Prior Posts

As demonstrated in the data from the last post, our applicant pool is limited from a diversity perspective; we need broader representation in ophthalmology resident applicants, but further, in medical school admissions. The documentary and associated movement Black Men in White Coats provides an enlightening perspective on this issue and efforts to change the trajectory.

Some of the most substantial barriers are systematic, such as the cost of medical school. According to the AAMC, roughly ¾ of medical students...

27 AUG 2021 BY DANNY MOORE
Last year, like many in my shoes, I got the briefest of glances into systematic racism and its impact on life and death. Like many, I felt outraged. Like many, I needed to do something. So, I blogged about it. Of course, I say that tongue in cheek, aware that words mean little. Here’s what I stated in the last post: "I started this series with the intent of discussing a few steps I want to take within our program. Admittedly, they are near the apex of the health impact pyramid above. They also are introductory and insufficient. But, they are tangible and accountable: judge our program by these actions and our outcomes."

This past cycle, 9% of the participants in the Ophthalmology Residency SF Match were International Medical Graduates (IMGs), who matched at a rate of 28% (for comparison, the rate was 85% for US Allopathic Seniors). This is a statistic that I glanced over when the data was released, but admittedly have not given this group much consideration until recently. I would like to share parts of an email conversation I had with one of those 72% of unmatched IMGs that has really opened my eyes. I hope it does the same for you.

The italicized excerpts from this conversation are kept anonymous, but published with permission.

The recent murders of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor just up the road in Louisville have raised awareness of systemic racial injustice in our country. I believe it is important to comment on this topic and will use several upcoming posts to do so. I hope this generates some discussion and opportunities for continued learning and growth (starting with myself). First, some qualifiers:

This is not a political statement. I want to focus on medicine and our programmatic response. However, any reasoned comment on this topic cannot ignore the role of policies in creating and maintaining structural racism.

It’s been several months since the last post, and in the interim we had a very successful match. We are incredibly excited to have the opportunity to train the four individuals coming to our department. From a personal perspective, match day is a polarizing affair – the thrill of first viewing the results and opportunity to call and welcome our new trainees, mixed with the initial concern that our program wasn’t as high on their list as they were on ours.

More disheartening is scrolling through our overall list of ranked applicants and finding those that did not match. It would be ignorant to think anything other than luck and circumstance separated my medical school match day from theirs.

Years – sometimes a lifetime – of work to get to this point, and a single three-digit score from one day of testing determines your future. If it’s better than expected, you can dream big; if it’s good enough, you can feel some measure of confidence; if it’s “fair to middling” you have some work to do; and if it’s low, then you need some soul searching.

Sadly, the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) was not developed to serve this purpose. It was initially administered by the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) in 1992 after many years of attempting to find a way to unify the complicated, erratic interstate physician licensure process...

In 2017, Dr. Ana Bastos de Carvalho and Dr. Eric Higgins founded the Global Ophthalmology (GO) division in our department. The goal of this outreach effort is to develop equity in eye care, not only with global partnerships, but also throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Several of their recent efforts are highlighted here and here.

The program is now starting to focus on education and our trainees, and we are excited to announce the establishment of a global ophthalmology track that we will start offering to an interested matched applicant each year.

Residency interview season is upon us, with our four dates scheduled for the non-holiday Fridays in November (11/2, 11/9, 11/16 and 11/30). It’s an exciting time for the department and program, but the selection process always weighs heavily on me.

I am increasingly impressed by the caliber of the applications we receive and genuinely wonder how I ever was fortunate enough to match into this specialty. Attempting to select appropriate candidates from a large pool of exceptional individuals is truly somewhat arbitrary, but I thought I would share some insight into our process. There are many different ways programs tackle this, so by no means are we a sterling example...

On Sunday, September 9th, we had the 16th annual “Tri for Sight” Sprint Triathlon/Duathlon under … wet conditions. The triathlon was founded and continues to be organized by our own Dr. Sheila Sanders, and all the proceeds go to support our department’s UK Eye Research Fund. It’s estimated that over $300,000 have been generated and some of this year’s proceeds will benefit our newly established UK GO outreach division.

Over 350 athletes swam the 400 meter serpentine length of the pool, biked the (usually picturesque) 12.6 mile ride through the rolling horse farms, and 3.1 mile jog around the Spindletop estate.