Medical Students, Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows Toolkit

This toolkit aims to provide support for medical and graduate students, and research postdoctoral fellows interested in Ophthalmology research and Vision Science. We offer a common platform with recommendations and suggestions specific to the different audiences. Our hope is to facilitate trainees and mentors in the achievement of their educational and career goals.

Medical Students

Target audience: Medical students interested in Ophthalmology Residency

1. Medical Students are referred to existing resources located on the AUPO website and the AAO website.
2. Training must be focused on education and achievement of established requirements for Ophthalmology matching.
3. Research Director should have a liaison role by coordinating with departmental coordinator of Medical Student education.
4. Institutional/Departmental website with updated list of research opportunities (clinical and basic) for interested Medical Students should be available.
5. Medical Students should participate in departmental activities associated with their education: seminar series, grand rounds, and similar activities.
6. Research Director should serve to provide guidance for Medical Student research projects evaluating feasibility to assure timely completion and results dissemination.
7. Medical Student participation and presentation at national meetings should be encouraged.

Graduate Students

Target audience: First or second year graduate students working on their PhD in vision sciences and closely allied field

Mentors and graduate students should be aware of the guidelines of their institutional graduate program and adhere to those guidelines to ensure steady progress toward the award of the PhD.

1. Training must involve education on basic science concepts with translational components.
2. Graduate students should contribute to multidisciplinary initiatives.
3. Research Director and course directors might be involved in providing advice and soliciting initiatives within the department or program for students to gain knowledge of clinical aspects or use of clinical instrumentation.
4. Participation in a Vision Science course is recommended to support exposure of graduate students to clinical and experimental aspects of vision science. The intent is to provide a broad introduction to the biology of the eye and the visual system and a survey of ophthalmic diseases and current treatments as well. It is understood that no program can necessarily provide both broad and in-depth coverage of all topics. However, this shared curriculum provides an introduction broadly. Each program might focus on only a subset of topics, and require only the utilization of some of this lecture series. Other programs may desire an even broader set of lectures or might choose to contribute additional topics for the broader community of vision scientists and ophthalmologists.

For more general information and guidelines please refer to National Institutes of Health Office of Intramural Training and Education site.

Research Postdoctoral Fellows

Target Audience: Research postdoctoral fellows at all stages

While each program and department is different and the needs of constituents are different, there are general capabilities that postdocs should be able to do following training. Here we seek to develop a toolkit constituting advice, guidelines, a framework and resources for postdoctoral training.

For general information please refer to: National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) Recommended Postdoctoral Policies and Practices and to National Institutes of Health Guide to Training and Mentoring.

Each institution will have its own specific guidance, rules and regulations, and human resources policies. That said, there are additional points that are directly relevant to Vision and translation of research to the Ophthalmology clinic.

Important general guidelines can be found in the National Eye Institute Career Information for Postdoctoral and Clinical Fellows.

Training must involve education and career development opportunities:

1. Research Director can be involved in the role of a second level supervisor or as a participating mentor or co-mentor. It is suggested that postdoc progress be evaluated on a regular standardized schedule in a relatively formal way, so that trainees are less likely to miss critical opportunities and problems are caught early. A semi-annual evaluation is suggested.
2. Co-mentors have value for unbiased evaluation and guidance and to resolve potential conflicts.
3. Postdoctoral fellows should participate and attend Grand Rounds and Vision Research Seminar series and be required to present their work at these or similar activities.
4. Departmental or research annual retreats are suggested to promote communication and interactions among postdocs and residents and other vision-related trainees.
5. Participation and attendance at national meetings is expected.
6. Peer-reviewed publications should be encouraged and solicited by mentors and Research Directors to guarantee productivity.
7. Grant writing skills should be developed and grant applications should be expected (post-doctoral fellowships, career development grants). The expectation is the postdoctoral fellows should be heavily invested in writing and getting their own grants. They need to understand the science in their applications and they need to understand proper responses to grant critiques and summary statements. Several web resources are also available to help and foster postdoctoral fellows while writing their fellowships and career development awards. For guidance please see: National Eye Institute Clinical and Postdoctoral Fellowships