Our Team
Shunai Jiang, M.D., Ph.D.
Ophthalmologist
Member, American Academy of Ophthalmology
Member, American Glaucoma Society
Dr. Jiang's Specialties
About Dr. Jiang
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.”
Education & Training
- 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.
Specialties
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, iSten infinite, Goniotomy, and OMNI)
Glaucoma laser procedures (laser trabeculoplasty, laser iridotomy, MicroPulse or diode laser cyclophotocoagulation)
Fluent in English, Korean, and Chinese.
Organizations
- American Academy of Ophthalmology
- American Glaucoma Society
Qualifications
- Licensed to practice medicine in the state of Georgia
- Certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology
Honors & Awards
- 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
More About Shunai Jiang, M.D., Ph.D.
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
- Hamrah, P.; Alipour, F.; Jiang, S.; Sohn, J.H.; Foulks, G.N. Optimizing evaluation of Lissamine Green parameters for ocular surface staining. Eye (Lond). 2011 Nov; 25(11):1429-34, 2011.
- Jiang, S.; Cai, J.; Jones, D.P.; Sternberg, P. Jr. Plasma soluble Fas Ligand and age-related macular degeneration. US Ophthalmic Review, 2008.
- Jiang, S.; Moriarty-Craige, S.E.; Li, C.; Lynn, M.J.; Cai, J.; Jones, D.P.; Sternberg, P. Jr. Associations of plasma soluble Fas ligand with aging and age-related macular degeneration. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 49(4)1345-9, 2008.
- Jiang, S.; Moriarty-Craige, S. E.; Orr, M.; Cai, J.; Sternberg, P.; Jones, D. P. Oxidant-induced apoptosis in human retinal pigment epithelial cells: Dependence on extracellular redox state. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 46(3):1054-61, 2005.
- Moriarty, S.E.; Shah, J.H.; Lynn, M.; Jiang, S.; Openo, K.; Jones, D.P.; Sternberg, P. Oxidation of glutathione and cysteine in human plasma associated with smoking. Free Radic Biol Med. 2003 Dec 15;35(12):1582-8.
- Jiang, S.; Moriarty, S.E.; Grossniklaus, H.; Nelson, K. C.; Jones, D. P.; Sternberg, P. Jr. Increased oxidant-induced apoptosis in cultured non-dividing human pigment epithelial cells. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci .43(8)2546-2553, 2002.
- Sippy, B.D.; Engelbrecht, N.E.; Hubbard, G.B.; Moriarty, S.E.; Jiang, S.; Aaberg, T.M. Jr.; Aaberg, T.M. Sr.; Grossniklaus, H.E.; Sternberg, P. Jr. Indocyanine green effect on cultured human retinal pigment epithelial cells: implication for macular hole surgery. Am J Ophthalmol. 132(3):433, 2001.
- Jiang, S., Wu, M.-W. H.; Sternberg, P.; Jones, D. P. Fas ligand/Fas mediates apoptosis and oxidant-induced cell death in cultured human retinal pigment epithelial cells. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 41:645-655, 2000.
Presentations
- Jiang, S.; Sidney, S. S.; Premji, S. M.; Chaudhury, R.; Liang, Y.; Jones, D. P.; Grossniklaus, H.E.; Beck, A.D.; Costarides, A. P.; Boatright, J. H. Intraocular Redox Regulation in Mice. ARVO, Fort Lauderdale, April 27 – May 1, 2008.
- Jiang, S.; Mohay, J. Long-term follow up in primary open angle glaucoma: Retrospective analysis of risk factors for progression. Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Fort Lauderdale, April 30 – May 4, 2006.
- Hamrah, P.; Jiang, S.; Sohn, J.H.; Lorenz, D.; Foulks, G. N. Evaluation of ocular surface staining with lissamine green. Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Fort Lauderdale, May 1 – 5, 2005.
- Jiang, S.; Orr, M.; Moriarty, S. E.; Sternberg, P. Jr.; Jones, D. P. Oxidant-induced apoptosis in human retinal pigment epithelial cells: Dependence upon extracellular redox state. Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Fort Lauderdale, April 25 – April 29, 2004.
- Jiang, S.; Orr, M.; Sternberg, P. Jr; Jones, D. P. Fas activation mediates mitochodrial changes in oxidant-induced apoptosis in human retinal pigment epithelial cells. Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Fort Lauderdale, May 3 — 8, 2003.
- Jiang, S.; Moriarty, S. E.; Jones, D.P.; Sternberg, P. Jr. Soluble Fas ligand in human plasma: an increase with aging and age-related macular. Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Fort Lauderdale, May 4 — 10, 2002.
- Jiang, S.; Moriarty, S. E.; Miller, N. E.; Jones, D.P.; Sternberg, P. Jr. Regulation of human retinal pigment epithelial (hRPE) cells growth and cellular glutathione/glutathine disulfide (GSH/GSSG) redox status by changing extracellular cysteine/cystine (Cys/Cyss). Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Fort Lauderdale, April 29 — May 4, 2001.
- Sternberg, P. Jr.; Jiang, S.; Nelson, K. C.; Wu, M.-W.H.; Moriarty, S.E.; Grossniklaus, H.; Jones, D.P. Lipofuscin accumulation potentiates Fas-mediated apoptosis in cultured human retinal pigment epithelial cells. Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Fort Lauderdale, April 30 — May 5, 2000.
- Jiang, S.; Wu, M.-W. H.; Sternberg, P.; Jones, D. P. Fas ligand/Fas mediates apoptosis and oxidant-induced cell death in cultured human retinal pigment epithelial cells. Conference of aging retinal and early degeneration. Boston, November 11 — 13, 1999.
- Jones, D. P.; Jiang, S.; Wu, M.; Sternberg, P. Fas and Fas ligand mediates oxidant-induced apoptosis in cultured human retinal pigment epithelial cells. Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Fort Lauderdale, May 9 — 14, 1999.
Locations
