Clinical

Residency Programs

The road ahead is ready for you.

Residency programs at the Illinois College of Optometry offer post-graduate training for those interested in all aspects of optometry, including clinical practice, optometric education, and business. Residents gain advanced competency in eye care through education, scholarship, and patient care. Such experience aims to provide ICO residents with the expertise and confidence needed to treat complex clinical patients.

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All ICO Residency Programs are ACOE accredited. We can help find the right residency for you. Explore our on and off campus options:

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On-Campus Residencies

• Binocular Vision and Pediatric Optometry Residency

• Cornea and Contact Lenses Residency

• Low Vision Rehabilitation and Geriatric Ocular Disease Residency

• Primary Care and Ocular Disease Residency

Affiliate Residencies

• Residency in Anterior Segment Disease and Medical Contact Lenses – Davis Duehr Dean, Madison, Wis.

• Corneal and Refractive Eye Care Residency – Minnesota Eye Consultants, Minneapolis, Minn.

• Ocular Disease Residency – Associated Eye Care, Stillwater, Minn.

• Ocular Disease and Low Vision Rehabilitation Residency – Jesse Brown VA Medical Center/Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Chicago, Ill.

• OD Residency in Refractive and Ocular Surgery Care – Vance Thompson Vision, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

• Primary Care and Ocular Disease Residency – Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, North Chicago, Ill.

• Primary Care/Brain Injury and Low Vision Rehabilitation Residency – Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, Minn

To Apply

All ICO and affiliated residency programs use Optometry Residency Match (ORMatch) to fill their positions. The applicant must, prior to matriculation, have attained the Doctor of Optometry (O.D.) degree from a school or college of optometry accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education. All applicants will be evaluated without regard to sex, race, color, creed, age, religion or non-disqualifying physical disabilities. Application information and an on-campus interview are used for the selection process.

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To apply, please register online in the NMS Match System to participate in ORMatch. Required components of your ORMatch application include:

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• Letter of intent

• Curriculum vitae

• OD Transcript

• NBEO Part I exam score

• Three (3) letters of recommendation

Please check the individual programs for additional requirements.

For more information about ICO’s residency programs, please contact the program coordinator of each residency, or ICO’s Residency Director, Dr. Heather McLeod.

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