Medical Retina Fellowship Overview

Thank you for your interest in the Duke Eye Center Medical Retina Fellowship Program. As one of the top tertiary eye care referral centers, Duke Eye Center provides comprehensive, state-of-the-art clinical care and access to clinical trials for all retina diseases. The Medical Retina Fellowship Program is a one-year clinical fellowship focused on medical diseases of the retina and vitreous. 

Program Goals

The Duke Medical Retina Fellowship Program has significant goals in four main areas: Clinical, Research, Teaching, and Career Development.

Clinical

• Provide structured clinical training in the diagnosis and management of medical diseases of the retina
• Train fellows in the use and interpretation of diagnostic tests including fluorescein angiography, ICG angiography, optical coherence tomography, and electrophysiology 
• Train fellows in medical retina surgical techniques including photodynamic therapy, transpupillary thermotherapy, panretinal photocoagulation, focal laser treatment of the macula, laser retinopexy of retinal tears, indirect laser procedures, and intravitreal and subtenons injections of pharmaceutical agents 
• Teach the timing and role of vitreous surgical procedures for complex surgical retina disorders 
• Demonstrate the importance of a team approach, and communication, in the care of patients with significant vision loss secondary to retinal disease. 

Research 

• Teach the fundamentals of clinical trial research through exposure to ongoing trials, review of past trials, and didactics on study design and results interpretation 
• Expose fellows to retina faculty and researchers with diverse basic, translational, and clinical research interests
• Encourage, and provide dedicated time for, meaningful scientific research in areas of interest 

Teaching

• Allow fellows the opportunity to actively supervise and teach Duke ophthalmology residents and medical students through structured didactic retina conferences and hands-on clinical teaching 
• Encourage the active participation in national and international retina meetings.

Career Development

• Guide, mentor, and assist fellows in career development plans 
• Provide and facilitate networking opportunities with national and international retina colleagues.