FOstering Careers for Underrepresented Stars (FOCUS) 2025
The Vit-Buckle Society is committed to supporting diversity in the field of surgical retina. As such, VBS is excited to bring back the highly popular FOstering Careers for Underrepresented Stars (FOCUS) Program to increase the pipeline of people from backgrounds that are underrepresented in medicine. This includes medical students or ophthalmology residents interested in a career in surgical retina who identify as Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Southeast Asian (for example Cambodian, Laotian, Vietnamese, Hmong, Filipino) and individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+.
Winners will receive waived registration, a shared hotel room for four nights (3/19-3/22) at the J.W. Marriot in Austin, and reimbursement for up to $500 in travel expenses to attend the 2025 VBS Annual Meeting March 20-22 in Austin, Texas. A full day of program content targeted to FOCUS participants will occur on March 20th, and participants are expected to stay for the duration of the meeting.
To be eligible, applicants must be actively enrolled medical students or ophthalmology residents with verification of status and approval to attend the meeting by their medical school dean or ophthalmology residency program director. Interested applicants must submit a brief CV summarizing their educational background and a no longer than 90 second audio statement
addressing the following questions:
What do you hope to gain from the FOCUS program? What is your vision of diversity, equity and inclusion for the field of retina? How do you identify as underrepresented in medicine?
All audio content must be submitted in English no later than October 28th, 2024.