MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Russell N. Van Gelder
Welcome to the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Our mission is simple: we seek to protect and improve vision through the treatment of eye disease. We do so by practicing the state-of-the-art in ophthalmology, extending the state through scientific research, and by sharing our knowledge with our students, our colleagues, and our community.
Our department has served our school, region, and ophthalmic community for over 45 years. We are in the midst of an unprecedented renewal of our faculty and facilities toward our core mission:
Patient Care: In July 2009, the brand new 27,000 square foot UW Medicine Eye Institute was opened at the new Ninth & Jefferson Building on the campus of Harborview Medical Center near downtown Seattle. This facility put the majority of our patient care activities under one roof, in state-of-the-art facilities. Our full-time faculty consists of fellowship-trained specialists, comprehensive ophthalmologists, optometrists as well as highly trained and dedicated support staff. The expertise available to our patients extends across the entire spectrum of ophthalmic subspecialties.
Medical Education: The Department provides an introduction to ophthalmology to the 800 medical students at the University of Washington School of Medicine. We coordinate the third and fourth year electives for the UW as well as welcome students from other institutions interested in learning more about ophthalmology. We also arrange clinical rotations to our regional partners including Alaska and Montana, where dedicated clinician-teachers – many of whom trained at UW – provide instruction in real-world settings. Our three-year residency program was recently given a 5-year accreditation in 2008 by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. I am proud that our residents graduate our program well-equipped to enter private practice or to pursue academic fellowships. We offer fellowship training in oculofacial plastic surgery, and offer graduate research and postdoctoral opportunities in the vision sciences as well.
Scientific Research: The University of Washington leads all public institutions in government funding for scientific research. UW has an exceptionally strong vision science community, with over 40 scientists campus-wide receiving grants to support their efforts. The Department holds one of the longest running NIH Core Vision Grants, first awarded to UW by the NEI in 1975. The department has been site of many fundamental discoveries in vision science including elucidation of components of the visual cycle and the solution of the molecular structure of the visual pigment rhodopsin. We have begun renewing our department’s vision research endeavor with the recruitment of several outstanding vision scientists.
Whether you are a researcher, a student, a resident, or a patient looking for answers about your vision problems, we welcome your interest in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Washington. We are here to serve you.
Russell N. Van Gelder, MD, PhD
Boyd K. Bucey Memorial Chair
Professor and Chair
