For the first three to six weeks of the program (depending on prior clinical care experience), the fellow will only observe patient care. Emphasis will be placed on the model and patient flow of rehabilitative care, including clinical evaluation with the optometrist or ophthalmologist, and subsequent assessment and treatment by an occupational therapist.

By enabling observation only, the fellow is provided time to externally evaluate multiple rehabilitation interventions and multi-disciplinary treatment approaches. After the initial clinical observation period, the fellow will be expected to independently evaluate and diagnose new patients, present to faculty members and develop a treatment plan for conditions that range from near-normal visual impairment to total impairment with a comprehensive range of functional deficits and co-morbidities.

By the end of the year, we expect that each graduate will achieve the following goals:

• Attain proficiency in the clinical delivery of low vision rehabilitation care in a multi-disciplinary setting.
• Diagnose, treat, manage and direct the care of the low vision patients with consideration applied to co-morbidities, psycho-social concerns, and the key roles of each of the rehabilitation team member.
• Present research work as a first author at a Wilmer internal conference
  (e.g., WRM) and an external conference (e.g., ARVO, AAO), in preparation for
  submitting the project to a peer-reviewed journal at the end of the
  fellowship.

The fellow will be expected to participate in community awareness programs and the clinical schedule facilitates the development of a clinical research project for the year. With the goal of creating clinician-scientists, the proposed project will be presented and reviewed by the research team for approval.

Various clinical research projects are ongoing in the areas of mobility, rehabilitation outcomes, and models of multidisciplinary care. The fellow can choose a project independent of existing research projects. The overall split in effort within the one-year fellowship is 80% clinical and 20% research.

A full range of lectures, seminars and conferences at the Wilmer Eye Institute is available to fellows, along with low vision-specific clinical and research seminars. As part of an appointment to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, fellows will participate in educational programs with Wilmer residents for approximately three hours every six months. Additionally, the fellow may participate in Wilmer CME courses, including weekly grand rounds and journal club.