Chung Professorship established honoring beloved Eye Institute clinician-scientist

Just over four years ago, FEI retina specialist Mina Chung’s life came to a sudden end. Immediately an international community mourned her loss. Cheated of the opportunity to console each other in person because of a pandemic, colleagues, patients, friends, and former students came together virtually. They held online ceremonies, created websites and grieved with each other the best they could. Out of this struggle to be together, a community was born, dedicated to perpetuating Chung’s memory. Through this, an endowed professorship was established in her name. Led by Chung’s retina partner and FEI Chair, David DiLoreto, MD, PhD, and Chung’s husband, Edward Lin, MD, PhD, a campaign was launched. The response was immense.

Recently, DiLoreto had the privilege to announce that the goal has been reached. The inaugural Mina M. Chung Professor of Ophthalmology will be officially installed by university trustees on July 1, 2024. The recipient, Vikas Khetan, MBBS, is a fitting choice. A retina surgeon, ocular geneticist, and an ocular oncologist—he epitomizes Chung’s commitment to expert and compassionate care retinal care and to research.

“I want to share my gratitude with everyone who supported our efforts,” DiLoreto said. Not only was Chung DiLoreto’s retina partner, he was a resident whom Chung supervised while DiLoreto was at USC. The two were dear friends. “Alumni support was overwhelming,” he continued. “So many classes were represented.” This included local, regional, and national alumni who knew Chung and more recent graduates who Chung mentored and supervised as an FEI faculty member and former director of the residency program.

“It is a great honor to be named the first Chung Professor of Ophthalmology,” Khetan said. “I did not know her personally, but I wished I had. I have shared many memories of her with colleagues and from her former patients whom I have the privilege of treating.”

Chung was an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the Flaum Eye Institute and chief of the retina service. She was noted for her surgical skill, compassionate care, dedication to mentorship and passion for unraveling the mysteries of eye diseases, through research.

Chung was a graduate of Yale University School of Medicine. She did her residency in ophthalmology at USC University Hospital in Los Angeles. She then completed a fellowship in vitreo-retinal disease at the University of Iowa Carter School of Medicine. Afterwards, she served as chief resident at Los Angeles County Hospital / University of Southern California from 2000 to 2002, where she focused on training of residents and pediatric retinal care and surgery. She was Vice Chair of Women in Retina and member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Association of Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.

Mina Chung Memorial Page

Zachary Laird | 3/7/2024

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