On Being a Program Director
2008, Volume 1, Number 1 2 I have been an ophthalmology residency program direc-tor for about twenty-five years, which means that I have found my niche and enjoy this role. Yet such longevity is notable, for there is a very high turnover of program directors in ophthalmology. This is a serious omen for those concerned about the future of ophthalmology. The Straatsma Award is a prize given once a year to one program director in ophthalmology and sponsored jointly by the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and Association of University Professors (AUPO). I was greatly honored to receive the inaugural Straatsma in 2003, and my acceptance speech was enti-tled, On Being a Program Director . This article, based on that speech, allows me to reflect on why I am so proud of being a program director in ophthalmology and, at the same time, offer suggestions for enhancing the training of future ophthalmologists. I have been witness to the renewed recognition of resi-dency training program directors and the importance of residency training by the leadership in ophthalmology. It is also very special to me that the award is named af-ter Dr. Bradley Straatsma. The Straatsma award honored me, but this award, hon-ored many others as well. The AAO and the AUPO cre-ated this award as a show of their renewed commitment to residency education and to those who support resi-dent training. Hence, this award honors all residency program directors. It also honors the tripartite academic mission. Most of all, it honors residency training and hence all past, present, and future residents in ophthal-mology. My fellowship director and mentor, Simmons Lessell, MD once wrote about me (paraphrasing a misogynistic Delta Airline logo), He loves to teach and it shows. He got it right. I cannot hide my own enthusiasm while teaching. I feel most impassioned and most rewarded when I teach, and for this I have my parents and my own teachers to thank. The relationships of student and teacher are remarkable and transcendent. Some would regard program directoring as a thankless job, but I certainly disagree. So in order to make the point that this job is not only terribly important but ex-tremely rewarding and to provide a few clues as to how one can make it more rewarding, I present a 25 year perspective. There are certain challenges specific to the program director, and there are more general challenges con-fronting all of residency education. But fortunately, there are also more than a few specific resources and general remedies. The first problem is the selection of residents in oph-thalmology, and to this I have little to say as we have been fortunate at Doheny to have some of the best ap-plicants, amongst an enormous pool, who seem con-vinced that we offer a good environment for them to set the foundation for their career. I have performed two informal experiments. The first is to identify the stellar resident who at the completion of his residency makes us all feel very proud. And, of course, re-review of this application corroborates the fact that the resident is wonderful and always noted to be stellar. But when I also look back and reassess the application of that rare resident that disappointed us, I am frustrated in this at-tempt to find any documentary evidence that might have been a red flag. We do not screen our residents for stereopsis. In a study, sponsored two decades ago by the AUPO, we sent out questionnaires to all the residency programs in the country as well as to recently graduated residents. It turns out that, though most ophthalmology programs did not screen for stereopsis, about twenty percent did. We On Being a Program Director Alfredo A. Sadun, MD, PhD 1* 1 Program Director, Professor of Ophthalmology and Neurological Surgery, Flora L. Thornton Endowed Chair in Vision Research, Doheny Eye Institute and the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA * Corresponding Author & e-mail: asadun@usc.edu Accepted for publication August 1, 2007 Revision received December 13, 2007 2008; 1:2-5 Available on the web at http://www.academic-ophthalmology.com The author(s) have no personal financial interest in any of the prod-ucts or technologies cited herein. Â 2008