Optometry - Ocular Disease

Director’s Letter

Welcome to the Rochester Regional Health’s Reed Eye Associates Optometry – Ocular Disease Residency program. Our program offers a robust didactic and clinical post-graduate education, providing highly motivated Doctors of Optometry with a diverse experience in a hospital-based setting. At Rochester Regional Health, we strive to provide our residents with core competencies in delivering primary eye care to the general population while also advancing the knowledge and clinical acumen in diagnosing and managing various ocular diseases. Collaboration and rotation with sub-specialty ophthalmology is part of the residency curriculum as well as additional educational opportunities in other specialties of medicine. Upon completion of our program, graduates will have gained invaluable experience in being part of the healthcare team, provided with opportunities to deliver care in both a hospital-based and private practice setting, and obtaining a rich clinical experience that will advance their ability to practice at the highest level. Thank you for your interest in our residency program!

Mark R Parsons, OD, FAAO
Program Director

Rochester Regional Health (RRH) is the leading provider of comprehensive care for Western New York and the Finger Lakes region. The system is comprised of eight hospitals, serving the community as an integrated health services organization with a wide span of networks. In 2019, Reed Eye Associates joined RRH, creating a model that broadens optometric care and serves as the primary eye provider for the community.

Reed Eye was founded in 1978 by ophthalmologist Ronald R Reed, MD. Reed Eye Associates has grown into one of the largest primary eye care practices in New York State. Our optometric providers are responsible for all primary eye care, medical eye care, and on-call responsibilities; practicing to their full scope.

Residents at RRH will have opportunities to provide care in both a hospital-based clinic and private practice. The residents’ locations will include the RRH’s Riedman Health Center, a full-service ophthalmology and optometry teaching and treatment eye center and the RRH’s Reed Eye Associates locations. The residency program will provide a diverse experience in different practice settings. Collaboration and rotation with sub-specialty ophthalmology will be a part of the curriculum and will include surgical observation in addition to understanding and learning perioperative care within the various specialties.

As a part of RRH, residents will have access to various resources and educational material, including a medical library and subscriptions to medical databases such as Up-To-Date and Lexicomp. Opportunities to learn with residents in other fields of medicine will be provided, broadening the scope of our residents’ educational experience. Graduates of the Ocular Disease residency will leave with an advanced understanding of ocular and systemic disease, allowing our residents to deliver care at the highest level.

Our RRH community strives to cultivate and promote diversity and inclusion at all levels, empowering each team member to show up as themselves daily.

 We believe that our collective diversity in backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, coupled with an inclusive and just environment that harnesses and celebrates that diversity is fundamental in our efforts to improve the health and well-being of all our team members, patients, and communities in which we are privileged to serve.

Interviews will be scheduled in order the application is received. Interviews for the 2025-2026 residency program will be offered in-person or virtually based on the applicant’s preference.