A new Basic Science Selects course for medical students, Ophthalmology 911, “Introduction to the Visual System,” was introduced to the medical student curriculum by DOVS on March 4, 2019. This month-long course was blended and consisted of four modules: lectures, research paper presentations, a research project, and one day per week in the clinic.
Three medical students completed the inaugural course. Each student spent one week on each of the four modules, ultimately rotating through all four. The modules are disease-based and included: age-related macular degeneration and ocular imaging; glaucoma; retinal vascular disease; and immunology, infectious disease and corneal disease.
Barbara Blodi, MD, Curtis Brandt, PhD, Amitha Domalpolly, MD, Robert Nickells, PhD, and Nader Sheibani, PhD, served as the course instructors. Dr. Brandt was the course director.
“We [the couRse instructors] were excited to see that the medical students truly enjoyed the course, including the more basic science components. hopefully this introduces ophthalmology and vision research to them as a potential research or clinical career path,” said dr. brandt