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Ophthalmology at Peking University Third Hospital was founded in 1958 by Professor Li Fengming, a renowned ophthalmologist and ophthalmic pathologist. On this foundation, Peking University Eye Center was established in 2001. The Eye Building has a floor area of 10,000m² and integrates clinical care, teaching and research. It is now a National Key Discipline, Beijing Key Laboratory, National Clinical Pharmacology Trial Institution, Beijing Standardized Residency Training Base and Peking University Health Science Center Standardized Specialist Training Base. Professor Cao Anmin, then a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an internationally renowned ophthalmic pathologist, was the first director. He emphasized talent development and echelon building, established subspecialties in accordance with international ophthalmology practice, recruited leading ophthalmologists nationwide as subspecialty directors, and built the core force of the Center’s rapid development on a platform of independent innovation.

The Ophthalmology Department serves 13 campuses of Peking University Third Hospital, ophthalmology departments of 49 community hospitals, more than 100 medical alliances and 38 research alliances. It ranked twelfth in the 2022 China Ophthalmology Specialty Reputation Ranking. Since 2018 it has consistently ranked among the top five in Beijing’s key-specialty comprehensive evaluation, ranking first in 2023-2024. In 2024 it was selected as a “Research-Oriented Discipline” in the national research-oriented hospital evaluation. It ranked first in Beijing for Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRG).

There are 42 beds, 44 consultation rooms and 15 ophthalmic operating rooms. Annual outpatient volume exceeds 430,000 visits, daily outpatient volume is 1,500 visits, annual operations exceed 30,000, and annual discharges exceed 20,000. The Center has 85 professional physicians, including 24 chief physicians, 20 deputy chief physicians and 19 attending physicians. Subspecialties include cornea and ocular-surface disease, retinal disease, cataract, glaucoma, optometry and refractive surgery, orbital disease and oculoplastic surgery, and strabismus and pediatric ophthalmology, making it one of the most comprehensive ophthalmology centers among general hospitals in China. Its surgical treatment of difficult retinal diseases is recognized by the profession, and it innovatively performs surgery for traumatic choroidal avulsion. It independently developed autologous Bruch’s membrane with retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell transplantation for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the first such case internationally, and received international recognition. Corneal endothelial transplantation technology and volume rank first in China. In 2022 it performed the first “artificial endothelial transplantation” in the Asia-Pacific region for corneal endothelial decompensation. In 2023 it achieved the first successful domestic injection of human corneal endothelial cells for bullous keratopathy. It was an early domestic provider of optic-nerve rehabilitation training for glaucoma patients. Diagnosis and treatment of difficult and severe orbital disease are nationally leading. It pioneered one-day hospitalization and day-surgery models in China and successfully promoted them.

The Department is committed to building specialized medical platforms. It is one of only two qualified eye banks in Beijing. Special-examination, clinical-laboratory, pathology, genetic diagnosis and treatment, and patient-resource platforms support characteristic and precision medicine.

There are 8 doctoral supervisors and 16 master’s supervisors. Since 2001, the Department has trained 12 postdoctoral fellows and more than 200 doctoral and master’s students, and more than 300 visiting physicians.

In the 2023 publication of the 2022 China Hospital Science and Technology Value and 2018-2022 five-year total science and technology value, the Department ranked eighth nationwide in both measures. Its institute has substantial laboratories, including molecular genetics and molecular biology laboratories, with the principal instruments, equipment and technical conditions required for specialty research. During the past five years, 16 national and 19 provincial or ministerial projects were newly approved; ongoing research funding exceeded 33 million yuan. It published 247 SCI papers, including 9 with IF≥10; obtained 59 new patent authorizations and completed 7 patent transfers worth more than 11 million yuan.

The Department serves the people and prevents and treats blindness and poverty. It participated five times in the Health Express program, leaving ophthalmic medical footprints in Guangxi, Qinghai, Gansu, Shanxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Liaoning, Hunan, Xinjiang, Yunnan and Henan, and provided targeted poverty-alleviation assistance in Tibet and old, young, border and impoverished areas including Shaanxi, Shanxi and Ningxia. Its blindness-prevention and treatment work extends to overseas regions of Asia and Africa. Three generations of senior, middle-aged and young staff work together, pursue excellence and strive to become an internationally influential ophthalmology center.

Peking University Eye Center, located in the Peking University Third Hospital Eye Center Building, was first built in October 2001 on the basis of the Hospital’s Ophthalmology Department, established in 1958. With a total construction area of 10,000m2, it integrates ophthalmology clinic, education and scientific research and is one of the National Key Disciplines. Professor Mark Tso from Johns Hopkins University was its first director.

The Center has 9 branches: vitrectomy retina, cataract, ocular trauma & intraocular lens, corneal diseases, glaucoma, optometry, pediatric ophthalmology, medical retinal diseases and oculoplastic surgery, and has recruited many renowned Chinese ophthalmologists. It has 80 beds, more than 1,000 daily outpatient visits and 20,000 operations annually. Patients from other cities increased from 14% in 2001 to 50% in 2015. Six doctoral supervisors and 9 master’s supervisors trained 3 post doctors, 80 doctors, 63 masters and more than 300 advanced-study doctors. It established the Office of Prevention & Treatment of Blindness, National Clinical Pharmacology Laboratory, Peking University Diabetic Eye Disease Center and National Eye Injury Vitrectomy Database, and performed an average of 3,000 cataract surgeries for the Health Express Program. It has a strong reputation in difficult etiological, pathological and genetic diagnosis. Since 2001, more than 100 SCI articles have been published. Ongoing projects include the National Natural Science Fund, Chinese Science and Technology Ministry “973” project, Chinese Education Ministry “211” project, Beijing Natural Science Fund and Chinese Education Ministry Doctoral Program. Equipped with world-advanced ophthalmic facilities and machines, it is one of China’s Top Ten Ophthalmology Departments.