Dr. Margaret Wong, ophthalmologist at Eye Consultants of Atlanta (eyeconsultants.net), started with piano as a young girl and is now one of five uveitis specialists in Atlanta. Here, she gives us insight into her passion for and success in the field.

Photo by Jacob Allinson

What aspect of your educational path was most important for your professional development? I would attribute a lot of my hand, eye and foot coordination necessary to be an ophthalmologist to playing the piano. The chemical engineering curriculum at Northwestern University forced the development of my problem-solving and time management skills. One of the most important aspects I took away from medical school was to try to imagine myself from my patient’s perspective.

Why did you choose ophthalmology? Ophthalmology is an exciting field. Twenty years ago, most of our severe macular degeneration patients went blind. Today, we are able to save most of these patients’ vision. In my opinion, sight is the most important of our five senses. We are able to significantly improve our patients’ quality of life simply by improving their vision.

As the chair of the ophthalmology department at Piedmont Hospital, what are some aspirations you have for the department as a whole? I would like to maintain state-of-the-art eye care and eye surgery for the Atlanta and metro Atlanta community. We were fortunate enough to upgrade all of our surgical machines and instruments. I would like for Piedmont Hospital to continue having outstanding facilities and technology to care for our community of patients.

How do you balance work and your personal life? In order to keep my sanity, I have to make time for myself. I exercise daily, whether it be at the gym or outdoors. Using my time efficiently helps me end my day as early as possible. Self-care is very important, but knowing when to ask for help and having a solid support system are equally important. I am very lucky to have a husband who understands how busy my work can be. I also credit my partners and my team of administrators and technicians at Eye Consultants of Atlanta.

What do you think sets you apart from other ophthalmologists? I specialize in uveitis, which is the care of inflammatory and infectious eye diseases. There are approximately 200 uveitis specialists in the U.S. Some states do not have any uveitis specialists. I look at patients from a multisystem approach and work with these patients to develop a treatment regimen that not only takes care of their eyes, but the rest of their body as well. I am fluent in Mandarin Chinese, which also sets me apart from most ophthalmologists.