As Chair of the American Academy of Optometry’s Fellowship Engagement Committee, Camille Cohen, OD, FAAO, wants to engage more AAO members toward fellowship. It was a journey she didn’t imagine for herself until her mentors pushed her to try.
She is enthusiastic about the Fellowship Candidate Crash Course (FCCC), now in its third cycle. It’s a six-week, fast-paced program run by a six-member committee: Heather Jones, OD, FAAO; Jessica Hanson, OD, FAAO; Chelsia Park, OD, FAAO; Eric Villoria, OD, FAAO; and Aurora Denial, OD, FAAO, Dipl AAO. The program seeks to prepare optometry students, residents and practicing graduates for FAAO designation. The FCCC combines weekly, live one-hour webinars with hands-on assignments. These help candidates become comfortable with key components of the fellowship process. These include case report selection, research methods, writing, peer review and oral exam preparation. Each participant is matched with a seasoned mentor, for added guidance and support.
Plus, approval of the candidate’s final case report and successful completion of the virtual oral exam earns them 10 of the 50 points required for fellowship. The concept is gaining traction; 70% of the 2024 FCCC participates are current candidates for fellowship.
THE MINDSET SHIFT
Some of the ideas behind the FCCC parallel the holistic test-prep strategies that Dr. Cohen and Janis James, OD, FAAO, developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eyerie Academics is the mentoring program they began to help students develop a mindset shift for board preparation. It offers custom journals, color-coded planners, even a “kidney review” workbook—to help learners map concepts and manage stress. They successfully partnered with VSP, last fall, to host a more intimate workshop and hope to further expand this model in the future.
Some of those same principles—active note-taking, visual organization and mindfulness—now underpin the Crash Course’s mission: to empower future fellows with the confidence and critical-thinking skills they need to succeed.
Those skills were imperative when she was going through her fellowship process. She and Dr. James went through their candidacy at the same time and served as each other’s cheerleaders. She knows how much that level of support means to new candidates. “Watching someone who was terrified of writing a single paragraph turn in a polished, publishable‐quality case report in six weeks is so rewarding.”
Read Dr. Cohen’s story about her journey to earning her FAAO here.
The application period for the Fellowship Candidate Crash Course should reopen for next year’s cohort in the spring.
