Curriculum and Opportunities | Department of Ophthalmology | School of Medicine

Our goal in the core undergraduate ophthalmology curriculum at Queen's is to provide a solid foundation in ophthalmology to each medical student. The knowledge gained through the undergraduate curriculum will allow the students to take an appropriate ophthalmic history and perform an accurate primary care ophthalmic examination.

This will allow each student the ability to diagnose and appropriately manage emergent and common ophthalmic conditions, as well as to properly triage other ocular diseases.

The core undergraduate curriculum includes:

Term 1: Introduction to Clinical Skills
Term 2: Didactic Lectures & Expanded Clinical Skills Fair
Clerkship: Perioperative Lecture

Introduction to Clinical Skills

This portion of the Undergraduate Program takes place in the fall of first year during the Introduction to Clinical Skills in Term I. It involves a one-hour didactic lecture and a two-hour session in several small groups. It is designed to introduce you to the clinical skills necessary to perform a basic ophthalmic examination, including using the ophthalmoscope.

Please visit our educational resources page for some useful resources (link on the right).

Didactic Lectures

This portion of the curriculum involves five, 3-hour interactive morning sessions taught by the various general and subspecialty ophthalmologists from the Department of Ophthalmology at Queen's.

These sessions will cover a variety of topics pertinent to the provision of primary eye care. These lectures are based on LMCC objectives pertinent to ophthalmology [Pupils, Strabismus and Amblyopia, Diplopia, Eye Redness, Acute Vision Loss and Chronic Vision Loss].

These topics are covered in the recommended textbook: Basic Ophthalmology for Medical Students and Primary Care Residents, 8th edition by C. Bradford (ISBN 1-56055-361-8).

Expanded Clinical Skills Fair

We host the Ophthalmology Expanded Clinical Skills Fair in May. It usually takes place on the Friday afternoon, on or around the week of Ophthalmology classroom teaching. The session takes place at Hotel Dieu Hospital. Students separate into their assigned groups and make their way through different stations:

Vision, pupils, and visual fields
Anterior segment and slit-lamp skills
Posterior segment and ophthalmoscopy skills
Extraocular movments and screening children
Trauma, ocular emergencies, and intraocular pressure.

Perioperative Lecture

Lecture

During your perioperative rotation in clerkship, we will provide a one-hour didactic session to cover some Ophthalmology Highlights.

Awards

Rattray Award in Ophthalmology

Terms: To be awarded to the second year Queen's medical student who has the highest overall standing in Ophthalmology based on a written and/or oral examination set by the Department for this pupose. The winner will receive a monetary award ($525) from the Undergraduate Medical Education Awards Office.

Eligibility: Any second year Queen's medical student who agrees to participate in the competition.

Criteria: To be eligible for this award, potential winners must participate in the special exam set by the Department of Ophthalmology.

Exam: An oral examination will be administered by one to two ophthalmologists from within the Department of Ophthalmology at Queen's, on a topic to be pre-determined and distributed to the competitors in advance; students will be given 2–3 weeks to read about the topic and prepare for the exam.

The student with the best performance on the oral examination will be awarded the Rattray Prize in Ophthmology for that year.

Past Reciepients

2024 — Joshua Berbrier

2023 — Emma Wallace

2022 — Bryn Hoffman

2021 — Aidan Pucchio

2020 —

2019 —

2018 —

2017- Jeff Mah
2016 - Monica Mullin
2015 - Jason Kwok
2014 - Maxwell Weisbrod
2012 - Tess Sudenis
2011 - Ashley Minuk
2010 – Yaser Habeeb
2009 – Yong-Li Zhang
2008 – Rebecca Haque
2007 – Ramin Kholdebarin
2006 – Rustum Karanjia and Maria Radina
2005 – Babak Kachoei
2004 – Amir Abadir and Shadi Akhtari
2002 – Rodger Shortt
2000 – David Albiani
1999 – Paul Denton
1998 – Michael Feldman
1997 – Jeanette Dietrich
1996 – Alexandra Jevremovic

Professor's Prize in Ophthalmology

Terms: To be awarded to the final-year student who has exhibited the greatest proficiency in ophthalmology throughout the course of their undergraduate medical training.

Eligibility: All students in the graduating class of Queen's Medical School.

Criteria: The award winner will demonstrate their proficiency in ophthalmology throughout the course of medical school. They will do so by having obtained high standing on the Ophthalmology component of the Phase IIB final examination, having demonstrated competence in ophthalmology based on their performance at the Expanded Clinical Skills Fair or other clinical time spent in the Department, and having demonstrated a keen interest in ophthalmology based on their participation in ophthalmology related research. Any combination of these stated criteria may be used to judge the students to determine their overall proficiency in ophthalmology.

Past Recipients

2024 — Danielle Solish

2023 — Kevin Cheung

2022 — Parsa Mehraban Far

2021 — Caberry Yu

2020 —

2019 —

2018 —

2017 - Kashif Visram
2016 - Ioulia Pronina
2015 - Anastasia Prokubouskaya
2014 - Sarah Felder
2013 - Jennifer Gao
2012 - Zainab Khan
2011 - Amaka Eneh
2010 - Davin Johnson
2009 – Edward Moss
2008 – David Almeida
2007 – Andrea Leung
2002 – Delan Jinapriya
2000 – Paul Denton
1999 – Olivia Dam
1996 – Ken Fern
1995 – Laura Ritonja

Barsky Prize in Ophthalmology

Terms: To be awarded to the Queen's medical student (in any year) who obtains the highest standing in a research project related to ophthalmology, presented to Queen's Department of Ophthalmology. The winner will be invited to recieve a plaque of recognition at a Departmental function. They will later recieve a monetary award ($150) from the Awards Office.

Eligibility: Any Queen's undergraduate medical student who participates in research with Queen's Department of Ophthalmology, and who presents their work to the Department at Grand Rounds or Resident Research Day between January 1 and May 31 of each academic year. Presentation dates are to be coordinated with the Undergrad Director of Ophthalmology.

Judging: All medical student projects will be judged by members of the Department of Ophthalmology (at least 2 staff and 2 residents) using a standardized evaluation. Topics for evaluation will include content, quality of presentation, individuality, self-directed learning, and scientific value. The top project presented will be deemed the winner and awarded the prize.

Past Recipients

2019 — Hassan Hazari

2018 — Steven Bae

2017- Étienne Bérnard-Séguin
2016 - Rachel Curtis
2011 - Lin Xing
2010 - Yaseer Habeeb
2009 – Davin Johnson and Jonathan Hurst
2008 – Rebecca Haque and Mark D’Sousa
2007 - David Almeida and Rustum Karanjia
2006 - Dan Rootman
2005 - Shaun Segal
2001 – David Albiani
1999 – Paul Denton
1998 – Olivia Dam
1997 – Kayvan Amjadi
1995 – Raymond Seto

External Awards

The Duke Elder Prize—Royal College of Ophthalmologists (UK)

The Duke Elder Prize is an undergraduate prize examination sponsored by The Royal College of Ophthalmologists in the United Kindom. This examination is intended for medical students who have completed their ophthalmology undergraduate teaching, but it is open to all medical undergraduates provided they have not graduated at the time of the examination. Students may sit the examination on more than one occasion provided they have not yet graduated and have not previously won the prize.

The candidate gaining the highest mark will be offered to chance to visit St John’s Eye Hospital in Jerusalem. The winning candidate can alternatively choose a cash prize of £400 (approx $680 CAD). There is no second prize.

The two hour examination consists of: 90 single best answer one in four Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) Marking is on the basis of +1 for a correct answer and 0 marks for an incorrect answer (i.e. there is no negative marking).

Important dates:

Candidates must ensure that they have given their name to their medical school organiser (Dr Christine Law) prior to the closing date of Monday 5 May 2025. No candidates will be accepted after this date.
Candidates will be sent instructions on how to pay the examination fee. The deadline for fee payment is 5pm (GMT) on Monday 2 June 2025. Candidates who have not paid their fee by this date will not have a place at the exam.
The 2 hour examination will be held on Monday 3 September 2025 at 2.30pm (GMT) and will be via online proctored exam delivery

If you have any further queries please contact preeti.attalia@rcophth.ac.uk

2025 Duke Elder Candidate Info Pack

Research Opportunities

The Department of Ophthalmology strives to further innovation and creativity in ophthalmic and vision sciences and is both nationally and internationally acclaimed for its research work. Please visit our research pages to learn more about some of the research that is being undertaken in our department.

If you are interested in doing research in the department, please contact Dr. Newton Duarte, Research Coordinator