Fellowship
Designated Center of Excellence for Micro-Invasive Glaucoma Surgery
Approved by the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology’s Fellowship Compliance Committee and under the direction of Dr. Gallardo and Dr. Shoukfeh, we provide a premier fellowship experience for students. Fellows can expect to be fully trained in all realms of glaucoma management and garner high volume of surgical experience, exposure and use of multiple advanced technology, all with ample time for independent study.
Fellowship
The fellowship, approved by the Association of University Professors of Opthalmology’s Fellowship Compliance Committee, provides a premier experience to fellows. Fellows can expect to be fully trained in all realms of glaucoma management and garner high volume of surgical experience, exposure and use of multiple advanced technology, all with ample time for independent study.
Letter to Prospective Fellows
Dear prospective fellowship applicant. We are excited about the opportunities that abound our newly developed program and the incredibly vast experience each new student of glaucoma will obtain during their 1-year tenure on our campus.
We are the tertiary glaucoma referral center for west Texas, Southern New Mexico, and Northern Mexico. Our region is very rich in culture and ethnically diverse being on the Texas/Mexico border and housing thousands of transplanted active duty and retired military servicemen and women. As such, you will be exposed to the myriad of presentations of glaucoma as well as the ethnically variated patterns of responsiveness to our current therapeutic options available in our armamentarium to fight blindness.
Given our unique location and absolute support by our ophthalmic and optometric community, we have quickly become one of the highest volume surgical glaucoma practices in the country. We are a recognized Center of Excellence for Micro-Invasive Glaucoma Surgery (MIGS) and routinely have surgeons from all over the world visit our facility to observe us in surgery and learn our treatment algorithms. Our ambulatory surgical center is equipped with all the latest technologies for cataract and refractive surgery and the fellow will have the opportunity to become not only a glaucoma specialist, but a true MIGS expert! Fellows will graduate having performed hundreds of angle based surgeries including iStent implantation, goniotomy using the Kahook Dual Blade, Gonioscopy-Assisted Transluminal Trabeculotomy (or GATT procedure), ab-interno canaloplasty (ABiC), Visco360, Trab360, endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation, CyPass supraciliary shunt implantation, Xen45 gel implantation, Express mini-shunt implantation and of course tubes and trabs.
Should a fellow choose, he or she may be as actively involved in clinical research as desired, which could include retrospective or prospective projects, case reports (as we have many interesting cases), authorship of article in trade journals as well as manuscripts in the peer-reviewed literature. Clinically, fellows will have the opportunity to manage the most complex of glaucoma cases as well as see premium /refractive cataract candidates. We will be in the operating room two half days a week where we typically do twenty-five cases per half day with a very diverse case load from Baerveldt implantations to cataract extraction with a combination of MIGS procedures. As we work hard during the week, we have all weekends off, celebrate all our big national holidays, send our fellow to the annual American Glaucoma Society Meeting, and allow for ample vacation time to refresh our minds. We are very committed to education and our objective is to produce the highest of quality glaucoma surgeons with the most innovative skill sets.
ABOUT OUR FACULTY
Dr. Mark J. Gallardo, a native El Pasoan, who did his residency at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, where he won multiple awards for his leadership skills and research endeavors. Following his residency at Texas Tech University School of Medicine in Lubbock, he completed a one-year glaucoma fellowship at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and returned to El Paso to oversee a young ophthalmology clinic at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso. Though Dr. Gallardo still has active faculty positions as Texas Tech School of Medicine in Lubbock and The University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, his mainstay clinical and surgical practice is in his private practice at El Paso Eye Surgeons, P.A.. Despite being in a private practice setting, Dr. Gallardo continues his efforts to advance the science of medicine and is actively involved in research and is a part of multiple on-going FDA clinical trials. As such, fellows will be exposed to multiple devices yet to reach the market like the Hydrus Microstent and iDose implant.
Our faculty is committed to ensuring our fellows and future colleagues are fully trained in all realms of glaucoma management. We are cognizant of a fellows need to learn beyond the confines of the clinical walls and as such, will have ample time for independent study, which will assist in board preparation. Fellows will be highly involved in the surgical case volume and are typically in the operating room two half days a week and will be primarily surgeon in a vast majority of cases. Our faculty will guide you through your learning curves as you adopt new technology and, like a proud parent, will lead you into independence. You will also be exposed to and use multiple advanced technology intraocular lenses and several complex/reconstructive anterior segment procedures.
This fellowship is approved by the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology’s Fellowship Compliance Committee and participates in the Central Application Service provided by the San Francisco Matching Program. The fellowship application form may be accessed at www.sfmatch.org. It is expected that the glaucoma fellow be eligible for a Texas Medical License and thus must have completed and passed all three parts of the USMLE and be either Board Eligible or Board Certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. No additional application material is required beyond that which is included in the central application service.
As a surgical fellow at El Paso Eye Surgeons, you can expect to complete some or all of the following procedures.
ABiCABiC/ Goniotomy
ABiC/ iStent/ Phaco
Ac Washout/ Tube Revision
Ahmed w/ PG
Baerveldt w/ PG
Bleb Revision
Canaloplasty w/ Suture
Canaloplasty w/ Tension Suture
Canaloplasty w/o Suture/ Goniotomy
Complex Phaco Posterior Synechiolysis
Complex Phaco w/ Cypass
Complex Phaco w/ Gonio
Complex Phaco w/ Hydrus
Complex Phaco w/ IOL
Complex Phaco w/ iStent x2
Cyclocrotherapy/ EUA
Cypass
Diode
Diode/ EUA
Explantation of Tube w/ PG
Express Shunt
Goniotomy (GATT)
Goniotomy (GATT)/ STK
Phaco / IOL
Phaco Canaloplasty w/o suture
Phaco Canaloplasty w/o suture / Goniotonmy
Phaco w IOL
Phaco w/ ABiC
Phaco w/ Cypass
Phaco w/ Express Shunt
Phaco w/ Gonio
Phaco w/ Goniotomy
Phaco w/ Goniotomy
Phaco w/ Goniotomy (GATT)
Phaco w/ Goniotomy / Goniosynnechiolysis
Phaco w/ Goniotomy/ Canaloplasty w/o Suture
Phaco w/ Hydrus
Phaco w/ IOL
Phaco w/ iStent
Phaco w/ iStent / ECP
Phaco w/ iStent x2
Phaco w/ iStent x2 / ECP
Phaco w/ TrabeculOTOMY
Phaco w/ Visco 360
Phaco w/ Xen45 Gel
Pterygium w/ Graft
Removal of Retained Nuclear Matieral
TrabeculecTOMY
Trabeculotomy/ Removal of iStent
Tube Revision
Tube Revision vs Explantation w/ PG
Tube Revision w/ PG
Visco 360
Wound Revision
Wound Revision w/ PG
Xen 45 Gel
Xen 45 Gel Anterior Vitrectomy
XEN Gel
Xen45 Gel
El Paso
We are the tertiary glaucoma referral center for west Texas, Southern New Mexico, and Northern Mexico. Our region is very rich in culture and ethnically diverse being on the Texas/Mexico border and housing thousands of transplanted active duty and retired military servicemen and women.
As such, fellows will be exposed to the myriad of presentations of glaucoma as well as the ethnically varying patterns of responsiveness to our current therapeutic options available in our armamentarium to fight blindness.
MIGS
Given our unique location and absolute support by our ophthalmic community, we have quickly become one of the highest volume surgical glaucoma practices in the country. We are a recognized Center of Excellence for Micro-Invasive Glaucoma Surgery (MIGS) and routinely have surgeons from all over the world visit our facility to observe us in surgery and learn our treatment algorithms.
Our ambulatory surgical center is equipped with all the latest technologies for cataract and refractive surgery and the fellow will have the opportunity to become not only a glaucoma specialist, but a true MIGS expert!
Fellows will graduate having performed hundreds of angle based surgeries including iStent implantation, goniotomy using the Kahook Dual Blade, Gonioscopy-Assisted Transluminal Trabeculotomy (or GATT procedure), ab-interno canaloplasty (ABiC), Visco360, Trab360, endoscopic cyctphotocoagulation, CyPass supraciliary shunt implantation, Express mini-shunt implantation and of course tubes and trabs.
Dr. Gallardo
Dr. Mark J. Gallardo, a native El Pasoan, earned his medical degree from Texas Tech School of Medicine in Lubbock and graduated in the top tier of his class. He did his residency at The University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, where he won multiple awards for his leadership skills and research endeavors. Following his residency at Texas Tech University School of Medicine in Lubbock, he completed a glaucoma fellowship at the prestigious and nationally recognized University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas—making him the only fellowship-trained glaucoma surgeon within 300 miles. While in the midst of is glaucoma specialty training, Dr. Gallardo fulfilled his written requirement for board certification, scoring in the 99th percentile on his board exam. Despite being offered multiple academic positions throughout the country and having job opportunities in the Dallas area, Dr. Gallardo decided to return to his hometown to serve his community. He joined the faculty at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso and became the Medical Director for the division of Ophthalmology. After a short time, he entered the private sector and joined El Paso Eye Surgeons, P.A. in 2008.
Dr. Gallardo’s passion for academics has transcended into his private practice where he continues to teach, having established a highly coveted glaucoma fellowship program. He has become an internationally recognized figure in Ophthalmology for his work on micro-invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) and is a key opinion leader for all MIGS procedures. He has developed a novel surgical technique for treating glaucoma (ab-interno canaloplasty or ABiC), which has transformed our approach and understanding of the eye’s natural drainage system. His practice has been formally designated a Centers of Excellence for Micro-Invasive Glaucoma Surgery (one of only two in the nation), and surgeons throughout the world have traveled to El Paso to watch and learn his surgical techniques. With his reputation, Dr. Gallardo also receives referrals from other glaucoma surgeons throughout the country, including the prestigious Mayo Clinic, Duke Medical Center, and Johns Hopkins University. A recognized expert in micro-invasive glaucoma surgery, he is routinely invited to lecture at multiple major national and international ophthalmic conferences to share his knowledge. He is widely published in the peer-reviewed medical literature and is the principal investigator for multiple ongoing clinical trials in the fields of cataract and glaucoma surgery. He has maintained his faculty appointments at The University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, Texas Tech University School of Medicine in Lubbock, and the Paul. L. Foster Texas Tech School of Medicine in El Paso. He has also been recognized for his teaching by receiving multiple teaching awards.
In addition to providing the medical needs of El Pasoans on a local level, Dr. Gallardo has also represented our town’s interests on a state level by serving on the Texas Ophthalmology Association since 2010. Most recently, he was elected to serve as President of the Texas Ophthalmology Association, only the second El Pasoan since the organization’s inception. Dr. Gallardo has always been passionate about medicine and his community and serves as the foundation for the desire to bring the latest technology to the region. A rarity for our region, Dr. Gallardo has been able to introduce and provide new procedures to El Paso before other areas of the state and country. Because of his body of work in micro-invasive glaucoma surgery, our city is routinely chosen as one of the first communities in the nation to offer and use the newest and most technologic advanced micro-invasive glaucoma devices. He has striven to and successfully placed El Paso on the “map” of nationally recognized regions for ophthalmic and glaucoma care.
What to Expect
Our faculty is committed to ensuring our fellows and future colleagues are fully trained in all realms of glaucoma management. We are cognizant of a student’s need to learn beyond the confines of the clinical walls and as such, will have ample time for independent study, which will assist in board preparation. Fellows will be highly involved in the surgical case volume and are typically in the operating room two half days a week and will be primarily surgeon in a vast majority of cases. Our faculty will guide you through your learning curves as you adopt new technology and, like a proud parent, will lead you into independence. You will also be exposed to and use multiple advanced technology intraocular lenses and several complex/reconstructive anterior segment procedures.
How to Apply
This fellowship is approved by the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology’s Fellowship Compliance Committee and participates in the Central Application Service provided by the San Francisco Matching Program. The fellowship application form may be accessed at www.sfmatch.org. It is expected that the glaucoma fellow be eligible for a Texas Medical License and thus must have completed and passed all three parts of the USMLE and be either Board Eligible or Board Certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. No additional application material is required beyond that which is included in the central application service.
