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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
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Chan and Ardeljan
Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology
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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
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* 2013 Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology
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Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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administrators, and even the funding sources all brought with
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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
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Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology
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25. Yu W, Wang X, Zhao C, et al. Biocompatibility of subretinal
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- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
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