Rush University Medical Center Program

Program Identity & Fit

Rush is a small, academic, private-practice-model ophthalmology residency in Chicago that appoints only three residents per year, producing an unusually intimate, continuity-of-care-driven training structure in which each resident manages a personal patient panel from PGY-2 onward. The department is entirely staffed by private-practice faculty who are present exclusively for teaching, and residents graduate with strong surgical volume (averaging 500 procedures, including 200 primary cataracts) across a full subspecialty spectrum including retina, cornea, glaucoma, neuro-ophthalmology, oncology, plastics, pediatrics and uveitis. Clinical research is institutionally embedded, with an active NIH/NEI/industry-funded trials portfolio (AMD, Fuchs dystrophy, uveitis, herpes zoster ophthalmicus) coordinated by a dedicated associate chair for research, and residents are expected to participate in ongoing studies alongside faculty and fellows. The program values applicants suited to a tight-knit, comprehensive-ophthalmologist training model emphasizing longitudinal patient relationships, surgical autonomy build-up, and hands-on clinical research exposure rather than a large, subspecialized academic mill.