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This Is a Program Where Learning Is Valued and the Educational Experience Is Tangible

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This Is a Program Where Learning Is Valued and the Educational Experience Is Tangible “This is a program where learning is valued and the educational experience is tangible. You will learn a vocation, but it differs from many other schools in that HMS is a very academic environment. This is a place where a trainee can approach a faculty member and count on getting help. People coming from other institutions are simply struck by the emphasis we place on medical education.” — Simmons Lessell, MD, Director of Ophthalmic Medical Student Education, Harvard Medical School 113 M Today, about 1 in 6 ophthalmology department EDICAL Innovate. Train. Mentor. Inspire. chairs in academic institutions across the U.S. and EDUCATION Medical education is integral to the HMS Department of Ophthalmology’s mission, Canada conducted postdoctoral training at HMS. and trainees receive the finest ophthalmic education in the world. The depart- ment supports full-time faculty in every ophthalmic subspecialty, giving residents S a comprehensive grounding in ocular disease and management. Moreover, fellows ETTING have the opportunity to gain further clinical expertise or pursue in-depth research students have the opportunity to • Visual functions and developing mology is an area of medicine they evaluate, triage, and manage pa- technologies for visual rehabilita- would like to pursue. Elective rota- S in one or more of nine subspecialty areas. Under the exceptional leadership of John tients, and learn how to use special- tion tions also provide excellent train- TANDARD I. Loewenstein, MD, HMS Ophthalmology Vice Chair for Medical Education and ized ophthalmic equipment, includ- ing for students who may choose a ing the slit-lamp biomicroscope, the According to Dr. Lessell, modi- “sister” specialty such as neurology S Director of the HMS Department of Ophthalmology Residency Training Program, tonometer and the ophthalmoscope. fied apprenticeship electives excite or neurosurgery. Program feedback recent program innovations have continued to strengthen the department’s con- Students are also loaned a set of students about the principles of from medical students has been basic ophthalmology textbooks ophthalmology through “real-life” highly positive, with approximately tinuum of medical education. These distinctions culminate in a superb educational and encouraged to attend Grand clinical and research exposure and 30 students choosing an Introduc- experience that offers remarkable depth and breadth to the department’s cadre of Rounds and department lectures one-on-one faculty guidance. Stu- tory Elective each year. to reinforce their training. Faculty dents gain first-hand knowledge of medical students, residents, and fellows. guidance and feedback throughout the field, giving them an opportunity The department’s greatest asset is its dedicated community of educators. the rotation is an important part to decide whether or not ophthal- of the learning process. A pediatric Through their wealth of collective experience, HMS faculty strive to create a sup- ophthalmology elective is also avail- portive and stimulating learning environment at every opportunity: as teachers able at Children’s Hospital Boston for interested students, and directed in the classroom, clinic or lab, and as mentors to students and trainees in their by Ophthalmologist-in-Chief, David day-to-day interactions. Through close teamwork—and by serving as roles models Hunter, MD, PhD. Students who satisfactorily of effective leadership—their goal is to graduate well-rounded academicians and complete the Introductory Elec- outstanding clinician scientists who become tomorrow’s leaders in ophthalmic tive may choose to take a four-week minimum Advanced Ophthalmol- medicine, science and education. ogy course. At this level, more than 30 electives representing a robust, cross-section of ophthalmic subspecialties are open to students SETTING STANDARDS FOR MEDICAL who wish to participate in a focused clinical or laboratory investigation. Students may choose from many ex- STUDENT EDUCATION citing areas of study. Some examples include: Within the ophthalmology com- trend, the HMS Department of Oph- students directly engage in clinical • Pathogenesis of age-related macu- munity, there is general consensus thalmology continues to hone its activity. lar degeneration (wet or dry) of a need to improve the quality of medical student education program. Augmenting these activities, a • Antibiotic resistant bacterial infec- ophthalmic education for medical In recent years, major innovations revitalized Introductory Elective tion students, residents, and primary care have been implemented, largely due teaches fourth year medical students • Human and molecular genetics physicians. Even so, statistics show to efforts championed by Simmons the principles of basic ophthal- research with an emphasis on un- that ophthalmic education has fallen Lessell, MD, HMS Director of Oph- mology through hands-on clinical derstanding the role of genes in the victim to tightening budgets and thalmic Medical Student Education, instruction, rather than a traditional development of glaucoma shifting priorities in many academic and Deborah Jacobs, MD, Director lecture-based curriculum. This • Behavioral and imaging research to medical schools in the United States. of the Core Medicine Clerkship for unique, modified apprenticeship assess visual impairment and moni- According to a 2004 survey by the As- Harvard Medical School students. system pairs each student with tor progression of retinal diseases sociation of University Professors in Today, the program’s revitalized core two active ophthalmic clinicians • Diseases of the surface of the eye, Ophthalmology, only 30 percent of and elective curriculum emphasizes in different subspecialties, both of including infections and dry eye medical schools nationwide require a dynamic, integrated format that whom provide student supervision diseases a formal ophthalmology rotation1. combines didactics with hands-on and feedback. During the four-week • Glyobiology – an expanding field Because physicians in many surgical clinical and research training under a rotation, students accompany their at the forefront of the biomedical and medical specialties often need mentor’s watchful eye. Core re- mentors in a busy outpatient set- sciences that studies the structure to perform eye exams—especially if quirements begin in the 2nd year of ting, in the operating room, and at and function of the carbohydrate they are to appropriately manage and medical school, when students learn conferences. Early in their rota- chains (or glycans) present in all triage patients who have ophthalmic to perform the basic eye exam and tions, students work in tandem with living organisms. complaints—this lack of formal oph- use the direct ophthalmoscope in residents in the 24/7 emergency eye • Ocular immune privilege and the thalmic training is of grave concern. a small-group setting. During their department and trauma center. pathogenesis of autoimmune Diverging from this unsettling 3rd year internal medicine rotation, Closely supervised by faculty, uveitis 115 M EDICAL “I’m honest. I acknowledge my shortcomings. I’ve EDUCATION also tried to be generous. If you have more pieces of the puzzle than the person you are teaching, the next criterion is generosity. What you are trying to do is to S give to someone else everything you have acquired ETTING and the means of gaining more. You hope that each 1 S one will do even better than you do.” TANDARD — Simmons Lessell, MD S In 2004, Dr. Lessell retired as Director of the Neuro- Simmons Lessell, MD Ophthalmology Service, and was appointed Director of Ophthalmic Medical Student Education for Harvard Paul A. Chandler Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School. During his tenure, he has transformed Medical School the HMS ophthalmic curriculum by radically redesigning Director of Ophthalmic Medical Student Education, the elective program to emphasize faculty mentorship, Harvard Medical School conference participation, and emergency room training. He is a master at leading weekly Grand Rounds, and has Dr. Simmons Lessell is one of the department’s most gained nearly legendary status for his keen insight and respected faculty members, and is well known as a gifted quick wit during his presentations. clinician, teacher, and mentor. Educated at Amherst Dr. Lessell ranks among the top neuro-ophthalmolo- College, he attended Cornell Medical College, where gists in the world, and is frequently sought for consulta- neuro-ophthalmologist Dr. Edward Norton first kindled tion by patients and physicians in the U.S. and abroad. his interest in this specialty. He completed a year of During his career, he received RO1 funding from the residency in neurology at the University of Vermont National Institutes of Health for 13 consecutive years, under Dr. George Schumacher, followed by two years of an objective indicator of his deep intellect and prolific neurology clinical practice and research at the National contributions to his field. His depth of knowledge and Institutes of Health. During this time, he spent a year clinical insight are unmatched, even while he maintains in Guam conducting research on amyotrophic lateral an approachable bedside manner and endearing sense sclerosis, and served as the sole neurologist for 60,000 of humor. He demands the best from his residents and civilians and military personnel. Dr. Lessell then spent fellows, and makes it his personal mission to improve two years doing research in the Howe Laboratory of their analytic and diagnostic skills.
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