Thank you for your interest in our research positions on the Glaucoma Service at Wills Eye Institute. This can be a marvelous experience and opportunity for you and for us.

Training on the Glaucoma Service of the Wills Eye Institute is designed to provide the technical and philosophical grounding necessary to become enlightened leaders. We want our trainees, while here, and after they leave, to be good human beings who live passionately, contributing valuably to their local and their larger communities. Our trainees become ambassadors, spreading our belief that the privilege of being a physician carries with it the responsibility to be truly caring in the largest sense. We want them to be honest, critical thinkers, capable of doubting everything and believing everything, not on the basis of prejudice, but rather, through a thoughtful, open, and rigorous examination that simultaneously values insight and science, emotion and intellect.

Research Fellows are chosen by the Director of the Service, Dr. L. Jay Katz or Co-Director Dr. George L. Spaeth, in consultation with the Director of the Glaucoma Research Center, Dr. Jonathan Myers. The Research Fellows participate fully in all the academic activities of the training program.

In order to make the experience as rewarding as possible, both for the Research Fellow and for the Glaucoma Service, certain criteria must be met:

1. Please provide a clear indication of why you wish to come to the Glaucoma Service and what personal and professional outcomes are anticipated. We will need autobiographical information (education, experience, awards, employment, any academic titles, publications, and presentations).
2. Provide at least three letters of reference from those familiar with your work.
3. You must be able to speak and read English well enough to hold a conversation with colleagues and patients, to review medical literature and to prepare a first draft of a publication. It is not fair to you or to us if you are unable to do this, as your time will not be productive.
4. The costs of travel, room and board need to be covered by the Research Fellow. Please refer to http://www.jefferson.edu/housing/short_term.cfm to inquire about the cost of living in the Philadelphia area, available housing and similar matters.
5. You must be able to qualify for entrance into the United States according to the current Immigration Laws that apply to trainees and research fellows. You must stay a minimum of six months for us to help you obtain a J1 Visa. Please contact our Research Fellowship Coordinator, Katharine Woodward, for a copy of these requirements at KWoodward@willseye.org.
6. The dates/length of time you wish to stay. The minimum duration a research fellow will spend at Wills Eye is six months. A year’s duration is far more preferable and highly recommended. Longer tenures are possible where appropriate. Observerships (less than 6 months) are available, but limited.

For an official application form, please click here then print out and forward the completed application to:

Katharine Woodward
Fellowship Coordinator
Glaucoma Service Foundation
Wills Eye Institute
840 Walnut St, Suite 1130
Philadelphia PA 19107-5109
Email: KWoodward@willseye.org
(215)928-3190
(215)928-3194 FAX

Again, thank you for your interest in our program, we believe we can be a major help to those who work with us, and we benefit greatly from the opportunity to have bright, energetic, honest, dedicated, passionate and compassionate people working with us.

Sincerely,

George L. Spaeth, M.D.
Director of the Glaucoma Fellowship Program
Esposito Research Professor, Wills Eye Institute
Professor of Ophthalmology, Jefferson Medical College
Co-Director of the William and Ann Goldberg Glaucoma Service, Wills Eye Institute