Laser Cataract Surgery
Born into a Korean family but raised in China during the Cultural Revolution, the young Dr. Shunai Jiang spent her formative years harvesting crops in the open fields and carrying bricks to the masons who ordered her around. Despite her grim circumstances, she was listening instead to her most trusted advisor – her father.“You should have big dreams,” he told her. “You can do anything if you apply yourself.”With her father’s support and against countless educational, political, and social odds, Dr. Jiang applied and was accepted into medical school after having completed only three years of formal education and emerged five years later as a physician at the age of 21. Five years after earning her Ph.D. in Immunotoxicology, Dr. Jiang made her way to the USA so that she could research age-related eye diseases at Emory University via a Glaucoma Fellowship.After following a long path around the globe, Dr. Jiang is finally in practice as a board-certified ophthalmologist. Specializing in glaucoma and cataract surgery, she has experienced the profound difference she makes in people’s lives as an ophthalmologist.
If you were to see her running barefoot in the grass chasing after an unruly beagle named Copper, you might underestimate the impressive accomplishments of Dr. Shunai Jiang. And while entrusting your eyes to her skilled hands, you aren’t likely to guess how hard she once labored with those same hands.
Born into a Korean family but raised in China during the Cultural Revolution, the young Dr. Jiang spent her formative years harvesting crops in the open fields and carrying bricks to the masons who ordered her around. But while Mao Zedong intended for the young girl to fall in with China’s classless society, she was listening instead to a more trusted advisor: her father.
“You should have big dreams,” he told her. “You can do anything if you apply yourself.” It was her father who encouraged her to break from tradition and become the person she wanted to be.
“I always enjoyed my father’s support,” she says. “He didn’t want me to limit my options; he wanted me to purse whatever I wanted to do.”
Finally able to attend classes that offered a traditional education at the age of 13, Dr. Jiang plunged into her studies and exceeded everyone’s expectations. After completing only 3 years of formal education, she applied and was accepted into medical school. She emerged as a physician at the age of 21.
Knowing that cataracts were one of the leading causes of blindness in China, Dr. Jiang wanted to continue her medical education and specialize in ophthalmology.
“I always marveled when I heard stories of people having their vision restored after cataract surgery,” she says. But without the necessary connections that made it possible to enter the most respected field of medicine in China, she was unable to pursue that dream.
Instead, she obtained a master’s degree in immunology and practiced in Beijing for 2 years before deciding to go abroad in pursuit of a Ph.D. in immunotoxicology. She attended the Karolinska Institute, one of world’s most prestigious universities for medical training and research and home of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Five years later, she received a hard-earned Ph.D.
Not yet satisfied with her medical knowledge, Dr. Jiang made her way to the U.S. so she could research age-related eye diseases at Emory University.
“I soon realized that in America opportunities are available to anyone willing to work hard, and I was accustomed to working hard,” she says. “I thought to myself, here I can become an ophthalmologist!” And still, her father was there for her. Dr. Jiang’s parents moved to the U.S. for 4 years to help raise their young grandson while Dr. Jiang studied ophthalmology.
Striving to spend as much time with her son as she could, Dr. Jiang learned to combine work and play. More than once, she brought home a pig’s eye to teach her son how to dissect and identify the structures of the eye, or carried him with her to watch when she was on call at the emergency room.
After following a long career path around the globe, Dr. Jiang is finally in practice as a board-certified ophthalmologist, specializing in cataract and glaucoma surgery.
“As an ophthalmologist, I get to see every day the difference I can make in other people’s lives,” she says. “I love ophthalmology; when I look inside the eye, I see something beautiful.”
Complex Cataract Surgery
Narrow angle, small pupil, weak zonules, and glaucoma
Laser-Assisted Cataract Surgery
Cataract extraction with premium IOL and astigmatism correction
Glaucoma Management and Surgery
Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (iStent, iStent inject, ABiC, Goniotomy by Kahook Dual Knife, GATT, Trab360, and Xen Gel Stent)
Glaucoma laser procedures (laser trabeculoplasty, laser iridotomy, MicroPulse or diode laser cyclophotocoagulation)
Invasive glaucoma surgery (trabeculectomy, EX-PRESS, aqueous shunts)
Fluent in English, Korean, and Chinese.
Licensed to practice medicine in the state of Georgia
Certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology
Research Award, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 2007
Research Award, American Federation for Aging Research, Bethesda, MD, 2001
Individual National Research Service Award, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD, 2000-2003
Scholarship in Vision Research, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD, 2000
Emory University – Glaucoma Fellowship
University of Louisville – Ophthalmology Residency
Karolinska Institute (Sweden) – Ph.D. in Immunotoxicology
Jilin University (China) – M.Sc. in Immunology and M.D.
WellStar
American Academy of Ophthalmology
American Glaucoma Society
CLINICAL RESEARCH
Principle Investigator — Prospective, Randomized Phase 3 Study Comparing Two Models of a Travaprost Intraocular Implant to Timolol Maleate Ophthalmic Solution, USP, 0.5%, 2019
Principle Investigator — Post Approval Study of the CyPass System in Patients with Primary Open Angle Glaucoma Undergoing Cataract Surgery, 2017-2018
PUBLICATIONS
PRESENTATIONS:
Dr. Jiang joined Marietta Eye Clinic in 2009.
Dr. Jiang enjoys spending time with her son and their beagle, Copper.
Cataract surgery is now safer and more effective than ever thanks to many advancements in technology. One of those advancements…
Learn MoreCataracts, which naturally occur with age, cause vision changes and eventually vision loss. Most people will start to develop signs…
Learn MoreWhen cataracts progress enough that they keep you from doing things you need or want to do, your ophthalmologist will…
Learn MoreAn intraocular lens, or IOL, is an artificial lens implanted during cataract surgery. Because cataract is irreversible, the implant is…
Learn MoreA relatively new and amazing prospect in the treatment of glaucoma is minimally invasive glaucoma surgery, sometimes referred to as…
Learn MoreGlaucoma occurs when there is damage to the optic nerve. When fluid in the eye called aqueous humor does not…
Learn MoreBy age 60, most people start to show symptoms of cataracts. The symptoms of cataracts cannot be prevented, but they…
Learn MoreDoes My Vision Have to Worsen as I Age? The short answer is no, you do not have to accept…
Learn More