Anterior Segment and Contact Lens Fellowship
Program
The James Lewis MD Cornea and Anterior Segment Fellowship offers the opportunity for a graduating optometrist or resident to gain tertiary care experience and expertise in the medical and surgical eye care. There is heavy emphasis on peri-operative care of cornea, cataract, and glaucoma surgeries commonly including LASIK, PRK, Visian ICL, Hydrus microstent, goniotomy, collagen crosslinking, PTK, Ahmed valve, trans-scleral CPC, and complex cataract surgery, among others. We are offer a one-year clinical fellowship that runs parallel to the established Cornea and Specialty Contact Lens residency at PCO-Salus. Our practice has trained more than a dozen graduate optometrists in conjunction with Salus University in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.
Check out our program brochure!
Residency or Fellowship?
In recent years we have had an abundance of outstanding residency applicants and sufficient clinical material to support more than one position. Our fellowship extends this unique opportunity to one qualified candidate per year. This is an uncommon clinical experience which promotes confidence and technical excellence. The fellowship tips the balance toward more anterior segment disease and perioperative management, whereas the residency offers greater precepting opportunities in specialty contact lenses.
Both residency and fellowship offer complementary experience beyond the entry-level competency of optometric education. In our practice, residents and fellows are expected to perform direct patient care and gain experience under guidance and supervision from James Lewis MD and Patrick McManamon OD. By the completion of training you should expect to have exceptional knowledge with these clinical cases:
- Candidacy for LASIK, PRK, and Visian ICL
- Candidacy and treatment for corneal cross linking
- Recommend appropriate intraocular lens (Toric, LAL, and Multifocal)
- Diagnose, manage, and treat microbial keratitis (including culturing and ordering of fortified antibiotics)
- Calculation of intraocular lens powers (including post-refractive and irregular corneas)
- Use of amniotic membranes
- Placement of temporary and permanent punctal plugs
- Recommend and implement IPL and LipiFlow
- Diagnose and manage aqueous and lipid deficiency dry eye
- Manage first day post-op cataracts, iStent, Hydrus, DSEK, Pterygium with autograft, Canaloplasty, Ahmed valves, Transscleral Cyclophotocoagulation, Visian ICL, PRK, Epi-LASIK, and LASIK
- RGP and Scleral lens fitting for presbyopia, dry eye, and irregular corneas
- Assess narrow angles (anterior segment OCT and UBM)
- Handle ocular emergencies including foreign body, trauma, and infectious and inflammatory conditions
“Becoming a fellow here has given me a front row seat on how ophthalmology and optometry can collaborate to provide the best patient care. This is a fast-paced, hands-on, and challenging environment (also really fun and rewarding) that has widened my interest concerning anterior segment treatment and management. Learning from Dr. Lewis and Dr. McManamon has shown me how many different opportunities we have to treat patients in all stages of ocular disease. I have become a much better clinical optometrist because of them and how they do patient care. It was important for me to find a program that was anterior segment heavy and provided an open learning environment. This program easily checks all the boxes, and I feel lucky to have been accepted here. I am much more prepared for the future because of this opportunity. I would strongly recommend this program to anyone wanting to strengthen their disease knowledge while also focusing on everything anterior segment.”
__ Taylor Hall, OD
Fellow 2020-2021 (MCPHS Class of 2020)
Our office is equipped with state of the art diagnostic and therapeutic instrumentation:
- Nidek EC-5000 topology-guided excimer laser
- Lumenis M22 IPL (Intense Pulsed Light)
- Zeiss Clarus non-mydriatic fundus camera
- Nidek RS-3000 anterior and posterior segment OCT
- Zeiss Visante anterior segment OCT
- Oculus 5M Keratograph (dry eye and topography)
- LipiFlow, LipiView, and MiBo ThermoFlo
- SBM interferometer and meibographer
- Pascal, iCare, Tonopen, and Goldmann tonometers
- Sonomed and Quantel UBMs (ultrasonic biomicroscopes)
- Haag-Streit Octopus perimeter
- IOL Master 700 Total Cornea swept-source biometer
- Nidek AL-Biometer
- Sonomed, Nidek, and Quantel A-Scan
- Zeiss Atlas 9000 topography
- Nidek OPD-3 (and OPD-2) tomography
- RxSight Light Delivery Device (LAL treatments)
- Haag-Streit BQ 900 slit lamps with DSLR and HD Video
We manage approximately fifty major intraocular surgical cases each week including cataract, premium IOLs, DSEK, Visian ICL, iStent, Hydrus, ABiC, goniotomy, pterygium, Ahmed Valve, and secondary posterior chamber implants. We perform stromal puncture, amniotic membranes, corneal cultures, trans-scleral ciliary body ablation, EDTA chelation, Epi-LASIK, LASIK, PRK and PTK in the office. Fellows function as full optometric physicians. We see patients in Elkins Park office, on the main campus of Salus University, and at The Eye Institute, a large clinical facility in North Philadelphia. Clinical responsibilities include Saturday morning post-ops as well as a 9-5 full schedule during the week. At the conclusion of this program most are offered positions in academia and high profile MD/OD practices.
“The fellowship with Dr. Lewis and Dr. McManamon was an extremely rewarding and challenging experience. It provided me with an advanced clinical knowledge in cornea, anterior segment disease, speciality contact lenses, glaucoma, ocular emergencies, cataract and refractive surgery. Dr. Lewis and Dr. McManamon provided excellent mentorship and were always there for support if needed. Having the opportunity to spend time in the operating room anytime I wanted with Dr. Lewis allowed me to see cataract, glaucoma and refractive surgeries first hand, this was an invaluable learning opportunity. I found the speciality contact lens experience to be excellent, under the supervision of Dr. McManamon, as I saw a wide range of ocular conditions that need speciality fits. I saw a high volume of challenging patients that allowed me to improve my clinical knowledge and efficiency. This has allowed me to handle almost anything at my current practice and manage more complicated conditions. The fellowship experience has helped put me ahead and allowed me to secure my current position. I would highly recommended this fellowship opportunity to anyone who is looking to challenge themselves and expand their clinical knowledge and experience beyond what is learned in externships.”
__ Bal Momrath, OD
Fellow 2019-2020 (Pacific University Class of 2019)
Questions? Contact us!
James S. Lewis, MD | jslewis@jameslewismd.com |
Patrick McManamon, OD | pmcmanamon@jameslewismd.com |
Alex Kim, OD (2021-2022 Fellow) | akim@jameslewismd.com |
By phone (business hours) | 215-886-9090 |
How to apply:
Interested applicants should be eligible to work in the United States (citizen or OPT-1 Visa Extension) and have completed a Doctor of Optometry degree. Passage of all three NBEO Boards are required before July 1, 2021, but not necessary before application submission. This position requires the selected candidate to be Pennsylvania License eligible by July 1, 2021.
Please provide a letter of intent, 2-3 letters of recommendation, curriculum vitae, and unofficial optometric transcript to pmcmanamon@jameslewismd.com.
Select applicants will be invited to interview in person or via video conference throughout January and February 2022. The selection committee will offer the position to a qualified candidate before the OR match deadline.
“The fellowship offered by Dr. Lewis provides clinical exposure of the highest caliber. Dr. Lewis’ extensive experience includes educating students and residents of Salus University’s Pennsylvania College of Optometry. “
__ Salus University Administration
January 2019