Ophthalmology

Across the mountains of bygone days and the rivers of years past, the century-long history of Qilu Ophthalmology is also the history of the development of Qilu medicine. In 1906, James Boyd Neal, founder of Qilu Hospital (Chinese name: Nie Huidong), published one of the earliest monographs on ophthalmology in China, the Chinese translation of Oliver’s Ophthalmology (Diagnosis and Treatment in Ophthalmology), making an important contribution to the introduction and development of modern ophthalmology in China. In 1934, Professor Chen Yaozhen, an internationally renowned ophthalmologist and one of the founders of modern ophthalmology in China, returned from the United States and began his teaching career at Qilu University, serving as director of ophthalmology at the Medical School of Qilu University (in 1983, Professors Chen Yaozhen and Mao Wenshu led the establishment of the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou). In the early 1950s, Professor Sun Guiyu, a renowned Chinese ophthalmologist who had studied in the United Kingdom, returned to China and became vice president of the Affiliated Hospital of Shandong Medical College (now Qilu Hospital of Shandong University), while also serving as director of ophthalmology. He established the first Ophthalmology Professional Committee of the Shandong Medical Association and the Shandong Institute of Trachoma Research, served as chief editor of Ocular Refraction, An Introduction to Ocular Refraction, Practical Ocular Refraction, and other works, and contributed to textbooks such as Ophthalmology for higher medical colleges.

Chinese translation of Oliver’s Ophthalmology: Diagnosis and Treatment in Ophthalmology; prescription by Professor Mao Wenshu at West China–Qilu United University

Preparatory manuscript for the Jinan Branch of the Chinese Ophthalmological Society

Over the century of Qilu medicine, a large number of ophthalmology experts renowned both in China and abroad have been trained and emerged. Chen Yaozhen, Sun Guiyu, Zhang Guangbo, Li Huichuan, Li Shuqiu, Wei Meien, Yu Xiujun, Li Jinghai, and Wu Xinyi are outstanding representatives.

From 1991 to 2004, under the leadership of Directors Li Shuqiu and Li Jinghai, the first refractive surgery treatment center in the province and the second in China was established. They also served as chief editors of Myopia Surgical Treatment, published by the People’s Medical Publishing House, leading the standardized development of myopia-correction surgery in China.

In 2004, Professor Wu Xinyi, who had studied at Harvard University for many years, became director of ophthalmology. She introduced a series of new technologies, obtained three national invention patents and eight awards at or above the provincial and ministerial level, and received multiple grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Xu Xiaoyi, deputy director of ophthalmology, served as the first team leader in establishing the Orbital Diseases Group of the Shandong Ophthalmological Society, bringing the comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of orbital diseases to an advanced level in China.

Since Li Jianqiao became director and Cui Yan became deputy director in 2020, the department has leveraged the hospital’s multidisciplinary strengths and formed an eye, nose, and lacrimal-duct collaborative group together with the Department of Otorhinolaryngology. It has also launched a specialized pediatric myopia eye-care clinic and, together with neonatology, obstetrics, the telemedicine center, and other clinical units, applied 5G information technology to establish a neonatal fundus-screening network platform covering more than 40 maternal and child health hospitals throughout the province. Subspecialty development has entered a professionalized path. Qilu Hospital’s Department of Ophthalmology has reached a leading domestic level in the diagnosis and treatment of difficult fundus diseases, complex ocular trauma, minimally invasive refractive and cataract surgery (including multifocal intraocular lenses and toric lenses), corneal transplantation, stem-cell and amniotic-membrane transplantation, lacrimal-duct diseases, pediatric ophthalmology, corneal refractive surgery, complex orbital tumor removal, and difficult and critical eye diseases. It has become one of the larger centers for the diagnosis and treatment of difficult eye diseases in Shandong and the surrounding provinces and cities.

In December 2020, Qilu Ophthalmology was again recognized as a Key Clinical Specialty of Shandong Province. In 2021, it was approved as one of the first batch of National Key Clinical Specialties under the 14th Five-Year Plan, and in the same year the Shandong University Institute of Childhood Myopia and Visual Diseases was approved. At present, Qilu Hospital’s Department of Ophthalmology is the only discipline at Shandong University with a clinical key position in ophthalmology; a specialty cultivated by a key university under the “211 Project”; a priority-development discipline of a “985 Key University”; the Shandong University Institute of Childhood Myopia and Visual Diseases; the Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology of Shandong Province’s Medical and Health System; the lead institution of the Ophthalmic Immunology Group of the Ophthalmology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association; and the chair institution of the Joint Committee on Eye and Systemic Diseases of the Shandong Medical Association.

Outpatient and inpatient ophthalmology visits have increased severalfold. The Laser Myopia Treatment Center has taken on a new appearance, and the Childhood Myopia and Eye Disease Prevention and Control Center (Pediatric Ophthalmology and Optometry Center), covering nearly 600 square meters, has been established and expanded.

The Jinan and Qingdao campuses currently have 80 regular beds, more than 150,000 outpatient and emergency visits annually, and more than 8,000 inpatient surgeries annually. There are 49 physicians, including 24 with senior professional titles and 25 with intermediate or junior titles. The department currently has two national-level talents (dual appointments), one leader of the Immunology Group of the Ophthalmology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, one Shandong provincial medical and health leader, two Qilu health and medical leaders, one chair and one incoming chair of the Joint Committee on Eye and Systemic Diseases of the Shandong Medical Association, three deputy chairs of the Ophthalmology Branch of the Shandong Medical Association, two deputy chairs of the Ophthalmology Professional Committee of the Shandong Medical Doctor Association, and more than ten chairs or deputy chairs of other provincial-level or higher academic societies.

For more than a century, Qilu medicine has taken root in the fertile soil of Qilu culture and cultivated a humanistic temperament and spiritual character of extensive benevolence, benefiting the public, broad learning, and pursuit of truth. It has trained many renowned ophthalmology experts and scholars at home and abroad, including Professor Xie Lixin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Professor Yao Ke, chair of the Ophthalmology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association; and Pang Yi, deputy dean of the Illinois College of Optometry in the United States, all of whom studied here. Many of the outstanding ophthalmology experts trained here have become academic leaders and key academic personnel at numerous Grade III Class A hospitals or specialist hospitals.

At present, Qilu Ophthalmology has received nearly 30 scientific research awards, undertaken 28 provincial- or ministerial-level projects and 16 National Natural Science Foundation of China projects, and obtained more than RMB 10 million in funding for vertical projects. Since the ophthalmology teaching and research department was established in 1953, Qilu Ophthalmology has trained several hundred master’s students and nearly 100 doctoral students. Qilu Hospital’s Department of Ophthalmology is one of the first national ophthalmology resident-training bases and a national clinical pharmacology base. It has received the Qilu Hospital Outstanding Residency Training Base award for many consecutive years, accepted nearly 100 visiting physicians from within and outside the province, and undertaken multiple Phase I–IV clinical drug trials, demonstrating a new pattern of coordinated medical care, education, and research.

Looking back on a century of ophthalmology and looking forward to a new journey, with the strong support of hospital leaders and ophthalmology colleagues inside and outside the province, Qilu Ophthalmology will remember the teachings of its predecessors, carry forward the Qilu spirit, remain true to its original aspiration, fulfill its responsibilities, work diligently, and unite in striving forward. It will contribute the strength of the discipline to the hospital’s strategic goals of building a national medical center, a national regional medical center, a national clinical research center, and “one pilot,” together composing a new chapter in the development of Qilu Ophthalmology.