How I Became a Retina Specialist

I’m Randy Wong. I’m a Retina Specialist, located in Fairfax, Virginia. Today, I’d like to tell you how I became a Retina Specialist and discuss a little bit about what a Retina Specialist does as an eye doctor.

To become a Retina Specialist, I had to first go to college and medical school and do an internship and then a residency and then, finally, I did training to sub-specialize. So, let’s break it down.

Haverford College

After High School, I went to Haverford College and I got a BA in biology; that took four years. Right after college, I went to medical school.

Specifically, I went to Jefferson Medical College, located in Philadelphia. That was a four-year program, and when I graduated from Jefferson, I was now an M.D. with no specialization.

Bryn Mawr Hospital | Internship

Right after Medical School, I went to the Bryn Mawr Hospital outside of Philadelphia. For one year, I was an intern in their Internal Medicine department; it has nothing to do with ophthalmology, but my internship served as a pre-requisite, so that I could get an ophthalmology residency.

After my internship at the Bryn Mawr Hospital, I then became an ophthalmology Resident at Georgetown University, and this was a three-year program. At the end of that Residency, I was finally a general ophthalmologist.

Fellowship for Retina Specialist

It was pretty clear to me during my ophthalmology residency that I was going to subspecialize – or, I wanted to subspecialize – in diseases of the retina. I wanted to become a retina specialist.

So, after I finished residency at Georgetown University, I then took a Fellowship. This is additional subspecialty training, and I went to Memphis, Tennessee so I could be a Retina Specialist under the tutelage of Steven Charles and Maurice Landers.

After completing my Retina Fellowship, I was now a Retina Specialist. After that, I just had one more test to take and that was to become Board Certified.

Board Certified Ophthalmologist

I am a Board Certified ophthalmologist which means I am Board Certified in General Ophthalmology, not Retina. There is no board certification for a retina specialist, at least at this time. So, after my Fellowship, I had to take a test, and passed, to test my knowledge on all general ophthalmology. Once I did pass that, that allowed me to say that I was a Board Certified Ophthalmologist.

In conclusion, I’m Randy Wong. I am a Retina Specialist in Fairfax, Virginia. Actually, I am a Board Certified Ophthalmologist and a Retina Specialist, in Fairfax, Virginia.

I hope this was helpful. See you next time.