Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship

West Virginia University is proud to have one of the few ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery fellowships in the United States. This fellowship is a two-year program, fully accredited by the ACGME. The West Virginia University Eye Institute is the only tertiary eye center in the state.  The ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery (OPRS) service draws patients from the entire state of West Virginia and the neighboring states. Dr. John Nguyen directs the ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery fellowship.  The large geographical catchment area along with robust clinical practices provide a great range of pathology, allowing an excellent educational experience.

In addition to a well-rounded experience, one of the strengths of this fellowship is the emphasis on disease and surgery of the orbit. This is exemplified by the multidisciplinary skull base work,  the thyroid eye clinic, and interaction with other services like plastic surgery, neurosurgery, ENT, Radiology, and Dermatology. During your tenure you will be a part of the WVU skull base team and the Vascular Malformation program and participate in all aspects of clinical evaluation, preparation, surgery, and follow-up. In all aspects of this training the fellow is expected to learn, implement, and exemplify the core competencies set forth by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

As you progress through fellowship, you will gain knowledge and be given increasing responsibility. You will be expected to be able to function independently as a general ophthalmologist. To this end you will be permitted to take call as part of internal moonlighting in the faculty call schedule. You are to be available to the residents on call.  

The Eye Institute has an extensive didactic series in which the fellow participates. The fellow is expected to attend every lecture given by the fellowship faculty, lectures on ethics, billing, practice management, Grand Rounds and M&M.  The fellow presents Multidisciplinary Grand Rounds four times per year.

The fellow must demonstrate the ability to investigate and evaluate their care of patients to appraise and assimilate scientific evidence, and to continuously improve patient care based on constant self-evaluation and life-long learning.  Participation in a yearly quality improvement project is required.

Understanding research and being able to interpret published articles is part of the academic mission of the West Virginia University Eye Institute and Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship Program. Reviewing and interpreting the literature is part of plastics academic session (journal club), all M&M and Grand Rounds presentations, and clinical patient care. Scholarly activity is required of every fellow. In each year of training, the fellow is expected to produce at least two works for publication (papers or chapters). Collaborative research is encouraged at every level in this institution. You will be guided through these endeavors by your faculty. 

Our goal is for every fellow to graduate with competence and confidence in the field of ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery.