IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Newswise — PHILADELPHIA-Wills Eye Hospital is taking top honors again this year for the best residency training program in the USA for ophthalmologists. Doximity, which coordinates the vote, is the largest online physician network and is a navigator for medical students considering residency programs.

"The news of this peer recognition is tremendously gratifying and humbling. Our goal every day is to go above and beyond for our patients to make their lives better, advance the field of ophthalmology through innovative research and provide a rich, one-of-a-kind training program for the ophthalmologists of tomorrow,” said Julia A. Haller, MD, Ophthalmologist-in-Chief and William Tasman, MD Endowed Chair, Wills Eye Hospital and Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. 

"Our world-renowned Wills Eye medical staff is deeply committed to the pillars of our mission: clinical care, education and research. It is because of this dedication and great mentoring relationship among our faculty, residents and fellows that we continue to be recognized as the #1 training program in the country," said Joseph P. Bilson, Chief Executive Officer, Wills Eye Hospital.

This honor coincides with the opening of the William Maul Measey Ophthalmic Surgical Training (MOST) Laboratory at the Hospital.  The MOST Lab enables residents, fellows, faculty, those pursuing continuing medical education and select industry partners to learn and practice basic and advanced surgical techniques such as phacoemulsification cataract surgery, MSICS cataract surgery (performed in the developing world), corneoscleral suturing, advanced corneal transplantation, minimally invasive glaucoma surgery and novel device/procedure training. The lab offers nine new ergonomically-designed surgical workstations, each equipped with operating microscopes integrated into high definition smart screens, as well as two surgical simulators and four phacoemulsification units. “It is arguably the best ophthalmic surgical training lab in the world,” said Douglas Wisner, MD, MOST Lab Director, Co-Director of the Surgical Training Program and an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. 

The initial $1,000,000 funding to establish the lab was a generous leadership grant from the Benjamin & Mary Siddons Measey Foundation of Media, Pennsylvania, a private foundation that supports medical education in the Philadelphia area. The Board of the Foundation commented as follows: "The Measey Foundation recognizes the importance of hands-on training in advanced technologies available in all areas of medical education. This is especially true in the field of Ophthalmology where training in micro-surgical techniques is an essential element of any ophthalmic curriculum. The Foundation is proud to support such a Program at Wills Eye."

Wills Eye Hospital serves as the Department of Ophthalmology for Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Hospitals.

Media and Communications contact:

Cathy Moss

917-301-6773

[email protected] 

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