Stephanie Hsiao-Sang CHU, MD
Taiwan

Dr. Stephanie Hsiao Sang Chu is a full-time physician and assistant professor in the Cornea Division of Ophthalmology Department, National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH). She specializes in specialty lenses, eye banking, ocular infection, and ocular surface reconstruction.

Dr. Chu has been devoted to the establishment of contact lens team in NTUH since 2011. She believes that adequate contact lens fitting greatly benefits the visual performance of ocular surface disease patients. She has been an exchange scholar of contact lens and low vision department, Kellogg Eye Center (KEC), University of Michigan, U.S.A. (2013.05-
2013.07). The learning experiences in KEC greatly enriched her contact lens knowledge and fitting skills. She then received plentiful referrals from local clinics and other subspecialties, and has gained rich experiences in fitting keratoconus, post-surgical and traumatic eyes. At NUTH, the contact lens clinic provides a variety of soft and gas permeable lenses, including aphakic lens and large diameter GP (scleral) lenses. The team also published studies on Pseudomonal contamination on the lenses, lens for myopia control, and mini-scleral lenses for post-radial keratotomy visual correction. Dr. Chu is currently the project director of a new colored lens, pre-marketing, multicentered study, and serves as a board member of Optics
and Refraction Committee, Taiwan Ophthalmology Society.

In addition to her interest in refraction and contact lenses, Dr. Chu has always been passionate in developing ocular surface reconstruction strategies for severe ocular surface disease and limbal stem cell deficiency patients. She has performed novel minor salivary gland transplantation surgeries that uses autologous saliva as a tear substitute to alleviate
ocular dryness and reconstruct the fornix. Dr. Chu was the award winner of the Asia Cornea Society Educational Grant (2018) and has thereby visited Ichikawa General Hospital, Tokyo Dental Collage and Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. The short-term exchange program inspired her to develop corneal epithelial cell therapy. Dr. Chu is currently developing xeno-free cultivated limbal epithelial cell sheet on grants from the Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology.

As a physician scientist who seeks fundamental research training of cell biology, Dr. Chu has received funding from Ministry of Education, Taiwan, for one-year international research fellowship in Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University (2019.12-2021.06). She worked with Prof. Albert Jun and Dr. James Foster for exploring the cross talks of integrated stress response and corneal epithelial wound healing and differentiation. Her work on minor salivary gland transplantation and cell therapy was then honored with Silver Award of overall performance by Academy of Asia-Pacific Professors of Ophthalmology, Academic Development Mentorship Scheme (Class IV, 2021-2022).