Dancing with the Eyes

The story of one of America’s foremost laser eye surgeons, Dr. Ming Wang of the Wang Vision 3D Cataract and LASIK Center

Author: Dr. Lili Su, MD, PhD

Editors: Drs. Zhensheng Wang, MD and Alian Xu, MD

This biography tells the true story of Dr. Ming Wang, a Harvard and MIT graduate (MD, magna cum laude) and one of the few laser eye surgeons in the world today who holds a doctorate degree in laser physics.  It shares with you his life and struggles in China and the US, his dedication to the cause of bringing sight to the blind, and the wide range of interests of this Renaissance man in the areas of music, dance, art and philanthropy.

During the ten-year catastrophe, Ming was forced at age 14 to abandon his education, and he faced the devastating fate of being deported to remote parts of the country, condemned to a life of misery like millions of other youth at that time. He fought against it gallantly, played his Chinese violin (er-hu) to try to earn a living as a musician and escape the deportation, secretly studied medicine when all opportunities of learning had been denied to him, and composed songs that were full of longing to go back to school to seek the possibility of a better life. In 1982 he finally had a chance to realize his dream.  He was dropped off at the Washington DC Airport in this vast new country where he knew no one, with $50 and a Chinese-English dictionary in his pocket and a big American dream in his heart. Ming went on to receive a doctorate degree in laser physics from the University of Maryland, completed post-doctoral fellowship at MIT, and graduated magna cum laude and with a first-place graduation thesis from Harvard and MIT.  Dr. Wang received training in ophthalmology from two of the foremost eye institutes in the world, Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia (residency) and Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (cornea fellowship). He was the founding director of the Vanderbilt Laser Sight Center and the world-renowned Wang Vision 3D Cataract and LASIK Center in Nashville, TN, USA.  He has performed over 55,000 LASIK procedures including on over 4,000 doctors. A former member of the US FDA Ophthalmic Device Panel, Dr. Wang published a paper in the journal Nature and received a US patent for his invention of a new biotechnology for restoring sight to the blind. He performed the world’s first femtosecond laser-assisted artificial cornea implantation. Dr. Wang founded a charitable foundation, the Wang Foundation for Sight Restoration, which has attracted patients from over 40 states in the US and 55 countries worldwide. He performs all surgeries for these blind patients free of charge. Because of all of this, Dr. Wang was nominated by NPR as the “Philanthropist of the Year” in 2006.

Dr. Wang’s hobbies include music composition, piano, violin and er-hu playing, writing, ping-pong and ballroom dance. He recently collaborated with the country music legend Ms. Dolly Parton, becoming the first Chinese er-hu artist who produced a major collaboration with an American country music artist. He helped found the Harvard University Ballroom Dance Team which won the US collegiate ballroom dance championships. Currently a reigning World Pro-AM Ballroom Dance Championship finalist in open international 10-dance, he has been teaching ballroom dance for 20 years free of charge. Dr. Wang participates actively in the community and in political activities, and was the founding chairman of the board of the first Chinese language newspaper in the state of Tennessee.

Dr. Ming Wang’s story is one of a family upbringing that emphasized the value of education and learning, as well as courage to endure adversities and hardship, and the belief that life is what one makes of it.  His own life shows that one of the most important attributes in a human being is the curiosity and yearning for knowledge both inside and outside the classroom, and the fundamental belief that to truly live in this world is to have a dream and a vision, to overcome adversities, to be an upright citizen, and to contribute and help where you can in the world. This book is an inspiration to us all.

This book is a collection of 100 photographs of Dr. Wang, from his childhood in China to his adulthood in America. It contains 100,000 words and 20 interviews with the author, Dr. Lili Shu, with thoughts from various family members and friends important in Dr. Wang’s life.  The book will be published in Chinese by Wenhui Publishing House in Shanghai, PR China, and is currently looking for English translation and publishing in the US.

For information:

Ming Wang, MD, PhD.: Wang Vision 3D Cataract and LASIK Center, 1801 West End Ave, Ste 1150, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA, 615-321-8881 (phone), 615-321-8874(fax)
www.wangvisioninstitute.com, www.drmingwang.com, drwang@wangvisioninstitute.com
Lili Shu, MD, PhD (lilishu@yahoo.com)
Zhensheng Wang, MD/Alian Xu, MD (alian_xu@yahoo.com)