University of North Carolina Hospitals Program

Program Identity & Fit

UNC's ophthalmology residency is a small, academic university-based program (four residents per year, all completing internal medicine internship at UNC) built around a robust continuity clinic with daily subspecialty exposure (glaucoma, neuro-ophthalmology, cornea, retina, oculoplastics/pediatrics) and a diverse, often underinsured patient population at the Kittner Eye Center and Hillsborough surgical campus. The program supports a full complement of in-house fellowships (cornea, glaucoma, vitreoretinal, integrated clinical-research, cornea/ocular surface research), giving residents access to subspecialist mentorship and structured research pathways, and it hosts an annual resident/fellow research day. A distinctive feature is a funded two-week international elective during PGY-3, which residents have used to build global-health and subspecialty interests (e.g., uveitis in India, glaucoma in Ghana/Thailand), reflecting a values-based emphasis on global ophthalmic care and graduated clinical autonomy. Overall, the program appears to value residents who combine solid clinical/surgical grounding with some scholarly engagement and openness to international or underserved eye care experiences.