Xiulan Zhang

Professor of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

What is an interesting or little-known fact about you?

When I was five years old, I made up my mind to become a doctor. That year, my father was diagnosed with silicosis and his life was in danger. My brother took me and we walked for two or three hours over mountains and valleys to visit our seriously ill father in the hospital. Just as we walked through the hospital gate, a young doctor in a white coat walked towards us. At that moment, being a doctor became my lifelong pursuit! For decades, I have never regretted it because saving lives and healing the sick is the greatest and most rewarding experience in the world.

Why did you decided to pursue ophthalmology / your subspecialty in the first place?

After graduating from the medical school of Sun Yat-sen University in 1989, I was fortunate enough to enter the prestigious Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center where I studied, grew, and worked for more than 30 years. I treasure this experience and have always been diligent in my studies and hardworking in my job. Despite glaucoma being considered the most difficult, complex, and frustrating specialty – and not being my favorite subject at the time – I have always loved my work and have become a top performer in this field. I believe that the greatest achievements come from challenging oneself.

Who is someone in ophthalmology/your subspecialty that you feel has been particularly influential over the past 10 years?

Robert Weinreb. He has made significant contributions to the understanding of glaucoma, including developing new methods for diagnosing and monitoring the disease. As well as this, he is the founder of the most important glaucoma society, the World Glaucoma Association, which contributes many publications, books, and consensus on glaucoma. He is a great leader and promoter of glaucoma.

What’s been the biggest breakthrough in ophthalmology/your specific field over the last 10 years?

I think it’s the invention and application of OCT devices. OCT provides us with a brand new vision of glaucoma. We not only see deeper with OCT but also more comprehensively. We can evaluate both anterior and posterior structures with OCT and this is so important in diagnosing and treating glaucoma.

Do you have any strong opinions with which the rest of the field tends to disagree?

In the past two years, I led two randomized controlled clinical trials (RCT) about minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) in eight domestic centers. This is the research project that I feel most accomplished about. These two projects are the first international RCTs of MIGS for the treatment of primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) in advanced stages. I firmly believe that our research results will bring innovation to the choice of PACG surgical methods.

What would you like to see change in ophthalmology/your subspecialty over the next 10 years – and why?

I want to see a novel gene therapy for glaucoma. We have so many medications for IOP lowering now, however, the patients need to use the eyedrops everyday. I really hope that we can cure IOP elevation with a single shot of gene therapeutic medication. In addition, I hope to see more applications of artificial intelligence in ophthalmology, including research on multi-task medical text based on AI, joint analysis of imaging data, omics data, and electronic medical record data, as well as AI-based surgical navigation.

Where do you predict ophthalmology/your subspecialty will be 10 years from now?

I think researchers may find a new mechanism for glaucoma, something different from IOP, maybe from the view of neuroscience. The new mechanism would unify the pathogenesis of all types of glaucoma and lead to the invention of new therapies.

Do you have any personal missions for the next 10 years?

From 2014 until now, I have published four high quality books independently. In fact, I enjoy writing so much and would like to continue to write books for doctors, patients, and even write romantic love stories. I also want to publish “Glaucoma Imaging Bank,” my lifelong collection of ophthalmic images. There are so many things to do and cannot be done even in the future 10 years. I will never stop fighting until the end of my life.