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Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science
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Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science
The Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of California, Berkeley (also known as Berkeley Optometry) is an optometry school at the University of California, Berkeley. It offers a graduate-level, four-year professional program leading to the Doctor of Optometry degree (OD), and a one-year, ACOE-accredited residency program in clinical optometry specialties (primary care, ocular disease, contact lenses, low vision, binocular vision, and pediatrics). It is also the home department for the multidisciplinary Vision Science Group at UC Berkeley, whose graduate students earn either MS or PhD degrees.
The school is named after optometrist Herbert Wertheim, who pledged $50 million to the school in 2021 through the Dr. Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Family Foundation.
The curriculum at Berkeley Optometry is designed to provide clinical optometric training as well as instruction in the science of vision. Students are trained to be primary eye and vision care providers, which includes comprehensive eye examinations and the diagnosis, treatment, and management of most eye conditions and diseases. Applicants to Berkeley Optometry must have a bachelor's degree and complete undergraduate general science courses (biology; general, organic, and biochemistry; mathematics, statistics, physics, anatomy, physiology, microbiology, immunology, and psychology).
Berkeley Optometry operates its teaching clinics on a twelve-month basis. Students begin their training full-time in the first year with vision science and optometry courses. They are also enrolled in preclinical laboratories in years 1–2, beginning their training on the first day of the first year. Students have their initial clinic supervision in direct patient care in the summer following their second year. Third-year students continue to take didactic instruction but spend more than half their time in clinical training and direct patient care. Third and fourth-year students also participate in off-campus community outreach programs through which they provide vision care services in satellite clinics to serve segments of the local population who have limited access to health care due to lack of health insurance, low income, disability, or other restrictions. Fourth-year students train full-time in clinical rotations locally and throughout the United States.
Berkeley Optometry established its first off-campus residency program in 1978 when it affiliated with the Kansas City Veterans Administration Medical Center. The inaugural on-campus residency training program began in 1983. The program provides each resident with mentored postgraduate education and clinical training in one or two specialty areas of optometric practice. On-campus residents are expected to treat patients and teach or supervise in general or specialty clinics. They also have teaching responsibilities and must give case presentations, as well as submit publishable-quality clinical case or research papers.
In 2010 Berkeley Optometry established its first Joint Residency/MS Program by offering a two-year master's degree (MS). Designed for optometry residents, the Joint Residency/MS in Vision Science Program prepares clinicians for careers in teaching, academic and industry research, and private practice. Postdoctoral (post-OD) students complete an Optometry Residency and a Master's research thesis. In the first year, OD residents focus on advanced clinical education and concentrated clinical experience in one of the program specialty areas. During the second year, residents move from patient care to the laboratory to continue their research project under the supervision of Vision Science faculty. Upon completion, residents receive an Optometry Residency Certificate and an MS in Vision Science.
The Physiological Optics Graduate Program (since 1989 called Vision Science Graduate Program) began in 1946, granting its first MS and PhD degrees in 1950. The program has expanded significantly in the last few decades, as the array of new scientific inquiry included fields such as neurobiology, cell biology, infectious disease, bioengineering, molecular genetics, and adaptive optics. Advances in understanding the brain and the visual system, along with substantial improvements in instrumentation, account for many of these advances in vision science. As the host school for vision science research and graduate studies on the University of California, Berkeley campus, Berkeley Optometry has didactic and research affiliations with faculty and students in departments such as public health, electrical engineering and computer science, bioengineering, molecular and cell biology, neuroscience, psychology, chemistry, and chemical engineering.
Berkeley Optometry is funded by the National Eye Institute (National Institutes of Health) in support of post-doctoral training in clinical research. Thus trainees in the Berkeley Clinical Scientist Development Program (BCSDP) have professional clinical degrees (e.g., OD, MD, DO, DVM, DDS, or equivalent). In the BCSDP, professional trainees work under one or more mentors who are from departments and research groups on the University of California Berkeley and San Francisco campuses, in areas such as Vision Science, Optometry, Public Health, Neuroscience, Ophthalmology, Infectious Disease, Bioengineering, Chemistry, Health & Medical Science, and Molecular & Cell Biology.
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Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science
The Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of California, Berkeley (also known as Berkeley Optometry) is an optometry school at the University of California, Berkeley. It offers a graduate-level, four-year professional program leading to the Doctor of Optometry degree (OD), and a one-year, ACOE-accredited residency program in clinical optometry specialties (primary care, ocular disease, contact lenses, low vision, binocular vision, and pediatrics). It is also the home department for the multidisciplinary Vision Science Group at UC Berkeley, whose graduate students earn either MS or PhD degrees.
The school is named after optometrist Herbert Wertheim, who pledged $50 million to the school in 2021 through the Dr. Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Family Foundation.
The curriculum at Berkeley Optometry is designed to provide clinical optometric training as well as instruction in the science of vision. Students are trained to be primary eye and vision care providers, which includes comprehensive eye examinations and the diagnosis, treatment, and management of most eye conditions and diseases. Applicants to Berkeley Optometry must have a bachelor's degree and complete undergraduate general science courses (biology; general, organic, and biochemistry; mathematics, statistics, physics, anatomy, physiology, microbiology, immunology, and psychology).
Berkeley Optometry operates its teaching clinics on a twelve-month basis. Students begin their training full-time in the first year with vision science and optometry courses. They are also enrolled in preclinical laboratories in years 1–2, beginning their training on the first day of the first year. Students have their initial clinic supervision in direct patient care in the summer following their second year. Third-year students continue to take didactic instruction but spend more than half their time in clinical training and direct patient care. Third and fourth-year students also participate in off-campus community outreach programs through which they provide vision care services in satellite clinics to serve segments of the local population who have limited access to health care due to lack of health insurance, low income, disability, or other restrictions. Fourth-year students train full-time in clinical rotations locally and throughout the United States.
Berkeley Optometry established its first off-campus residency program in 1978 when it affiliated with the Kansas City Veterans Administration Medical Center. The inaugural on-campus residency training program began in 1983. The program provides each resident with mentored postgraduate education and clinical training in one or two specialty areas of optometric practice. On-campus residents are expected to treat patients and teach or supervise in general or specialty clinics. They also have teaching responsibilities and must give case presentations, as well as submit publishable-quality clinical case or research papers.
In 2010 Berkeley Optometry established its first Joint Residency/MS Program by offering a two-year master's degree (MS). Designed for optometry residents, the Joint Residency/MS in Vision Science Program prepares clinicians for careers in teaching, academic and industry research, and private practice. Postdoctoral (post-OD) students complete an Optometry Residency and a Master's research thesis. In the first year, OD residents focus on advanced clinical education and concentrated clinical experience in one of the program specialty areas. During the second year, residents move from patient care to the laboratory to continue their research project under the supervision of Vision Science faculty. Upon completion, residents receive an Optometry Residency Certificate and an MS in Vision Science.
The Physiological Optics Graduate Program (since 1989 called Vision Science Graduate Program) began in 1946, granting its first MS and PhD degrees in 1950. The program has expanded significantly in the last few decades, as the array of new scientific inquiry included fields such as neurobiology, cell biology, infectious disease, bioengineering, molecular genetics, and adaptive optics. Advances in understanding the brain and the visual system, along with substantial improvements in instrumentation, account for many of these advances in vision science. As the host school for vision science research and graduate studies on the University of California, Berkeley campus, Berkeley Optometry has didactic and research affiliations with faculty and students in departments such as public health, electrical engineering and computer science, bioengineering, molecular and cell biology, neuroscience, psychology, chemistry, and chemical engineering.
Berkeley Optometry is funded by the National Eye Institute (National Institutes of Health) in support of post-doctoral training in clinical research. Thus trainees in the Berkeley Clinical Scientist Development Program (BCSDP) have professional clinical degrees (e.g., OD, MD, DO, DVM, DDS, or equivalent). In the BCSDP, professional trainees work under one or more mentors who are from departments and research groups on the University of California Berkeley and San Francisco campuses, in areas such as Vision Science, Optometry, Public Health, Neuroscience, Ophthalmology, Infectious Disease, Bioengineering, Chemistry, Health & Medical Science, and Molecular & Cell Biology.
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