Please share with us your background.

I was born in the United States, but my parents are from China. They were graduate students when they arrived, so we relied on welfare to get by. My father commuted 4 hours every day so that my siblings and I could live in an affordable and safe community. Both of my parents exemplified hard work and emphasized the importance of putting family first, which left a deep impact on me.

I grew up in California, but college took me to the East Coast. When I arrived at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, I planned to major in art history. A public health elective changed the whole trajectory of my career: we took a tour through the various Baltimore neighborhoods, and it inspired me to learn more about the fabric of the city. During my time in college, I spearheaded several health initiatives within the community, working closely with Baltimore teens. This led to other collaborative health projects, including a program that I conducted in China during my summer breaks. I obtained my undergraduate degree from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where I was allowed to enroll in graduate-level courses. Afterward, I worked for the National Institutes of Health for a year, which solidified my decision to attend medical school. I realized how much I loved working one-on-one with others on broader health issues.

What drew you to ophthalmology and, specifically, to your field of interest

Growing up, I saw two ophthalmologists, both of whom advised me not to pursue medicine! Thankfully, I often do the exact opposite of what I’m advised, and, in 2012, I ended up at the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California. In my first year as a medical student, I knew I wanted to continue working in Asia, and I was fortunate to find a summer research project in Hong Kong with glaucoma specialist Robert Chang, MD. During the academic year, I sought to engage with the Bay Area community in the same way I had previously integrated into the Baltimore community. I found this engagement by conducting eye screenings for preschoolers.

I took a year off from medical school to obtain a master’s degree in epidemiology from the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, United Kingdom. While there, I completed the Global Eye Health Course at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London, where I learned the basic skills of working in global ophthalmology. I then went to Nepal to complete a medical school rotation and discovered the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in Kathmandu, home of the Himalayan Cataract Project. I worked with glaucoma specialist Suman Thapa, MD, to publish his team’s use of teleophthalmology in regional Nepali community eye centers.

These experiences made it easy for me to choose ophthalmology when selecting a residency specialty. I completed residency at Washington University in St. Louis and then pursued a glaucoma fellowship at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston.

Please describe your current position.

Given my background in public health, I knew I wanted to work in a medical setting that would allow me to practice value-based care. Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest private nonprofit health care organization, was a perfect fit. My patients obtain all their medical care within one medical system, so it is very easy to coordinate with their primary care doctor or other specialists. I operate 1 to 2 days per week and offer bilateral cataract surgery, various MIGS procedures, and traditional filtering procedures. The rest of my 5-day work week is spent in clinic doing everything from administering intravitreal injections for diabetic retinopathy to performing in-office cyclophotocoagulation.

Who are your mentors?

My early inspirations in college and medical school were physicians who lived abroad with their families to practice global ophthalmology. Al Sommer, MD, helped me get my start in global health work in Nepal as a medical student. When I was in the United Kingdom, Andrew Bastawrous, MD, opened my eyes to the tools required for systematic ophthalmic care in low-resource areas. In the future, I hope to live abroad and practice global ophthalmology as well.

I am also forever grateful for my time in residency at Washington University. Across the board, I had stellar mentors in every subspecialty who trusted me with their tough surgical cases. Arsham Sheybani, MD, my residency program director, has significantly influenced my career development as a young ophthalmologist. He is not only a brilliant surgeon and teacher but also incredibly generous with his time. It inspired me to go into the subspecialty of glaucoma.

I am fortunate to have talented mentors from fellowship who are a phone call away. I still reach out to my attendings from Massachusetts Eye and Ear for assistance, whether it be for a challenging case or career guidance. My fellowship program director, Lucy Shen, MD, has offered me guidance in the areas of both work and motherhood.

Colleagues can be mentors, too! The people I speak with most are my cofellows, Catherine Marando, MD; Annie Wu, MD; and Derek Mai, MD. They provide daily encouragement and keep me laughing through the tough moments in glaucoma. I text them more than my husband!

What has been the most memorable experience of your career thus far?

One of my most rewarding experiences is teaching goniotomy to local ophthalmologists in Nepal. I work in a remote location where most patients have to be referred to Kathmandu, 60 miles away, for glaucoma surgery. For many patients, traveling to the city poses logistical challenges and is not feasible. Introducing minimally invasive surgeries like goniotomy to the comprehensive ophthalmologists in the area enables them to treat patients locally.

After years of hard work training to become a surgeon, it was incredibly satisfying to share my skills. One memorable case involved an 80-year-old patient who could not administer her eye drops. After cataract surgery and goniotomy, her IOP dropped from 25 mm Hg to 15 mm Hg, a 40% decrease. It was wonderful to witness their realization of the potential impact of their new skills.

What are some new technological advances that you have found particularly exciting? Which advances in the pipeline are you most enthusiastic or curious about?

Home intraocular monitoring is becoming more patient-friendly both in usability and accessibility. In the future, I believe we will be able to identify different patterns of IOP fluctuation to help characterize subtypes of glaucoma. This will reduce the need for clinic visits and allow patients more autotomy in monitoring their disease. It also serves as an educational tool, helping patients understand the importance of drop compliance or benefits of surgery.

I am also excited by the trend toward earlier glaucoma intervention when the outflow pathway and trabecular meshwork are still intact. This could allow for better long-term control of glaucoma and improve quality of life by reducing patients’ dependence on drops. Interventions that could become more common include drug-eluting stents and implants and laser-adjustable filtering devices.

Looking down the pipeline, precision medicine treatments such as gene therapy have the potential to revolutionize glaucoma care. Currently, our only modifiable risk factor is IOP, but that could change if medications that treat glaucoma at the molecular level become available.

What is the focus of some of your research?

My collaborators in Nepal and I examined the role of teleophthalmology in community eye centers. Now, we are rolling out a study on the role of AI in referral decision-making based on fundus photography alone. This approach could enable large-scale screenings conducted by local nurses and technicians, reducing the time required from ophthalmologists.

What is a typical day in your life? What keeps you busy, fulfilled, and passionate?

As a new mom, I am often up at odd hours overnight, so I wake up at the last possible moment in the mornings to get ready for work. Luckily, my clinic is only a 15-minute walk from my home! I get an hour of protected time at noon, which I use for research or collaboration calls. Once a week, my colleagues and I have a virtual team meeting to discuss tough ophthalmic cases.

Immediately after work, my husband and I take our baby on an evening stroll by the beach. We have dinner, put our child to bed, watch our favorite show of the moment (usually food-related), and then head to bed. The day goes by quickly.

On weekends, we drive to the North Bay to visit my parents for a home-cooked Chinese meal. We like to go on short hikes together or take a dip in the pool. This time with family allows me to clear my mind, so by the time Sunday evening rolls around, I’m fresh for work on Monday!

What advice can you offer to individuals who are just now choosing their career paths after finishing residency or fellowship?

After fellowship, I felt like the world was my oyster: I finally had the special knowledge and skill set to begin my career. However, I also felt burnt out and needed time to recharge. While some of my colleagues dove straight into practice, I took a few months to get married, enjoy time with my husband, and reflect on what I wanted to do with the valuable training I’d gained over the past decade. Medical school and postgraduate training are such ascribed paths, so I felt excited to have the freedom to choose my next adventure.

My advice would be to take time to reflect on what you want the rest of your life to look like. Make a list of what you value most and rank those items from most to least important. What makes the cut? Is it autonomy at work? Financial freedom by a certain age? Pushing to the forefront of your field? Quality time with family? With each task you take on, consider whether it aligns with your values. If it doesn’t, ditch it to leave space for the right opportunities to come along. Try things quickly and only keep the activities that bring more meaning to your life.

Tell us about an innovative procedure you are performing or a new imaging/diagnostic tool that has improved your practice.

In Nepal, we are implementing Cybersight AI (a tool available from Orbis International) to facilitate diabetic retinopathy decision-making. This technology helps reduce decision fatigue for the local ophthalmologists and allows for more widespread screening. I have been impressed with the AI software results and am excited to see such features become standard in clinical ophthalmic care.

At Kaiser Permanente, we utilize teleophthalmology screeners to monitor all patients with diabetes for diabetic retinopathy. At-risk patients automatically receive appointments with ophthalmic technicians for basic eye vitals and fundus photos. Experienced ophthalmologists interpret these results and refer patients to optometry or ophthalmology as needed. This integrated virtual screening model streamlines care, detects more pathology, and reduces unnecessary clinic visits. These preventative cost-saving measures help alleviate an overburdened health care system while maintaining quality care.