Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
PERSPECTIVE Ten Chairpersons of the Ophthalmology Department at Peking Union Medical College Chi-Chao Chan, MD and Daniel Ardeljan, BS Abstract: With the full academic and financial support of the China Medical Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) was officially inaugurated in 1921. Since then, PUMC has been one of the most prestigious medical schools in China and the only one that is connected to the Chinese Academy of Medical Science. From its founding, there have been 10 chairpersons at the PUMC Department of Ophthalmology. The first 4 chairpersons, Howard, Pillat, Von Sallmann, and Kronfeld, were trained in Vienna and established the program’s Western system. The latter 6 chairpersons, Luo, Hu, Zhang, Li, Zhao, and Dong, who were educated mainly in China, have maintained the program’s excellence and made significant contributions to ophthalmology and medicine in China and the world. Under the strong leadership still in place today, PUMC will continue to provide generations of leaders for academic modern medicine and health care in China. Accordingly, the Department of Ophthalmology, one of the oldest ophthalmology departments in China, will continue making significant contributions to the global realm of eye and vision research and health care. Key Words: Peking Union Medical College, history, Department of Ophthalmology, department chairperson (Asia-Pac J Ophthalmol 2013;2: 3Y8) P eking Union Medical College (PUMC) ranks among the elite medical schools in China (Fig. 1). Directly operated by the Ministry of Health, PUMC is the only school affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Historically, PUMC was founded in 1906 by several American and British Christian associations in collaboration with the Qing dynasty government. However, it was actually funded and built by the Rockefeller Foundation and officially opened on September 15, 1921. BRIEF HISTORY OF PUMC As early as 1908, Mr John D. Rockefeller, Sr, was aware of the need for medical education in Asia. He requested Drs Ernest D. Burton and Thomas C. Chamberlin of the University of Chicago to lead the first commission to visit China, Japan, and India to assess where the Rockefeller Institution should devote its funds. After spending several months in each country, they recommended the establishment of an educational institution for teaching the natural sciences in Peking (Beijing). From the Immunopathology Section, Laboratory of Immunology, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Received for publication April 11, 2012; accepted September 17, 2012. Supported by the NEI Intramural Research Program. Presented at the 25th Annual Meeting of Cogan Ophthalmic Society in March 2012 (part of the article only). The authors have no funding or conflicts of interest to declare. Reprints: Chi-Chao Chan, MD, 10 Center Dr, 10/10N103, NEI/NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892-1857. E-mail: [email protected]. Copyright * 2013 by Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology ISSN: 2162-0989 DOI: 10.1097/APO.0b013e318274c44a Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology & Their recommendation for an institution devoted to the natural sciences as a whole was considered; however, it was proposed by the commission that a specific focus on the branch of medical science be established. Before any action was taken, a second commission was sent to China in 1914. The second commission was lead by Harry Pratt Judson, president of the University of Chicago, and included Dr Francis W. Peabody from Harvard Medical School and Mr Roger S. Greene, then consul general at Hankow and later appointed resident director of the China Medical Board. Their report endorsed medical work be undertaken and outlined a program for aiding medical schools and hospitals. Consequently, the China Medical Board was soon formed as a branch of the Rockefeller Foundation. In the summer of 1915, a third commission was sent. This third and final group was composed of the following: Johns Hopkins University’s first dean of the Medical School (1893Y1898) and then president of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr William H. Welch (1850Y1934); the first director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, Dr Simon Flexner; secretary of the General Education Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, Rev Dr Wallace Buttrick; and the Rockefeller Institute’s Dr Frederick L. Gates. They recommended the establishment of 2 medical schools, one in Peking and one in Shanghai, although the Shanghai plan was later abandoned. The final decision was to build PUMC in Peking and that the China Medical Board would bear the costs for construction and maintenance.1Y3 In 1915 and for $125,000, the Rockefeller Foundation bought a 10-acre property that had belonged to descendants of the Manchu Prince Dodo (Prince Yu in Chinese). This property contained beautiful buildings modeled in a style similar to that of the palace in the Forbidden City. The land included Prince Yu’s luxurious home and garden, which was located on San Tiao Hutung between the Hatamen Ta Chieh and the Wang Fu Ching Ta Chieh near the Forbidden City. After destroying the old buildings in Yu Wang Fu (Prince Yu’s Palace), the Foundation built 16 buildings during the next 7 years. These were modeled in the traditional Chinese style of architecture: curved roofs made of emerald green tiles echoing the yellow-tiled roofs of the palaces in the Forbidden City, eaves decorated in colorful patterns, and entrance courts modeled after the old temples and palaces.2 The Rockefeller FoundationYfinanced institute was part of the protestant missionary effort in China.3,4 The Foundation committed itself to establishing ‘‘a Johns Hopkins for China,’’ where it could train medical leaders for the ‘‘sick man of Asia.’’ By 1921, the full-time faculty at PUMC numbered more than 50, with most professors and physicians hailing from America.5 Together, the internationally recognized caliber of the faculty, the impressive investment of over 8 million US dollars for capital improvements alone, and the prominence of the Rockefeller name created an aura of excitement and promise at PUMC. John D. Rockefeller, Jr, was accompanied by his wife, daughter, George Vincent (president of the Rockefeller Foundation), and Dr William H. Welch [then the first dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health (1916Y1925)] to attend the PUMC dedication ceremony on September 15, 1921. Volume 2, Number 1, January/February 2013 www.apjo.org Copyright © 2013 by Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. 3 Chan and Ardeljan Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology & Volume 2, Number 1, January/February 2013 THE CHAIRPERSONS, DEPARTMENT OF OPHTHALMOLOGY, PUMC There have been 10 chairpersons of the Department of Ophthalmology at PUMC from 1917 to 2012 (Fig. 2). Each chairperson has made contributions not only to the Department and PUMC but has also made impacts on ophthalmology and visual wellbeing/research in China, the United States, Europe, and the world. The First ChairpersonVHarvey J. Howard (1918Y1927) FIGURE 1. Photograph of PUMC. The architecture of PUMC reveals a traditional Chinese style with curved roofs made of emerald green tiles. At the ceremony, Welsh reminded all: ‘‘Our purpose is not to impose something foreign on the Chinese, but to train up a truly Chinese medical professionI. The rapidity with which they accept scientific medicine as their own, and the rapidity with which our importance in the field diminishes and their importance increases, will be the measure of our success.’’5 The PUMC was modeled on the Johns Hopkins Medical School and considered ‘‘The Johns Hopkins of China.’’3,6 Interestingly, little was mentioned about how willing the Chinese were to bring and accept Western medicine. At PUMC, the official language was English, so fluent Chinese interpreters were provided to the foreign faculty who needed translation. Even so, most foreign faculty members could understand and even speak Chinese well by the time they left PUMC. The first chairperson of the Ophthalmology Department at PUMC was Dr Harvey J. Howard (1880Y1956).7 Howard earned his MD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1908 and did his ophthalmic residency at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary from 1909 to 1910. He then went to China and became the head of the Ophthalmology Department at Boji Medical School/Hospital (the first Chinese Western-style hospital and medical school)8 in Canton (Guangzhou) from 1910 to 1913. From 1916 to 1918, Howard was a fellow of the China Medical Board of the Rockefeller Foundation at Harvard University. He became the professor and head of the Department of Ophthalmology in 1918 and held the position until he returned to the United States in 1927. He organized the department into 3 parts: patient care (Fig. 3), education, and research. Howard invited Professor Ernst Fuchs (1851Y1930) of Vienna, the world’s leading ophthalmologist of that era, to teach at PUMC during the period from 1921 to 1922. At that time, Vienna was the center for ophthalmology in the world. Howard himself spent time at the University of Vienna from 1923 to 1924. His connections to Vienna led the way for a great array of Viennese ophthalmologists to visit and teach at PUMC, including Professor Abalbert Fuchs, the son of Ernst Fuchs, and Professor Arnold Pillat, turning PUMC into a second Vienna for FIGURE 2. Photographs of the 10 chairpersons. The 10 chairpersons serve the Department of Ophthalmology from 1918 to present. 4 www.apjo.org * 2013 Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Copyright © 2013 by Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology & Volume 2, Number 1, January/February 2013 Ten Chairs of the Ophthalmology Department at PUMC incidence of trachoma in the country. From 1931 to 1948, Howard continued his campaign against trachoma as medical director for the Missouri Commission for the Blind. In 1950, Howard retired to Florida, where he died in 1956. Interestingly, a year later, in 1957, Professor Fei-Fan Tang (18977Y1958) and Dr Xiao-Lou Zhang (1924Y1990) isolated the causative agent of trachoma, Chlamydia trachomatis, in Beijing. The Second ChairpersonVArnold Pillat (1928Y1930 and 1931Y1933) FIGURE 3. Photograph of Eye Clinic in the 1920s. The ophthalmologists examine patients without any equipment. ophthalmology. The faculty members under Howard included a full professor, Qingmao Li (1884Y1946), who received his MD at University of Pennsylvania 1 year after Howard and Huade Bi (1891Y1966), a 1918 PUMC graduate turned assistant professor. Bi became the founding editor-in-chief of the Chinese Journal of Ophthalmology in 1930 and the president of the Beijing Ophthalmology Society, the first Chinese Ophthalmology Association, in 1932. During his tenure as the head of PUMC, Howard was also the ophthalmologist of the last Chinese Emperor Pu Yi from 1921 to 1925. His most significant contribution to the field of ophthalmology was in devising the critical depth perception test used initially by the army, navy, and Department of Commerce and later adopted worldwide to select pilots. Unfortunately, Howard’s time in China was not without hardship. In the summer of 1925, Howard and his 12-year-old son were captured by the Chinese bandits, Hung Hutze (Red Beard), on their way to visit an old friend in Harbin.9 During the ambush, the Hung Hutze killed Howard’s friend before the chaos settled down. Howard was able to bargain for his life and his son’s, agreeing with the bandits on a $10,000 ransom. While negotiating with the authorities over the ransom, the bandits raced all over the province with Dr Howard to evade capture. Contemporaneous to Howard’s time in captivity was a trachoma epidemic throughout China. Trachoma, a bacterial infection of the eye, infected nearly every home and every class of society in China, including nearly half of the Hung Hutze. Howard lectured them on good hygiene and treated their wounds and ailments with simple remedies and massage therapy. The Hung Hutze then found that Howard was a physician. When the honorary leader of the gang, Jih Pen Tzu, came to him for help complaining of sore eyes with bilateral corneal ulcers secondary to trachoma, Howard asked to live in Tzu’s hut and sleep under his mosquito tent in exchange for continuing treatment. He also pledged to do all in his power to treat Jih in Peking after his release. Jih agreed, and for the next 58 nights, the tiny 3-by-5-ft mosquito tent protected the 2 of them. The soldiers of the Chinese army finally rescued Dr Howard 10 weeks after his capture. In 1926, he published a book titled Ten Weeks with Chinese Bandits,9 which was translated into 7 languages and went through 8 printings. In 1927, Howard was contacted by the Washington University School of Medicine asking him to serve as the first chairperson of the Department of Ophthalmology, and he accepted the position. The university received a major grant for a ‘‘monumental study of trachoma, one of the worst diseases of the eye.’’ In the 1920s, Missouri had the second highest * 2013 Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Dr Arnold Pillat (1891Y1975) was born in Ruschowan, a small village in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied medicine at the German Karl-Ferdinand-Universität in Prague and received his MD in 1918. After graduation, Pillat worked at the Second University Eye Clinic in Vienna under Professor Friedrich Dimmer (1855Y1926), the first person to take satisfactory photographs of the fundus and the successor of Ernst Fuchs. Dimmer and Pillat published the book A Photographic Atlas of the Human Eye, which provided the first photos of the interior of the human eye. In 1928, Pillat accepted a position on the executive committee at the Rockefeller China Medical Board to be the second ophthalmology chairperson at PUMC. Despite a busy clinical schedule, Pillat was an outstanding lecturer and a superb researcher. During that time, he was the first to recognize and publish ocular symptoms and changes related to vitamin A deficiency, xerosis, and keratomalacia in North China.10Y13 He recruited Wenbin Lin (1893Y1969), a Chinese physician who graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1920 and studied ophthalmic pathology in Vienna from 1925 to 1926. Lin established the first ocular pathology laboratory in China at PUMC. Living in China, during which time Pillat was also a guest professor in Mukden, had always been described by Pillat as the most interesting and enjoyable years of his life.7 Pillat left China for Vienna in 1933 when he was appointed the director of Vienna Hospital in Lainz. In 1936, he was appointed as the chairperson of the University Eye Clinic in Graz, and in 1944, Pillat succeeded Professor Josef Meller (1874Y1968), overtaking the leadership of the First University Eye Clinic in Vienna, which he ran until 1963. After his retirement, he continued to receive honors and kept important positions in the Austrian Cancer Society, Viennese Culture Circle, and Austrian-Chinese Sun Yat-sen Society in Vienna [Sun (18667Y1925), the first Chinese provisional president, died at PUMC]. The Third ChairpersonVLudwig J.K. Von Sallmann (1930Y1931) Dr Ludwig von Sallmann (1892Y1975) was another outstanding figure in ophthalmology in the 20th century.14Y16 Born in Vienna, von Sallmann, a contemporary of Pillat, studied medicine at the University of Vienna and had his ophthalmology training at the Second University Eye Clinic under Friedrich Dimmer. In 1930, von Sallmann went to PUMC and served during Pillat’s absence for 1 year. In 1931, he returned to Vienna as the first assistant at the Second University Eye Clinic under Professor Karl Lindner (1883Y1961). In 1938, he became the head of the Eye Department at Empress Elizabeth Hospital. After Austrian annexation by Nazi Germany in 1939, von Sallmann decided to leave and accepted Arnold Knapp’s invitation to be the director of laboratory at the Hermann Knapp Memorial Eye Hospital in New York. A year later, he transferred to Columbia University, where he became a full professor of ophthalmology in 1955. He also held a visiting scientist position at the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, National Institutes of Health. In 1956, he left Columbia University www.apjo.org Copyright © 2013 by Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. 5 Chan and Ardeljan Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology and moved permanently to the National Institutes of Health. For the following 4 years, von Sallmann held the position of the chief of the ophthalmology branch at Neurological Diseases and Blindness, which then transformed into the National Eye Institute. Despite his fame as a scientist who had made tremendous contributions in ophthalmic and vision research, von Sallmann had fond memories of his 1 year at PUMC and maintained active membership in the Yu Wang Fu Association (China Medical Board/PUMC) in New York. The Fourth ChairpersonVPeter C. Kronfeld (1933Y1939) Dr Peter Kronfeld (1899Y1980) was born in Vienna, graduated from the University of Vienna, and completed his ophthalmology training at the First University Eye Clinic there. In 1927, Kronfeld joined the faculty of the University of Chicago and pursued research in glaucoma, lens metabolism, refraction, uveitis, and retinal detachment. In 1933, he became the ophthalmology chairperson at PUMC until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and invaded China, resulting in the occupation of PUMC. During his 6-year tenure, he worked on glaucoma and retinal detachment. In 1938, Kronfeld published the ‘‘Introduction to Ophthalmology,’’ a relatively short but scholarly work stressing pathophysiology of the eye. While he was in Beijing, he helped Dr Rudy Bock (1915Y2006), a refugee from Nazi-occupied Vienna, enroll at PUMC. Dr Bock was one of only 2 nonChinese graduates in the school’s first 60 years of history. Kronfeld felt that his time at PUMC and in China was happy, productive, and memorable.17 After Kronfeld returned to the United States in 1939, he worked first at Northwestern University and then moved to the University of Illinois College of Medicine, where he was promoted to professor of ophthalmology in 1949. From 1959 until his retirement in 1969, Kronfeld was professor and head of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University Illinois College of Medicine, during which time he oversaw the construction and operation of a new Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary. The infirmary was built adjacent to the medical school in 1965, and he was named its founding director. The Fifth ChairpersonVZongxian Luo (1948Y1974) During the Japanese War and the national war between the Chinese Communists and Nationalists, PUMC was closed from 1942 to 1947. Peking Union Medical College, led by the China Medical Board, had tried to reorganize from 1947 to 1951. In 1949, however, Chinese Communists officially seized power of China, and the relationship between PUMC and the China Medical Board officially ended in January 1951. John D. Rockefeller, Jr, said ‘‘it might ultimately be for the best.’’2Y4 Dr Zongxian Luo (1905Y1974) received his MD from PUMC in 1932. As a medical student, Luo greatly admired and respected Pillat and therefore decided to become an ophthalmologist. After school, Luo was trained under Kronfeld. From 1940 to 1941, PUMC sent Luo to visit both Harvard University and the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. In 1947, when PUMC reopened, Luo returned and became the fifth chairperson of the Department of Ophthalmology until his retirement in 1974. In 1950, he recruited Yuanxiu Lao, a neuroophthalmologist who was the first full-time faculty member at PUMC. In 1954, Yuanxiu Lao introduced and conducted the first visual field testing in China. During his chairperson ship at PUMC, he trained many famous Chinese ophthalmologists including Chengfen Zhang and made remarkable contributions to 6 www.apjo.org & Volume 2, Number 1, January/February 2013 the field of retina, particularly in diabetic retinopathy. His textbook Fundus Diseases became a standard teaching textbook for Chinese ophthalmologists through to the present day. Luo was also the vice president of the Chinese Ophthalmology Society.18,19 The Sixth ChairpersonVZheng Hu (1974Y1983) Dr Zheng Hu (1915Y2003) earned his MD from West China Union University Medical School in 1944. He then completed his ophthalmology residency there under Professor Eugene Chan (1899Y1986), who was one of Professor William Wilmer’s fellows at Johns Hopkins from 1929 to 1934.8 Hu came to PUMC in 1951; he started as an assistant professor and later became a full professor before ultimately being promoted to chairperson of the Ophthalmology Department in 1974. He specialized in glaucoma and the prevention of blindness. In 1978, he was one of the 3 Chinese ophthalmologists who represented China at international ophthalmology meetings in the United States for the first time since 1949. He was the editor-in-chief of the Chinese Journal of Ophthalmology and on the board of International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.20 Hu set up several new research laboratories and subspecialties in addition to retina in 1953, visual field in 1954, and glaucoma in 1958. These included biochemistry headed by Winifred Mao (1910Y1988) in 1979, electrophysiology headed by Eugene Chan in 1979, strabismus/pediatric ophthalmology headed by Yuhua Liu (1938-) in 1981, and uveitis headed by Tiensen Hu (1926-) in 1983. The Seventh ChairpersonVChengfen Zhang (1983Y1990) Dr Chengfen Zhang (1925 to present) was the only female chairperson of the Ophthalmology Department. She graduated from Shanghai Medical School in 1951 and received her ophthalmology training at PUMC. Zhang spent 1 year as a visiting fellow at Harvard University from 1980 to 1981, before she became the chairperson of ophthalmology at PUMC in 1983. Her specialty was medical retina.21 She was one of the first ophthalmologists to perform laser photocoagulation therapy in China. In 1993, she was named ‘‘The Distinguished Doctor of PUMC,’’ an honor granted to 24 PUMC physicians for their great contributions in clinical practice by the Chinese Academy of Medicine and PUMC.22 The Eighth ChairpersonVWeiye Li (1990Y1999) Dr Weiye Li (1946 to present) earned his MD degree from Beijing Second Medical College in 1970 and his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984. He completed his ophthalmology training at PUMC and became department chairperson in 1990. While Li was there, his interests were in medical retinal research.23Y25 In 1999, he immigrated to the United States and completed an ophthalmology residency and retinal vitreous diseases fellowship. Currently, Li is the director of Ophthalmic Research and Retina Service in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Drexel University College of Medicine in the United States.26 The Ninth ChairpersonVJialiang Zhao (2002Y2005) Dr. Jialiang Zhao (1944 to present) graduated from PUMC in 1970 and stayed there for his ophthalmology training. He was a visiting fellow in the United States for 4 years: at Doheny Eye Institute from 1989 to 1991 and 1992 to 1993, and at the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, from 1991 to 1992. He specialized in glaucoma and epidemiology.27Y29 * 2013 Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Copyright © 2013 by Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology & Volume 2, Number 1, January/February 2013 While Zhao was the PUMC chairperson, he was also the president of the Chinese Ophthalmology Society (2000Y2007) and the chief editor of the Chinese Journal of Ophthalmology (2001Y2009). He is the current vice president of the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (2011Y2012). Zhao has certainly made significant contributions toward bringing Chinese ophthalmology onto the world stage.30 The 10th ChairpersonVFangtian Dong (1999Y2002 and 2005 to Present) Dr Fangtian Dong (1951 to present) graduated from Shanghai First Medical School in 1977 and went to PUMC for his ophthalmology training. He was a visiting fellow in surgical retina at the Hong Kong Chinese University from 1987 to 1988, at Schepens Eye Research Institute in 1992, and at the Ophthalmology Department of Washington University from 1995 to 1996. Under his leadership at PUMC, each surgeon can now devote 1 full day to operations per week. His special research focus is on stem cell transplantation for retinal diseases.31Y33 Dong emphasizes training and learning in clinical practice. He frequently quotes the Chinese proverb: ‘‘Among every three people, there is always at least one who can teach me something new.’’ Dong firmly believes that a better and brighter future will come for the Department of Ophthalmology at PUMC.34,35 Ten Chairs of the Ophthalmology Department at PUMC in China, will continue making significant contributions to the global realm of eye and vision research and health care. ACKNOWLEDGMENT Drs Meifen Zhang and Fangtian Dong provided valuable information. REFERENCES 1. The Rockefeller Foundation annual report. 1917. The Rockefeller Foundation. 61 Broadway, New York. 2003 The Rockefeller Foundation. 2. Ferguson ME. China Medical Board and Peking Union Medical College: A Chronicle of Fruitful Collaboration, 1914Y1951. New York: China Medical Board of New York, Inc.; 1970. 3. Bullock MB. An American Transplant. The Rockefeller Foundation and Peking Union Medical College, The Center for Chinese Studies, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press; 1980. 4. Haas WJ. China voyager: Gist Gee’s life in Science. 1996. 5. ‘‘The buildings of Peking Union Medical College’’ in addresses and papers, dedication ceremonies and medical conference, Peking Union Medical College (Concord, NH: Rumford Press, 1922), pp. 14Y15; PUMC, Annual Announcement, 1921, pp. 1Y15. 6. News. ‘‘The Rockefelloer Foundation in China’’ Chin Med J. 1916;30:45. SUMMARY The PUMC campus, first envisioned at the turn of the 20th century, still pursues its founding mission. Intended to be a central hub for the medical sciences in Asia, ‘‘the Johns Hopkins of China’’ has come a long way since the last cornerstone was laid in 1917. Some could argue that PUMC was destined to be great because of the hefty investments put forth by the Rockefeller Foundation, and this is certainly true. Alongside this investment, however, have been the medical leaders and innovators who solidified the school’s reputation over the last 95 years. Peking Union Medical College was founded to realize the practice of Western medicine in Eastern Asia, with the goal of taking leadership toward improving health care and medical knowledge in that part of the world. The focus of this article has been on the PUMC Ophthalmology Department, which has served as an important stepping stone for some of the most influential ophthalmologists of the 20th century. At its inception, PUMC was very much a second Vienna: the professors (many of whom hailed from Vienna), the administrators, and even the funding sources all brought with them the Western ideas of health care and medical science. Despite the less-than-ideal transfer of leadership due to wars in the 1940s, PUMC has nonetheless maintained its original focus on advancing knowledge and furthering the medical sciences. The Ophthalmology Department of PUMC, under the leadership of its 10 chairpersons, has enabled many important developments in the ophthalmology field, from working through the ocular manifestations of vitamin A deficiency to serving as the place where Western-trained Chinese ophthalmologists could bring new techniques to China. It was the sixth PUMC chairperson, Dr Zheng Hu, who was the first of 3 Chinese ophthalmologists to reconnect with the Western world in 1978, illustrating the progressive and instrumental role that PUMC has served in the modern day political sphere. There is no doubt that, as the years progress, particularly under the strong leadership still in place today, PUMC will continue to be at the forefront of the Chinese medical world. Accordingly, the Department of Ophthalmology, one of the oldest ophthalmology departments * 2013 Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology 7. Vaughan DG. Peking Union Medical College: a golden age in ophthalmology. Trans Pacific Coast Oto-Ophthalmol Soc. 1981;62:1Y15. 8. Chan CC, Liu MM, Tsai JC. The first Western-style hospital in China. Arch Ophthalmol. 2011;129:791Y797. 9. Howard HJ. Ten Weeks With Chinese Bandits. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company; 1926. 10. Pillat A. The main symptoms of the eye in vitamin A deficiency in adults. Nat Med J China. 1929;40:614. 11. Pillat A. The general symptoms of keratomalacia of adults. Chin Med J. 1929;43:907. 12. Pillat A. Does keratomalacia exist in adults? Arch Ophthalmol. 1929;2:256. 13. Pillat A. The frequency of deficiency diseases of the eye due to lack of vitamin A in a military camp north of Peiping. Nat Med J China. 1929;40:585. 14. Kaufman HE. Ludwig von Sallmann. Invest Ophthalmol. 1970;9:1Y2. 15. In memoriam. Ludwig J.K. von Sallmann M.D. 1892Y1975. Invest Ophthalmol. 1975;14:881Y882. 16. Kronfeld PC. Ludwig J.K. von Sallmann, M.D. Trans Am Ophthalmol Soc. 1976;74:8Y11. 17. Schwartz B, Haas JS, Alford DA, et al. In memoriam Peter Clemens Kronfeld, M.D. 1899-1980. Surv Ophthalmol. 1980;25:114Y118. 18. http://www.oculist.net/pumcheye/HTML/7943.html. 19. http://baike.baidu.com/view/163187.htm. 20. http://baike.baidu.com/view/318849.htm. 21. Zhang CF, Zhu XH, Dong FT, et al. A clinical study on diabetic retinopathy. Chin Med J (Engl). 1992;105:234Y236. 22. http://baike.baidu.com/view/1161689.html. 23. Li W, Liu X, Yanoff M, et al. Expression of apoptosis regulatory genes by retinal pericytes after rapid glucose reduction. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1998;39:1535. 24. Li W, Yanoff M, He Z. Altered mRNA levels of antioxidant enzymes in pre-apoptotic pericytes from human diabetic retinas. Cell Mol Biol. 1999;45:59. www.apjo.org Copyright © 2013 by Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. 7 Chan and Ardeljan Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology & Volume 2, Number 1, January/February 2013 25. Yu W, Wang X, Zhao C, et al. Biocompatibility of subretinal parylene-based Ti/Pt microelectrode array in rabbit for further artificial vision studies. J Ocul Biol Dis Infor. 2009;2:33Y36. 31. Li W, Yanoff M, Li Y, et al. Artificial senescence of bovine retinal pigment epithelial cells induced by near-ultraviolet in vitro. Mechanism Ageing Develop. 1999;110:137. 26. http://www.drexelmed.edu/Home/AboutOurFaculty/WeiyeLi.aspx. 32. Weihong Y, Lin Z, Rongping D, et al. Macular thickness of Chinese with fourier-domain optical coherence tomography. Acta Ophthalmol. 2011;89:e104Ye105. 27. Zhao J, Mao J, Luo R, et al. Accuracy of noncycloplegic autorefraction in school-age children in China. Optom Vis Sci. 2004;81:49Y55. 28. Zhao JL. The general situation of the development of ophthalmology in recent five years in China. Zhonghua Yan Ke Za Zhi. 2005;41:688Y691. 29. Zhao JL. The progress in the prevention of blindness in China. Zhonghua Yan Ke Za Zhi. 2005;41:697Y701. 30. http://a-o-int.org/aoi-newsletter-2004.html. 33. Song D, Wang R, Zhong Y, et al. Locally produced insulin-like growth factor-1 by orbital fibroblasts as implicative pathogenic factor rather than systemically circulated IGF-1 for patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2012;250:433Y440. 34. http://baike.baidu.com/view/2599395.html. 35. http://www.pumch.cn/Item/1068.aspx. ‘‘Those who do not weep do not see.’’ - Victor Hugo, Les Misérables 8 www.apjo.org * 2013 Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Copyright © 2013 by Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.