Consortium of Ophthalmology Researchers in Education (CORE)

CORE initiatives focus on research related to ophthalmology training at several stages, including:

• Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) – improving ophthalmology education for medical students, including curriculum development, teaching methods, and understanding the residency match process.
• Graduate Medical Education (GME) – advancing residency and fellowship training through research on surgical education, competency-based training, assessment methods, and trainee development.
• Clinician-Scientist Development (future initiative) – exploring strategies to strengthen training and mentorship pathways for ophthalmology clinician-scientists.

CORE periodically invites AUPO members to submit proposals for multi-institutional education research projects. Selected projects receive support through the CORE network, which may include coordination across institutions, access to shared data resources, and statistical support.

Participating institutions collaborate on study design, data collection, and dissemination of results, helping advance evidence-based approaches to ophthalmology education.

Any AUPO member and their academic department of ophthalmology may participate in CORE projects. Institutions collaborate as study sites, contributing expertise and data to help advance education research that benefits the broader ophthalmology community. 

• Underrepresented in Medicine and International Graduate Bias in the CASPer Situational Judgment Test for Ophthalmology Residency Applicants in 2022–2023
  Moore, D.B.; Rosenberg, J.B.; Moon, J.Y.; Pettey, J.; and Faridi, A.
• Morbidity and Mortality Conference in Ophthalmology: Pilot Study on Maximizing Quality while Optimizing Education
  Mudalegundi, S.; Melson, A.; Zhang, A.; Tu, D.; Rosenberg, J.; Moore, D.; Knoch, D.; Kang, J.M.; Woreta, F.; Green, L.; Swamy, R.; Tannan, A.; and Ramanathan, S.
• Impact of an Ophthalmic Knowledge Assessment Program (OKAP) Pre-Test: A Pilot Study at Two Institutions
  Fields, L.S.; Moon, J.Y.; Ramanathan, S.; Wieder, M.S.; and Rosenberg, J.B.
• Ophthalmology Educators’ Perspectives on Supporting Medical Students to Become Competitive Residency Applicants
  Shinbashi, M.; Zook, Z.; Elkin, Z.; Tu, D.; Healey, J.M.; Woreta, F.; Kaplan, A.; Goyal, A.; Parikh, N.; Wilson, L.; and Faridi, A.
• Well-being Curricula and Retreats in United States Ophthalmology Residency Programs
  Tedla, S.;  Ponsetto, M.K.; Faridi, A.; Clements, J.L.; Green, J.L.; Kang, J.M.; Ramanathan, S.; Redfern, A.; Woreta, F.; and Tu, D.
• The Impact of a Gap Year on the Strength of Ophthalmology Residency Applications
  Zheng H.; Lee T.F.; Hu, J.; Boente, C.; Vegunta, S.; Kaplan, A.; Ma, J.; Ramanathan, S.; Moore, D.; and Elkin, Z.

AUPO CORE studies are designed to foster collaboration across ophthalmology education programs nationwide. Faculty and residency programs interested in joining an active study are encouraged to contact the project's Principal Investigator for information about participation, study timelines, and onboarding.

The principal investigator must be an AUPO member serving on the faculty of an AUPO member institution. Collaborators from non-AUPO institutions and from other disciplines are welcome when they strengthen the proposed project; however, the AUPO member principal investigator will serve as the lead applicant and will be responsible for administration of the award, completion of the project, and fulfillment of all reporting requirements.

Priority will be given to rigorous educational research that has the potential to advance ophthalmic education and produce findings that are broadly applicable across training programs. Multi-center, interventional studies are particularly encouraged. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, resident and medical student education, educational methods and instructional innovation, learner assessment, curriculum development, recruitment into ophthalmology, mentorship and advising, residency and fellowship selection outcomes, and faculty development. Preference will be given to projects that are designed to produce knowledge, curricula, assessment tools, or educational practices that can be adopted by other ophthalmology training programs.

Applications will be evaluated by a peer-review committee convened by CORE. Review criteria will include the potential educational impact of the proposed work, innovation, alignment with the mission of AUPO, scientific merit and methodological rigor, feasibility of completing the project within the proposed timeline, the value of multi-center collaboration when applicable, and the appropriateness and justification of the proposed budget.

Projects are expected to be completed within one year of the award date. Investigators should propose a realistic timeline with clearly defined milestones. Awardees are expected to present at least preliminary findings at the subsequent AUPO Annual Meeting.

Grant funds may be used for expenses directly related to the implementation of the proposed educational research project. Allowable expenses include institutional review board (IRB) fees, study materials and equipment, research coordination and communication costs, and salary support for personnel directly involved in the project, such as research coordinators, biostatisticians, or bioinformaticians. If AUPO elects to provide centralized study coordination services, applicants may choose to allocate a portion of their budget to those services. Grant funds may not be used for travel expenses, salary support for investigator effort (protected research time), or indirect (facilities and administrative) costs.

Award recipients will attend quarterly CORE reporting meetings and submit a mid-year progress report and a final report summarizing project activities, outcomes, and expenditures. Recipients are expected to present their findings at the AUPO Annual Meeting and to submit a manuscript describing the work to a journal such as the Journal of Academic Ophthalmology for publication consideration.