Wendy Huang’s love of optometry began at an early age.
“I have really bad eyesight,” Huang explained. “I’m extremely nearsighted in both eyes. I went to an optometrist when I was very young and was immediately fascinated by the field.”
That passion remains.
Huang, who lives in the Madison, WI area, is a fourth-year student at the Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago, IL, where she is earning her Doctor of Optometry degree. As the final step in that training, Huang spent three months at the UW Health Eye Clinics in Madison, WI completing an externship.
“The optometry externship program with UW Health and UW health and the University of Wisconsin—Madison Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences is designed to prepare future optometrists to be comfortable in all areas of practice,” explained Kevin Kurt, OD, who serves as the optometry externship program director. “During their time with us, externs like Wendy conduct preliminary patient examinations, including all diagnostic testing. They make a diagnosis and present their recommended treatment plan to the attending optometrist.”
During the 2024-25 academic year, Huang spent 12 weeks at each of four clinical sites in the Midwest, where she received hands-on, practical clinical experience.
“My rotation at UW Health was my final one, and my best one!” Huang said. “Each week I focused on a different specialty, from primary care, glaucoma, and pediatrics to specialty contact lenses and urgent care. I was able to see many different eye diseases and conditions, which provided me with an exceptionally well-rounded experience.”
During her externship, Huang saw approximately 8 to 12 patients per day, depending on the specialty.
Huang enjoyed her time in the urgent care clinic the most. “I like seeing a variety of patients,” she said, “from 5-year-olds all the way up to 100-year-olds. I’m able to have different interactions with each person. And, of course, the diseases presented vary greatly.”
One of Huang’s most memorable cases involved a young child who claimed he couldn’t see, despite having perfect 20/20 vision. “It wasn’t making sense,” Huang recalled. “Then, I talked to the attending physician, who suggested I observe how the child interacted with his parent. I immediately noticed that the boy’s mother was always on her phone, and the child wanted to get her attention. A couple of months ago I would have been flustered by the situation, but now I am confident that should I experience this again, I’ll know how to proceed.”
“Because we are a large medical center, our externs have the opportunity to experience a variety of patients and cases that they wouldn’t get everywhere,” said Dr. Kurt, who is “a clinical adjunct faculty member in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. “Our externs also travel to different UW Health clinics to experience a wide variety of offices and providers during their rotation. This is a crucial component of the training process because exposure to different providers results in different perspectives on how to approach and treat a case.”
“I am so grateful to Dr. Kurt as my externship coordinator and Dr. Karina Conlin, optometry service chief, for arranging the experience,” Huang continued. “They asked me what I wanted and needed to learn during my rotation, as opposed to following a scripted program. They wanted me to train on the specific skills that I needed to work on. This approach was particularly important as it was my last site. It was a truly incredible experience, and I cannot thank them enough!”
After graduation, Huang will remain in the Madison area to complete a one-year optometry residency anterior segment and specialty contact lenses at SSM Health/Davis Duehr Dean.
“I loved working at UW Health and will remember my training fondly,” Huang said. “The people were friendly, and I appreciated the camaraderie and balance in the working environment between the ophthalmologists and the optometrists. Everyone is respectful to everyone else, no matter their position. UW Health is a great place to work.”