Bradley Thuro,
MD
West Virginia University
- Position
- Associate Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
- Phone
- 304-598-6925
Welcome from the Program Director
Duration:
Welcome to the WVU Ophthalmology Residency Program!
Welcome to the West Virginia University Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Residency Program!
Our ophthalmology residency program is a three-year program that accepts four residents per year. We are the only tertiary eye care center in West Virginia and treat patients with unusual and complex disorders referred to WVU by doctors throughout West Virginia and the neighboring states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Our residents benefit from having teaching faculty covering all clinical subspecialty areas under one roof at WVU. Our rotation schedule is currently specialty-based, and residents rotate through each subspecialty service twice during the three-year program. Specialty areas include comprehensive ophthalmology, medical retina, surgical retina, glaucoma, pediatric ophthalmology, neuro-ophthalmology, oculoplastics and cornea. Residents work primarily at the WVU Eye Institute in Morgantown. The residents spend two rotations each year at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Clarksburg, W.Va., staffed by our own WVU faculty. The WVU Eye Institute was an early adopter of the EyeSi surgery simulator and is proud to have the system in place for beginning ophthalmic surgeons to hone skills for cataract and vitreoretinal surgery.
Our PGY-1 intern year is a joint program with the Transitional Year program and is very popular with our residents. Three months of the year are devoted to ophthalmology, with the remaining nine months pursuing hospital rotations in a variety of other specialty areas. Our ophthalmology-bound matched students select their Transitional Year positions through the separate ERAS match each March.
Residents participate in a weekly lecture series held by the faculty and outside specialists at 7 a.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Grand Rounds are held each Wednesday, at which residents, fellows, faculty and visiting faculty present interesting and challenging case studies. An additional monthly noon conference is also available to discuss interesting imaging.
Opportunities are available for residents to become involved in research projects with both clinical and basic science faculty. Each year all residents pursue research and quality improvement projects with a faculty mentor. Completed projects are presented during Ophthalmology Research Day each spring.
Life in Morgantown is relaxed, safe, family-friendly and alive with good restaurants and all varieties of university arts and sports. West Virginia is a very scenic, forested and mountainous state resplendent with all manner of outdoor activities-hiking, mountain biking, skiing, whitewater rafting, boating, historic sites and parks all within easy reach for you.
Approximately half of our graduating residents at WVU go on to fellowship training. They find they are very competitive for any of their fellowship choices. Those who elect to pursue careers in comprehensive ophthalmology graduate extremely confident and skilled to do so. We are proud of our alumni, our current residents and fellows, and our program. I hope you will inquire further into all we have to offer and look forward to an opportunity to meet you!
Bradley Thuro, M.D.
Assistant Professor and Residency Program Director