Advanced Clinical Training in the Area of Pediatric Optometry

UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Division of Pediatric Ophthalmology offers a one-year residency program in pediatric optometry with an emphasis on ocular disease management and primary care.

The program’s didactic and clinical curriculum combines faculty expertise, medical, and technology resources to provide specialized training and knowledge in a dynamic and growing field. The combination of clinical training, research opportunities and attending responsibilities prepares residents to work in a variety of healthcare settings, particularly hospitals.

The pediatric optometry resident will join the Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus, a multidisciplinary eye care team, to provide routine and medical eye care to the most vulnerable of populations in an academic medical center. They will train under the guidance of our providers, who have advanced skills, utilized the latest technology, and are leading and influencing the way future providers practice the specialty.

Throughout their experience, the resident will work directly with pediatric optometrists, pediatric ophthalmologists, pediatric ophthalmology fellows, medical residents, optometry externs, technicians, and other staff, to provide high-quality, efficient, and high-volume care for patients of all ages, focusing on infants through adolescents.

They will also interact with adult patients diagnosed with strabismic and non-strabismic binocular vision disorders. The resident will have the opportunity to co-manage cases with our strabismus surgeons and neuro-ophthalmologist to provide spectacle correction with prism.

The residency education and training curriculum will encompass:

• routine vision exams
• conventional and specialty pediatric contact lens fittings
• myopia management
• acute medical ocular conditions
• non-penetrating ocular trauma
• medical examinations for systemic conditions and medications
• amblyopia
• strabismic and non-strabismic binocular vision disorders
• acquired and congenital visual pathway disorder
• co-management of post-surgical correction of strabismus, cataracts, and glaucoma

Residents, like our providers, work closely with other pediatric sub-specialties to provide vision care for children suspected of having vision-related issues, in isolation, or in combination with their systemic conditions, particularly children with behavioral or special needs, genetic syndromes, dermatologic conditions, neurological disorders, and rheumatologic conditions.