ANTERIOR SEGMENT FELLOWSHIP UZA
As a large referral service and the biggest eye bank in Flanders, UZA (Antwerp University Hospital) is offering enthusiastic and empathic ophthalmologists the opportunity to grow in their medical and research expertise during a 1-year programme. This fellowship offers an excellent opportunity to work in an ambitious international team of cornea specialists, optometrists, medical biologists and researchers.
Requirements:
- Position open to all citizens of the European Economic Area - Residency training must be completed before applying
- Applicants must be fluent in English. The Dutch language is preferred but if a candidate does not yet speak Dutch, a preknowledge of Dutch and/or interest in learning it for acceptable communication with the patients is required
Profile:
- Motivation to specialise in cornea and anterior segment surgery - Careful and diligent patient management
- Interest in research and steadily improving medical practice - Commitment to continuous development and training - Positive energy and openness to innovation
We offer:
- Clinical experience
Fellows are expected to participate in the day-to-day care of cornea service patients and this will be their main task. This will enable them to become experienced with diagnosis and treatment of a wide variety of complex anterior segment pathologies. Our emphasis is on severe infectious keratitis, corneal dystrophies, corneal ectasias, post corneal transplantation follow-up and complication management, followed by more seldom entities, such as treatment of patients with stem cell insufficiency and severe burns. The fellow will also participate in Resident education in clinic.
- Research
Conducting research requires dedication, time and energy, yet it can serve many purposes. Performing in-depth research will expand your knowledge base exponentially. It can help you develop a strong relationship with colleagues as well as writing manuscripts and present your work at international meetings. There will be dedicated time for research and involvement in existing projects or implementation of new research ideas are strongly encouraged. Besides clinical research at UZA, if interest is shown, pre-clinical research collaboration with ARGOS (Antwerp Research Group for Ocular Science) and Volantis (Visual Optics Lab Antwerp) is possible.
- Cornea bank and practice in the wet-lab
Assisting cornea bank activities as well as training in different DMEK preparation techniques.
- Surgical Education
It is important to ensure that you are receiving exposure in a broad range of corneal and anterior segment surgery. You will assist anterior segment surgery (complex cataract surgery, Bag-in-the-Lens technique, anterior segment reconstruction – iris repair, secondary intraocular lenses, corneal transplantation surgery especially DMEK technique, UV Crosslinking, limbal stem cell transplantation).
As this is an advanced fellowship, we do not offer hands-on training without any previous surgical experience. Also, out of respect for our patients, only after a thorough acquaintance and building trust with the fellow, surgical training will be possible.
Duration: One year with possibility of prolongation.
Remuneration: The University of Antwerp's salaries are legally fixed in salary scales that differ according to your clinical experience.
How to apply:
The following materials should be sent to Carina.Koppen@uza.be :
Letter of interest
Current CV
Deadline: 31st of October 2021. Only completed applications will be considered for interviews.
Possible starting date: January 2022.
For additional information, please contact:
Prof. Sorcha Ní Dhubhghaill Sorcha.NiDhubhghaill@uza.be
Address: Antwerp University Hospital, Drie Eikenstraat 655, 2650 Edegem, Belgium
Prof. Sorcha Ní Dhubhghaill Senior anterior segment surgeon UZA
Prof. Carina Koppen
Head of Ophthalmology Department UZA
