Home / Role Models
Li Xiaoxin, director of the ophthalmology department of the Peking University People's Hospital, is regarded as the embodiment of kindness among her patients.
Li Xiaoxin left home for higher education overseas in 1980s, several years after the start of the reforms in 1978, and began her 30-year career. With her superb skills and pioneering spirit, she turned the department into a world famous ophthalmology center.
 |
| Li Xiaoxin [Photos/bjby.bjwmb.gov.cn] |
Li began preventing blindness among premature infants, and the number of premature infants with eye trouble was halved in Beijing.
She devoted herself to screening and treatment of retinopathy of prematurity. Early in the 1990s, the disease was emerging among premature infants, which caught her attention and drove her to figure out the reason. Then she found that the high concentration of oxygen in the incubators left infants with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a condition resulting in blindness.
Li found that ROP can be prevented with early screening and laser treatment. She expanded efforts in further research, laying a solid foundation for a national guidelines on preventing ROP in 2004.
In her colleagues' eyes, the quick-tempered workaholic treats her patients with patience and gentleness. She sticks to her post even when she is sick.
