UMass Memorial adding ophthalmology residency program

Photo | Courtesy | UMass Memorial Health Care UMass' Memorial Medical Center's department chair of ophthalmology, Dr. Shlomit Schaal

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By Grant Welker

UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester is adding a residency program for ophthalmologists for the first time, furthering growth in the hospital's eye department in recent years.

The department will enroll its first two residents this summer and add two more in each of the next two years, UMass' department chair of ophthalmology, Dr. Shlomit Schaal, said. Already, dozens of applications have come in, she said.

More than 50 medical specialties at UMass Memorial offer residency programs for doctors in training who've just completed their degrees. But few residency spots are available in ophthalmology, and gaining approval for a new residency program is very difficult, Schaal said.

In Massachusetts, such programs are in place only available in Boston: at Boston University Medical Center, Harvard Medical School and Tufts Medical Center.

"Ophthalmology is extremely competitive," Schaal said.

The new residency program adds to an expansion of the UMass Memorial ophthalmology department since Schaal took over in July 2016. Since then, the department has operation in three locations, added its first two optometrists and began performing eye surgery for children for the first time.

Schaal said she hopes to make research a key component of the residency program.