A. Our trainees are coming out of medical school with six-figure debt. If we don't pay them for another three to five years [while they're residents, as has been proposed], they're going to be under a huge debt burden, which skews what they want to do with their careers.

Q. What specific problem were you trying to solve with your new computer training program?

A. I've always been struck by the fact that we get the smartest people around in ophthalmology — really talented people. They read about surgery, they watch surgery, they watch videos of surgery, they assist in surgery. When they sit down to do their first cases, they look at the [experienced doctor] and say: '”What do I do?'’

Q. You spent eight years getting funding and developing the program with the help of colleagues, and just completed a study of it. Did it work as well as you'd hoped?

A. We found that residents not only liked it better and would be more likely to use it again, but also learned more from it than they did from standard teaching.

Q. Do you have any concern that online training programs like this will encourage people to shortcut other parts of their training?

A. Ultimately surgery is learned in the operating room. This is not meant to replace operating room teaching by an experienced surgeon. It's a supplement, it's a way to bring people's skills up to a higher level.

Q. Have medical trainees changed since you first started practicing several decades ago?