Ophthalmology
The Department of Ophthalmology at Boston University Medical Center participates in and has responsibility for a broad range of clinical, research, and teaching activities. Faculty members provide all levels of medical and surgical eye care in a wide range of locations in Massachusetts. These include one of Boston’s premier teaching hospitals, Boston Medical Center; the Department of Veterans Affairs primary referral center for New England, the VA Boston Healthcare System; a freestanding ambulatory surgical and laser refractive center in Raynham; and the private offices of Boston University Eye Associates, Inc. in Boston, Taunton, Middleboro, and Brockton.
The Massachusetts Lions Eye Research Laboratories of the Department of Ophthalmology conduct exceptional NEI-funded research in the Harold S. Larkin Eye Research Laboratory and the Larkin Family Eye Research Laboratory at the BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. Our researchers are world leaders in vision science, uncovering the causes of eye diseases and developing new treatment approaches to prevent vision loss.
In its residency training program, the department trains graduate physicians to be ophthalmologists and prepares them for certification by the American Board of Ophthalmology. The department also provides advanced training for ophthalmologists in the subspecialty areas of retinal and vitreous diseases, and glaucoma. The department faculty teach medical students, primary care physicians, and graduate students who are candidates for the degree of PhD.
Medical student courses available through the Department of Ophthalmology include a four-week elective in clinical ophthalmology. In addition to this, students enrolled in the surgical subspecialty clerkship may elect to do a two-week clinical ophthalmology rotation as part of this course. During clinical rotations, students learn how to perform a complete eye exam, and learn about the diagnosis and management of eye diseases. All of these electives can be found in the list of surgical electives.
Boston Medical Center draws from the fine traditions of its component institutions and facilitates their missions by:
- Providing high-quality tertiary care patient services as well as unparalleled primary medical and surgical care;
- Ensuring excellent training opportunities and supervision of future physicians;
- Adding to medical knowledge and to the practitioner’s armamentarium through advances in medical research; and
- Safeguarding the unique ability of this institution to provide needed medical services for all.
The Department of Ophthalmology is a major part of that mission.
