Stony Brook Medicine-University Hospital Program

Program Identity & Fit

Stony Brook is a university-based academic ophthalmology program anchored at the only tertiary care medical center on Long Island, combining a large, high-acuity catchment population (2.8 million) with a single VA affiliate (Northport) that adds surgical and case diversity. The program is structured around a competency-based curriculum with early, direct 1:1 surgical supervision beginning in the first and second year, and residents graduate with case volumes (110-150 cataracts, plus glaucoma and strabismus procedures) that exceed ACGME minimums, reflecting a hands-on, progressive-autonomy training model rather than a fellow-mediated one (no fellows on service). Research is a required but not singularly dominant component, with each resident completing a project and a visible stream of resident-authored publications spanning oculoplastics, retina, glaucoma, and case reports, supported by joint faculty appointments in preventive medicine and access to NIH-funded institutional research infrastructure. The program explicitly frames itself as preparing residents equally well for private practice or competitive subspecialty fellowships (cornea, retina, uveitis, glaucoma), and values direct clinical responsibility, quality-improvement participation, and broad subspecialty faculty exposure.