mentor: Christina S. Wilmer, OD
cwilmer@berkeley.edu
The specialty program in Primary Care is designed to provide a broad clinical experience in an advanced
curriculum. The patient population is diverse, consisting of all age groups from infants to the elderly
with varied eye and vision disorders. The resident will participate in patient care in several different
clinical settings including multidisciplinary environments and ambulatory care centers. The tract in primary
care is designed to advance the knowledge and exposure of the resident in all subspecialties within optometry.
These can include ocular disease, urgent care management, cornea and contact lenses, refractive surgery, low
vision, pediatrics, geriatrics and binocular vision evaluation and care. The primary care resident will have
on-call duties, with the guidance of a faculty mentor, to round out the clinical experience. During the
residency year the primary care resident will be able to tailor their clinical experience to reflect a more
focused curriculum or to maintain a broad overview of optometric subspecialties. The resident successfully
completing this tract will be the ideal candidate for a career in primary care optometric education and
practice.
[return to
Introduction to Residency Program.]
Ocular Disease
Chief Mentor: Carl Jacobsen, OD
chj@berkeley.edu
The University of California School of Optometry offers a residency track in ocular disease diagnosis
and management with an emphasis on clinical patient care. Clinical patient care is offered primarily
through the UCBSO Ophthalmology Clinic with possible short rotations through affiliated off-campus
clinics. Staff ophthalmologists specializing in general ophthalmology, oculoplastic surgery, retina,
and glaucoma as well as residency-trained optometrists supervise the resident. The Ophthalmology Clinic
is a referral clinic for area optometrists as well as other UCBSO clinics and, as such, serves a diverse
patient population. For the interested resident, short rotations through other UCBSO specialty clinics in
electrodiagnostics, contact lens related eye disease, low vision, or other clinics can be arranged.
Supplementing direct patient care, the resident will attend and participate in grand rounds, help supervise
fourth-year optometry students, and will be partially responsible for after-hours emergency consultations.
For the interested resident, many research opportunities related to ocular disease are available through
the School's outstanding faculty research program. The goal of this residency is to develop a skilled
clinician with advanced ability to detect, diagnose, and treat eye disease.
[Return to
Introduction to Residency Program.]
Contact Lenses
Chief
Mentor: Dennis Burger, OD
dennis.burger@ncal.kaiperm.org
The Contact Lens Specialty is designed to expand the resident's knowledge and clinical expertise in the areas
of contact lenses and corneal physiology. The program offers experience in fitting contact lenses for a general
population of patients and for those who need special designs, such as bitoric, keratoconic, multifocal,
post-surgical, and aphakic. Residents will also gain contact lens teaching experience in both clinic and
didactic courses and have the opportunity to participate in contact lens research projects.
[Return to
Introduction to Residency Program.]
 Also see the article in the Spring 2006 issues of Berkeley Optometry Focus: "A Look into the Life of a Contact Lens Resident at Berkeley Optometry."
Low Vision
Chief Mentor: Robert Greer, OD
rbgreer@berkeley.edu
The Optometric Residency Program in low vision provides the resident with a broad, guided experience in
low vision care and rehabilitation for the partially sighted. The Low Vision Center has a diverse clinical
population and provides service for substantial numbers of visually handicapped children (many of whom are
multi-handicapped), and adults in college, at work, or in rehabilitation programs; over half of the Center's
patient population is elderly. Residents in this program gain experience in prescribing telescope systems,
near vision magnifiers, devices to compensate for peripheral vision loss, and custom-designed optical systems.
There is also the opportunity to learn about electronic magnification systems and computer hardware and
software solutions designed for those with low vision. The Center provides other rehabilitation services,
such as information and referral, counseling, support group programs, educational evaluation, and mobility
evaluation. Students in the Optometric Residency Program may participate in these activities by working with
our rehabilitation specialist. There is a rich diversity of exposure to ocular pathologies and, frequently,
special electrodiagnostic and visual function tests are used in the overall assessment of low vision patients.
Rotations through other low vision clinics in and around the Bay Area may be arranged.
[Return to
Introduction to Residency Program.]
Binocular Vision
Chief Mentor: Pia Hoenig, OD, MA
phoenig@spectacle.berkeley.edu
The specialty program in Binocular Vision will provide extensive experience in the diagnosis and treatment
of sensory-motor disorders of binocular vision, including strabismus, amblyopia, suppression, anomalous
correspondence, and general binocular dysfunction resulting from paresis, tonic disorders, and
accommodative-vergence disorders. The program offers pre- and post-surgical evaluation and treatment, as
well as experience in eye movement assessment. Residents will be introduced to learning problems and their
optometric evaluation.
[Return to
Introduction to Residency Program.]
Pediatrics
Chief Mentor: Deborah Orel-Bixler, OD, PhD
dob@berkeley.edu
The specialty program in Pediatric Vision is broad-based, covering all sensory-motor aspects of visual
development in infants and children. The primary goal of the pediatric residency program is to provide
the resident with proficiency in optometric care and management of the pediatric population. This program
includes training in vision screening, visual evaluation, monocular and binocular sensory processes, optics,
binocular vision, cognition, and motor development. Residents will gain extensive experience in the diagnosis
and management of anomalies of binocular vision and assessment of vision function in the normal and
multi-handicapped pediatric population, using electrodiagnostic techniques (visual evoked potentials) and
behavioral analysis of visual functions such as preferential looking techniques.
See the Pediatric Residency Picture Gallery.
Optometric Residency Program
inezb@berkeley.edu
c/o Inez Bailey, Residency Program Assistant
527 Minor Hall, School of Optometry
University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-2020
|
