NSUCO - The Visionary Spring 2012

THE V ISIONARY • S PRING 2012 — 29 SPOTLIGHT on RESIDENTS Our residency in primary eye care seeks to attract the best-qualified optometric graduates and provide advanced clinical and didactic education in optometry. The program offers a variety of optometric and inter- disciplinary care and is designed to foster a lifelong commitment to learning. Residents are trained to practice in any modality they choose upon program completion, deliver superlative clinical care, assist as optometric educators, and serve the profession of optometry as leaders within the community and health care delivery system. NSU has three residency positions in Primary Eye Care with Emphasis in Oc- ular Disease. The resident spends approximately 60 percent of clinical time in primary care and 40 percent in specialty services related to ocular dis- ease. The Eye Care Institute, with its wide diversity of patients and clinical facilities, provides a large ocular disease patient base via the Advanced Care Service and our outlying community-based clinics. The Eye Care Institute also provides care for patients with a wide range of ocular disorders, in- cluding glaucoma, retinal disease, neuro-ophthalmic disorders, anterior seg- ment disease, and traumatic injuries. The resident will have access to advanced diagnostic equipment, including the Spectral domain OCT, GDx ECC, HRT II, macular pigment density analy- sis, and PreView PHP. Digital fundus photography, automated threshold perimetry, and ultrasonography are standard at all clinical facilities. Resi- dents in Primary Care with Emphasis in Ocular Disease enjoy regular rota- tions through the on-campus Urgent Care Service, Glaucoma Service, and Diabetes and Macular Disease Service. In addition, off-campus specialty rotations may include retina, oculoplastics, cornea, and neuro-ophthal- mology with fellowship-trained ophthalmologists highly regarded in the ophthalmic community. Residents provide patient care as student preceptors and perform direct patient care throughout the year. The curriculum involves primarily clinical education in the form of supervision of student clinicians, direct patient care, and urgent care. There are also didactic and scholarly components, including laboratory teaching, preparation of a publishable paper, poster submissions for major optometric conferences, delivery of grand rounds presentations, attending lectures from specialty care physicians at Nova and BPEI Grand Rounds, attendance at local society meetings and confer- ences, journal review, and personal case discussions with the program co- ordinator. The goal is to develop a well-rounded optometric professional that is prepared for any aspect of the profession. The ocular disease coordinator, Joseph Sowka, O.D, FAAO, oversees the disease component of the curriculum and leads regular case discussions with the residents on their challenging disease patients and provides men- torship for the development of scholarly publications. Our current resi- dents in Primary Care with Emphasis in Ocular Disease come from a variety of optometric programs. They are Catherine Derewyanko, O.D., from Nova Southeastern University, Rim Makhlouf, O.D., from the Uni- versity of Montreal, and Michelle Nadeau, O.D., from New England Col- lege of Optometry. Following are a few comments from the residents about the residency program: WHAT ASPECT OF THE PROGRAM DO YOU ENJOY THE MOST? Dr. Derewyanko: “I have enjoyed all aspects of my disease residency. I love working alongside the optometry students in the Nova eye clinics, as well as, shadowing the many different ophthalmology specialties such as neuro- ophthalmology, retina, cataract and cornea, and oculoplastics.” Residency Program Spotlight Primary Care with Emphasis in Ocular Disease By Lori Vollmer, O.D, FAAO, Director of Residency Programs Joseph Sowka, O.D, FAAO, Diplomate in Glaucoma and Ocular Disease Coordinator Drs. Catherine Derewyanko, Rim Makhlouf, Michelle Nadeau, and Joe Sowka.