Fellowship Training
Vitreoretinal Fellowship
The University Retina/University Of Chicago Vitreoretinal Fellowship is a two-year fellowship designed for thorough and complete training in vitreoretinal diseases and surgery.
The fellow spends half of their time at University Retina locations, and the other half at the University of Chicago. Medical and surgical training will occur through close interaction with all of the faculty (Dr. Jager, Dr. Bhatt, Dr. Sheth, Dr. George, Dr. Pandit, Dr. Hariprasad, Dr. Skondra, Dr. Warren, Dr. Zhou, Dr. Blair, Dr. Chiranand, Dr. Ittiara)
Fellowship Diplomas are awarded by the University of Chicago.
Fellowship Directors
Meena S. George, MD, PhD
Seenu Hariprasad, MD
Clinical Responsibilities
The fellow will be exposed to a large volume of patients with a wide variety of vitreoretinal conditions.
Clinical time will be split between the University Retina (Drs. Jager, Bhatt, Sheth, and Dr. George) and the University of Chicago (Dr. Hariprasad, Dr. Skondra, Dr. Warren, Dr. Zhou, Dr. Blair, Dr. Chiranand, Dr. Ittiara) clinics.
The fellow is always expected to treat patients with the utmost respect and kindness in order to maintain the culture of University Retina and UChicago — namely a dedication to outstanding compassionate retinal care.
Surgical Responsibilities
The fellow will participate in a large volume of vitreoretinal surgery. Surgery will be with University Retina physicians (Drs. Jager, Bhatt, Sheth, George, and Pandit) at Eyesouth Partners Surgery Center, Advocate Christ Medical Center, Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, Advocate South Suburban, and Hinsdale Surgical Center. All surgeries will be performed under the direct supervision of an attending. The fellow will build a very strong foundation by learning the approaches, tools, and skills to perform surgical procedures including scleral buckling, pars plana vitrectomy, epiretinal membrane dissection, photocoagulation, retinotomy, retinectomy, and perfluorocarbon liquid, silicone oil, gas injection/removal, and scleral sutured and sutureless fixation of IOL. Surgical video recording is available for both review as well as submission of interesting cases.
Surgical cases will always take precedence over clinic while at University Retina. Emergent cases (e.g., endophthalmitis, etc.) can often occur after clinic, usually at Advocate Christ Medical Center or one of the other hospital sites. Advocate Christ Medical Center has state-of-the-art outpatient surgery pavilion and general operating rooms with extremely advanced surgical equipment and a 24-7 ophthalmology call team highly experienced in vitreoretinal care.
Educational Responsibilities
In addition to helping in the education and mentoring of ophthalmology residents and medical students, the University Retina / UChicago fellow is to participate in the following:
Departmental Grand Rounds
Imaging Conferences
Retina Surgical Conferences
Chicagoland RABB Retina Study Club
Research and Academic Meetings
The fellow is expected to participate in clinical research. Each faculty member is involved in clinical and basic research projects. Each fellow is expected to submit at least one clinical retina manuscript per year for publication. The fellow may participate in the following national/international meetings every year:
ASRS Annual Meeting
AAO Retina Subspecialty Day Meeting
Midwest Ocular Angiography Conference Annual Meeting
Annual Advanced Vitreoretinal Techniques and Technologies(AVTT) Meeting
Annual Vitreoretinal Fellows Forum
Vitreoretinal Fellows Vitrectomy Courses (e.g., MEEI, Duke)
University Retina / UChicago Vitreoretinal Fellowship
One full-time, two-year fellowship is available only to graduates of ACGME-accredited ophthalmology residency programs and is available only to applicants with licensure to practice in the state of Illinois by the start of the fellowship.
Dates of Fellowship: July 2025 to July 2027.
Compensation: Year 1 at the UChicago PGY-5 level / Year 2 at the UChicago PGY-6 level.
Vacation: Twenty-four days of vacation per year are available, as provided in the UChicago system (12 from time spent at University Retina and 12 from time spent at UChicago)
CME Travel Stipend: Provided by University Retina
Previous University Retina / Vitreoretinal Fellows
2023-2024 University Retina / Vitreoretinal Fellow
Mark McAllister, MD
Internship
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus – Internal medicine
Ophthalmology residency
University of Arizona
Medical school
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston – McGovern medical school
Undergraduate
Southern Methodist University
- Had to transfer fellowship programs due to personal reasons
2021-2023 University Retina / Vitreoretinal Fellow
George Skopis, MD, University Retina
Ophthalmology Residency
Georgetown University Hospital/Washington Hospital Center
Medical School
Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Undergraduate
The University of Florida
2018-2020 University Retina / Vitreoretinal Fellow
Mathew Byun, MD, University Retina
Will be working at The Retina Group (Columbus, OH)
2018-2020 University Retina
Ophthalmology Residency
University of Cincinnati
Medical School
Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine
Undergraduate
The Ohio State University
2016-2018 University Retina / Vitreoretinal Fellow
Evan Dunn, MD
Retina Specialist of Tampa (Tampa, FL)
Graduated 7/2018 University Retina / Vitreoretinal Fellow
Ophthalmology Residency
Indiana University Medical School
Medical School
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Undergraduate
University of Central Florida
2014-2016 University Retina / Vitreoretinal Fellow
Randee Miller Watson, MD
Retina Consultants of Michigan (Southfield, MI)
Graduated 7/2016 University Retina / Vitreoretinal Fellow
Ophthalmology Residency
University of Illinois at Chicago
Medical School
Wayne State University
Undergraduate
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Biology
