Match Day 2023-2024 Brings in Highly Motivated, Diverse Class

On the morning of “Match Day” at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Salus University, Brandon Garces ‘23OD was on his way to his rotation site when he glanced at his phone.

“Match Day,” when optometry grad students find out where they’ve matched for their year-long residency, can be exciting and Garces was expecting some news around noon about where he would be spending the next year furthering his education. 

“I saw an email with the subject line ‘You’ve been matched’ and found out that I’d been matched with The Eye Institute (TEI),” said Garces, of PCO’s clinical optometric training facility. “I had confidence in myself to match, I felt I did great during the interview and had great letters of recommendation.”

Garces, who was chosen for TEI’s pediatrics/binocular vision residency, said being chosen confirmed he has been doing things the correct way to this point and it increased his confidence moving forward. Rehabilitation, he said, will have a major influence on his career as he plans to pursue going into private practice with a focus on vision therapy and binocularity.

“Residency will also open doors to potential career paths in academia as well as allow me to improve my skill set with youth and binocularity,” said Garces. “I believe me being a black man in this position will also provide great representation for the youth of Philadelphia that are patients at The Eye Institute, who are predominantly black and people of color.” 

Chad Killen, OD ‘19, Resident ‘20, FAAO, director of on-campus residency programs PCO/Salus, said the residency class of 2023-2024 is comprised of a bright, highly motivated, diverse group of optometrists hailing from six different optometry schools or colleges with various experiences.

“We are so excited for them to come to TEI and learn from one another and our top tier faculty,” said Dr. Killen. “I am sure they'll find caring for our patients a rewarding yet challenging experience and by the end of their residency year will find tremendous growth, both personally and professionally.”

The class of 2023-2024 will begin its residency experiences at TEI starting July 3, 2023. The class includes:

Primary Care/Ocular Disease (6) 

• Victoria Duque-Ferreira ‘23OD - PCO/Salus
• Nia Phillips ‘23OD - PCO/Salus
• Rachel Shackelford - Illinois College of Optometry
• Behrad Garmsiri - SUNY College of Optometry 
• Karan Johal - Western University of Health Sciences College of Optometry
• Sixth resident still to be determined.  

Pediatric/Vision Therapy (2) 

• Brandon Garces ‘23OD - PCO/Salus
• Erica Frost - New England College of Optometry 

Low Vision Rehabilitation (1) 

• Ellen Ren - SUNY 

Cornea/Contact Lens (1) 

• Dariela Cardo ‘23OD - PCO/Salus 

1st Year Neuro-Ophthalmic Disease (1) 

• Heidi Hernandez - University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry 

Continuing 2nd Year Neuro-Ophthalmic Disease (1) 

• Ryan Keenan, OD ’22, Resident ‘23 - PCO/Salus