Residency Program

A strong tradition

The Baltimore VA is home of one of the longest running VA-based Ocular Disease Residency Programs in the entire country. Our program is ACOE Accredited (accredit@theacoe.org) and affiliated with Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry. A certificate  is awarded upon successful completion of the program.

What started as a small program in 1979 at the Loch Raven VA Hospital, has since relocated to the Baltimore VA Medical Center and has grown to include six residency spots annually. This highly competitive program has trained over 125 doctors since its inception. Our current stipend for the 2024-2025AY, set by the Office of Academic Affairs, is $50,582.  Completion of a Doctor of Optometry (OD) Degree from an ACOE accredited Optometry School, as well as a passing score on Parts I, II, and III of the National Board of Optometry (NBEO) Examinations are required to participate in our residency program.


The mission of the VA Maryland  Health Care System, Baltimore VA Residency program is to provide didactic and clinical training that will enable the resident to diagnose and manage patients with a variety of ocular disease conditions.  High quality eye/vision care will be provided to all patients while adhering to residency supervision guidelines.  Residents will have the opportunity to interact with patients with multiple medical problems.  The program will provide the learning resources to expand upon the didactic base and enable residents to apply this knowledge to clinical care, career-long learning and the future advancement of optometry.


ORMatch Application Deadline: February 1

Why Baltimore?

We believe in the importance of career-long learning and the future advancement of optometry. As such, we provide our residents with didactic and clinical training that enable them to diagnose and manage patients with a variety of ocular and systemic conditions. The program is designed to provide the learning resources necessary to promote professional growth, while delivering high quality eye care to our patients.

Didactics

Our program emphasizes didactic learning to supplement your clinical education and to build a strong foundation for future learning. This is accomplished through:

External Rotations

While the Baltimore VA provides ample opportunity for patient encounters, we believe that variety provides an opportunity to produce a well rounded clinician. As such, our residents rotate outside of the VA Medical Center once a week to gain experience in various sub-specialties and modes of practice. External rotations include:

In order to successfully complete the residency program and receive a residency certificate from Salus University Pennsylvania

College of Optometry, the resident will:

● Attend and complete all assigned clinic sessions in a professional manner and remain in clinic until all

patients are cared for or the clinic preceptor states otherwise

● Maintain patient care log as assigned (with a minimum of 1200 patient encounters)

● Attend and document all other assigned activities, including external rotations, didactic, and scholarly

activities

● Complete the required manuscript of publishable quality

● Present a clinical case at Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry, as well as lectures at Friday afternoon conference

● Achieve satisfactory performance evaluations

● Complete all assigned evaluations of the residency program and faculty

Upon termination of the appointment as a VA paid resident, the resident must complete “Employee’s Clearance

from Indebtedness” Form 3248. This form is available from the Residency Coordinator. As part of this clearance

procedure, all medical records must be completed and all items of Medical Center property must be returned,

including keys, uniforms, library books, parking pass, and photo‑identification badge. Final paychecks will not be

released until the clearance procedure and the form is fully completed.


Questions about our residency program? Contact our Residency Program supervisor. Adam C. LePosa, OD, FAAO.