Black Hills Regional Eye Institute

Commitment:

Program: 54 weeks, starting the middle of July

Typical Weekly Hours: 40-50, 8AM-5PM M-F with sporadic on call responsibilities. (Residents with special interest in refractive surgery care may have periodic short Saturday morning post operative schedules)

Program Description:

The Black Hills Regional Eye Institute functions as regional ophthalmic tertiary care center for a five-state area. The resident will work with residency trained optometrists who have extensive experience in ocular disease, peri-operative care, dry eye disease, refractive surgery, specialty contact lens fitting and primary care optometry. In addition, the resident will work and coordinate care with experienced on-site ophthalmologist that have been fellowship trained in retina, uveitis, glaucoma, cornea, refractive surgery, and oculoplastics. Peri-operative care will be stressed but the resident will also get extensive hands-on ocular disease management as the Eye Institute functions as a leading area referral center of both ocular emergencies/urgencies and ophthalmic disease consultation. Rapid City, SD is located at the base of the beautiful Black Hills mountains, an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise. The Rapid City metro area includes a population base of just over 200,000 people. Small enough to give small town vibes but large enough to have city like amenities.

Goals:

• Provide exposure to comprehensive ophthalmic surgery including pre and post-operative care. Resident should be capable of comanaging comprehensive surgical procedures at the end of the residency.
• Provide exposure to ocular emergencies and urgencies, including the ability to triage appropriately when patient’s calls during or after clinic hours.
• Develop the resident ability to work with the broader medical community. Whether it be providers referring into BHREI, or providers taking over after ocular signs/symptoms are found to be connected to systemic concerns (ED, Rheumatology, Neurology, IM, Endocrinology)
• Develop the residents’ skills to work efficiently in a busy ocular disease clinic while making sure the resident differential and medical decision making are sound

Curriculum and Requirements for Completion:

Clinical

• The Resident will have a clinic schedule 4 days a week
• A minimum of 1500 exams will be expected and should be easily obtainable
• These exams will include:
  • Post operative Care – Comprehensive ophthalmic specialties
  • Pre-op anterior segment care including refractive surgery.
  • Diabetic Eye Care
  • Medical eyecare with other systemic considerations (drug monitoring ie hydroxychloroquine, uveitis, vasculopathic conditions, etc.)
  • Glaucoma
  • Urgent Eye Care – the resident will see the practices’ patients who need to be seen urgently (same day), with exposure to all ophthalmic urgencies and surgical complications
  • Specialty Dry Eye Clinic
  • Neuro-ophthalmology referrals from general providers
  • Small amount of Pediatric Amblyopia Care
  • Primary Care optometry
• The resident will be required to observe a comprehensive list of ophthalmic surgeries. The resident will be given up to a half day a week to achieve this goal. Although BHREI does not currently have a strabismus surgeon, all attempts will be made for the resident to observe strabismus surgery with an outside provider.
• The resident will need to show competency in all diagnostic and therapeutic clinical procedures
• The resident is required to be on practice call rotation on nights and weekends. (Currently 1 week every 6 weeks)

Scholarly

• The resident will have one half day per week for didactic and scholarly activities. Simple documentation will be required for scholarly activities.
• The resident will be provided a reading list and is encouraged to read journal articles during clinic if the clinic schedule allows.
• BHREI hosts a yearly continuing education meeting for area optometrists. The resident is required to participate and give a short educational presentation.
• The resident is required to attend 1 national meeting as well as 1 local continuing education meeting.
• Complete a case report, research project or poster to the level of quality required by a peer reviewed journal.
• BHREI does have an internship program with the Illinois College of Optometry, although not full time, the resident will have exposure to working with optometry student as applicable.
• Participate and present at BHREI journal club at least quarterly.

Additional Requirements

• Achieve satisfactory or higher ratings on all resident evaluations
• Complete all assigned evaluations of the program and faculty
• Maintain patient and surgery logs
• Meet requirements to obtain SD Optometric Licensure, prior to residency
• The resident shall conduct all tasks ethically and is expected to interact with patients and fellow staff in a professional and congenial manner.
• Any significant deviations from these behaviors are subject to counseling, remediation and ultimately dismissal if resident is unable to change behavior and/or initial behavior is deemed a major violation.

Benefits

• Salary: $54,000 annually
• Health insurance coverage
• Professional Malpractice and Liability
• 10 working days of personal leave
• Clinical is closed in observance of 5 national holidays (New Years, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas)
• Travel/education allowance of $1000
• Time will be allowed for national meeting attendance and job interviews

Application Materials and Procedures

Deadline: February 15, 2026

By February 7th (recommended that materials are sent much sooner), applicants should have the following on file with the residency coordinator:

• Completed application through ORMatch website 
  ORMatch # 42975
• Current curriculum vitae (CV)
• Official optometry school transcripts (from opt school accredited by ACOE)
• NBEO scores
• Letters of recommendation from three faculty closely acquainted with the applicant’s clinical proficiency

Interview Dates: December 2025 – February 2026

Inquiries should be directed to Dr. Ryan Scarborough, Program Supervisor. The program participates in OR Match. When application materials are on file with the program supervisor, the applicant will be contacted regarding an interview. Attempts will be made to provide an interview time that is convenient for the applicant. The residency director will rank the candidates with ORMatch based on credentials presented and a personal interview. Applicants will be evaluated without regard to gender, race, creed, national origin, or non-disqualifying disabilities. Once the match happens the residency director will contact the matched candidate and confirm participation in the program.

This program is a 1st year program and is seeking accreditation by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education of the American Optometric Association, www.theacoe.org. To reach the ACOE directly, you may send an email to accredit@theacoe.org.