Advances in Ophthalmology

The NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center Ophthalmology Residency Program fosters the development of outstanding clinicians and surgeons who possess the skills necessary to expertly diagnosis and manage the full spectrum of ophthalmic disease. At the heart of the program is the unparalleled diversity of learning opportunities at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Hospital for Special Surgery, and NewYork-Presbyterian Queens.

“We train nine residents per year in our residency program (PGY2-4),” explains Grace Sun, MD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of Ophthalmology Residency Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. “These residents rotate through clinics at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center for approximately 9-12 months, and in their last year of residency they rotate at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens for 4 months. The second year residents also spend significant time caring for in-patient and emergency eye consults throughout the year. At NewYork-Presbyterian Queens, the residents are an integral part of the team working alongside faculty in areas of comprehensive ophthalmology, cornea, retina, glaucoma and in-patient consults.”

NewYork-Presbyterian Queens is a community teaching hospital that serves Queens and metropolitan area residents. The 535-bed tertiary care facility and designated Level I Trauma Center provides services in 14 clinical departments and numerous subspecialties. At the hospital, emergency eye care is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Here, ophthalmology residents gain the critical competencies necessary to meet the needs of a diverse population including immigrants, refugees, communities of color and those that may be in poverty.

“At NewYork-Presbyterian Queens our residents see firsthand that the social determinants of health, such as limited health literacy, lack of fluency in English, low education level, or lower income level, are major drivers of health and disparate health outcomes,” explains Dr. Sun. “Many of these patients seek care at more advanced stages of disease, when their vision has been irreversibly affected such as in end stage glaucoma and advanced diabetic eye disease. Other patients, who may be undocumented, experience eye injuries on the job and are afraid to come in to get care until they are experiencing extreme pain or loss of vision.”

“After interviewing at many programs, I was interested in the residency program at Weill Cornell Medical College because of the exposure to an extremely diverse patient population,” says Mahmood Khan, fourth-year resident in Ophthalmology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. “The clinical training sites throughout New York City provide us with a unique opportunity to be involved in the care of patients from vast cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.”

Working with a diverse population also provides residents with opportunities to serve as their patients’ health advocates. “Our residents learn to surmount the many challenges involved in working with such a diverse population such as language barriers, local epidemiological factors, lack of community resources, insurance limitations, childcare issues, and transportation challenges,” says Dr. Sun. “They develop the skills to thrive in such an environment, including the ability to listen to and communicate with patients from other parts of the world or who speak other languages, to demonstrate respect toward all patients, and to help patients overcome the barriers of a complex health care system.”