Departments of Instruction

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science

The department provides a full complement of inpatient and outpatient clinical services through its primary teaching facilities: the Cizik Eye Clinic, Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital, Settegast Community Health Center, Baytown Community Clinic, Acres Home Community Health Center.In addition, indigent patients from San Jose Clinic are seen at the Eye Center.  The Cizik Eye Clinic is located on the 18th floor of the Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza. The complete spectrum of ophthalmology services are provided at the Eye Clinic, which has a low vision unit, a photography section, an electro-diagnostic unit, a pediatric unit, a minor surgery unit, and a contact lens unit.

The Medical School coordinates all residency training programs. Each year, ophthalmology enrolls three residents out of approximately 300 applicants for the three-year residency program. Approximately 75 percent of the department’s graduating residents continue in fellowships of advanced subspecialty training under the department’s faculty or in some other ophthalmology program. Monthly resident conferences and rounds include: grand rounds, ethics rounds, journal club, photography conference, and case conferences in addition to reviews in basic and clinical science specialty lecture series. The department gives a monthlong basic science course in ophthalmology, as well as various other continuing education courses throughout the year.

Vision research is a high priority of the department with eight full-time researchers on the faculty. A stimulating research environment is fostered by the collaborative relationships between the Medical School and the five other schools of UTHSC-H: School of Health Information Sciences, Dental Branch, School of Public Health, School of Nursing, and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. In addition, the health science center has a number of interdisciplinary centers, institutes, and programs.

The department’s outstanding research faculty has collectively received many prestigious national grants and awards, including Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) Career Development Awards, an RPB Dolly Green Scholars Award, grants from Fight for Sight, several major National Institutes of Health awards, and numerous grants from private research foundations. The department holds both a Core Grant for Vision Research and a Vision Training Grant from the National Eye Institute.

The department has strong ties with researchers in other departments of the Medical School and other institutions in the Texas Medical Center and with the College of Optometry at the University of Houston.  A number of these individuals hold courtesy or joint appointments in the department. There are currently 10 to 12 collaborative research projects in addition to the clinical and basic science research being conducted by individual departmental faculty.

Involvement in research is available and encouraged for the ophthalmologist in training; however, clinical ophthalmology is emphasized.