The Michael G. Harris Cornea and Contact Lens Residency

Kuni Kanai, OD, FAAO

The Optometry Residency Program at the University of California, Berkeley Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science seeks to recruit and admit the best qualified post-graduate optometrists and provide them with advanced clinical education and concentrated clinical experience in specialty areas of optometry. This mentored educational and clinical experience will prepare optometrists for life-long scholarship in patient care, education, and optometric leadership.

This program offers experience in fitting contact lenses for a general population of patients which primarily focuses on those who need special designs such as keratoconic, post-surgical, bitoric, multifocal, aphakic, and prosthetic/cosmetic lenses. Residents will work with a wide array of lens designs, including standard and impression molded sclerals, corneal gas permeable lenses, hybrids, and custom soft lenses.  They can diversify their experience by rotating through Myopia Control Clinic, Dry Eye Clinic, and Refractive Surgery Center. Residents may gain contact lens teaching experience in both didactic and clinical courses and have the opportunity to participate in contact lens research projects if interested. During the year, residents attend contact lens-related conferences, such as the Gas Permeable Lens Institute Residency Meeting and the Global Specialty Lens Symposium.



Funding for this residency was established by Dr. Michael G. Harris in appreciation for the outstanding clinical education he received at Berkeley Optometry, and his desire to train future educators and practitioners.

Residents are scheduled for 5 days/week and most clinics run from approximately 8am-6pm. All residents also participate in the after hours emergency on-call program.

A certificate of completion will be awarded to the resident upon completing all provisions of the program. This includes completion of:

•  The required paper by the resident, and approval of the paper by the Chief Mentor and/or Residency Director


•  All case presentations


• Submission of the residency binder


• Submission of the resident’s patient logs and evaluations


• Favorable recommendation of their Chief Mentor, who may consider some of the following: GPA, patient logs, competency forms, attendance, etc.


• Completion of all charting, including obtaining co-signatures of mentors as required. 

Apply online with the Optometry Residency Match following the guidelines at http://www.natmatch.com/ormatch/ 

Email kunikanai@berkeley.edu with questions about your residency application.

Eligibility Criteria:

• An optometry degree from the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE) accredited school or college of optometry.


• Cumulative GPA 3.00 on a 4.00 scale for optometric education required.


• Passage of NBEO I, II, and TMOD prior to the ORMatch Ranking Submission.

International students are eligible to apply for the program if they are currently at a US school of optometry on a student visa that can be converted to an OPT Visa for their residency year of study.



For clarification regarding your eligibility, please contact the Director of Residencies: kunikanai@berkeley.edu

Interviews: After the application deadline, interview invitations will be sent to successful applicants. From January through March, the Residency Admissions Committee will be organizing and conducting interviews. However, the residency program allows for some flexibility, given the applicant’s schedules.

Non-Discrimination Policies: All applicants will be evaluated without regard to gender, race, color, religion, age, marital status, sexual orientation, or national origin. The Residency Admissions Committee will follow the procedures of the University of California as an equal opportunity employer.

Optometry Residents at UC Berkeley are registered graduate students and may qualify for student loan deferral while registered in the program.