FDA Ophthalmic Devices Research Fellowship

*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.

FDA Office and Location: Two research fellowship opportunities are available immediately with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) located in White Oak, Maryland.

Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Research Participation Programs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are educational training programs designed to provide students and recent graduates, opportunities to participate in project-specific research and developmental at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). The mission of CDRH is to protect and promote public health. CDRH assures that patients and providers have timely and continued access to safe, effective, and high-quality medical devices and safe radiation-emitting products. CDRH provides consumers, patients, caregivers, and providers with understandable and accessible science-based information about products. CDRH facilitates medical device innovation by advancing regulatory science, providing industry with predictable, consistent, transparent, and efficient regulatory pathways, and assuring consumer confidence in devices marketed in the U.S.

Research Project: The FDA's CDRH Ophthalmic Device Program ensures safe and effective innovative ophthalmology devices including diagnostic retinal imagers and therapeutic devices like prostheses, lasers, and intraocular lenses. The program addresses gaps including lack of standard evaluation methods for Adaptive Optics devices, insufficient clinical endpoints for rapid therapeutic response detection, and unclear safety profiles for new materials and treatments. Inconsistent safety and efficacy evaluation due to inadequate testing methods causes increased costs and regulatory delays across diverse ophthalmic applications. Research focuses on developing biomarkers, model eyes, OCT test methods, prosthetic device assessment, nanoshell evaluation, NTIOL implant tools, and new Corneal Cross-Linking methods.

Learning Objectives: This opportunity will provide you with:

• Hands-on training in an optics laboratory, including optical design, optical setup, instrumentation, data collection, and analysis.
• Training on the development of optical models, image acquisition software, image processing algorithms, and deep learning algorithms using Zemax, Python, Matlab, LabVIEW, CUDA, and other programming environments.
• Training on bench-testing for ophthalmic device performance evaluation.
• Human subject investigation, including protocol development and revision, safety and privacy considerations, and collecting data from human subjects.
• Opportunities to present technical results at international conferences.
• Training on how to prepare and write peer-reviewed journal articles.
• General knowledge on FDA regulation of medical products.

Mentor: The mentor(s) for this opportunity are Daniel Hammer (daniel.hammer@fda.hhs.gov), Ilko Ilev (Ilko.Ilev@hda.hhs.gov) and Zhuolin Liu (Zhuolin.liu@fda.hhs.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research, please contact the mentor(s).

Anticipated Appointment Start Date: Spring 2026. Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.

Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of FDA and is contingent on the availability of funds.

Level of Participation: The appointment is full time.

Participant Stipend: The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. 

Citizenship Requirements: This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR), and foreign nationals. Non-U.S. citizen applicants should refer to the Guidelines for Non-U.S. Citizens Details page of the program website for information about the valid immigration statuses that are acceptable for program participation.

This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and FDA. The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Participants do not become employees of FDA, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits.

Completion of a successful background investigation by the Office of Personnel Management is required for an applicant to be on-boarded at FDA.  OPM can complete a background investigation only for individuals, including non-US Citizens, who have resided in the US for a total of three of the past five years.