Juan Ding, OD, PhD

Assistant Professor

Brief Bio

Dr. Ding graduated Summa Cum Laude from The New England College of Optometry in 2017. She achieved the highest score in National Optometry Board Exam among over one thousand candidates in 2016. Prior to a clinical career, Ding received her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Ohio University. She then completed a post-doctoral research fellowship specializing in dry eye disease at Schepens Eye Research Institute/Massachusetts Eye and Ear, before being appointed a faculty position at the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. Her research was rewarded with K99 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Eye Institute, as well as from industry (Pfizer) and professional society such as The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Most recently, she has received grant support from BIRD (Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development) Foundation Award to improve the compliance and quality of the diabetic eye screening.

Dr. Ding started the optometric service at UMass Eye Center in 2017 and serves as the director of optometry service at UMass Eye Center. She successfully established a novel optometric clinic from scratch at Ambulatory Care Center to provide comprehensive eye care to adult and pediatric patients, as a part of her Junior Faculty Development Program Project. The ACC Eye Clinic was a full-time service serving both scheduled and urgent walk-in patients in the Worcester Community from 2018 to 2021 before the department made a strategic decision to close it permanently. She is now serving patients at the Hahnemann location.

In addition, Dr. Ding has established the Contact Lens Service at UMass Eye Center. She is happy to fit patients with regular soft contact lenses, toric lenses, multifocal lenses, as well as specialty gas permeable corneal and scleral lenses for patients who have keratoconus, high astigmatism and other ocular surface diseases.

Clinical Expertise

• Comprehensive eye exams
• Diabetic eye exams
• Contact lens fitting for myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and presbyopia
• Specialty contact lens fitting for keratoconus, high astigmatism and post corneal transplant
• Pediatric eye exams, management of myopia, hyperopia and amblyopia
• Binocular vision dysfunction and vision training
• Low vision exams

Research Interest

• Dry eye disease and Meibomian gland dysfunction
• Corneal wound healing
• Artificial intelligence to screen for diabetic retinopathy

Academic Rank

• Assistant Professor
• University of Massachusetts Medical School
• UMass Memorial Medical Center

Education

• BS. Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
• PhD. Ohio University, Athens, OH
• OD. New England College of Optometry, Boston, MA

Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship

• Dry eye disease. Schepens Eye Research Institute (SERI)/Massachusetts Eye and Ear (MEE), Harvard Medical School

Certification

• National Board of Examiners in Optometry

State Licensure

• Massachusetts

Professional Societies and Affiliations

• The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
• Tear film & ocular surface society (TFOS)
• American optometric association (AOA)
• Massachusetts Society of Optometry (MSO)
• International optometric honor society beta sigma kappa

Awards (selected)

• WILLIAM R. BALDWIN SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD | NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY | 2017
  -Highest cumulative GPA (4.0) in the Advanced Optometric Degree Program                                                                                                                            

• NORMAN E. WALLIS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE | NATIONAL BOARD OF EXAMINERS IN OPTOMETRY | 2016
  -National highest score in NBEO test, part I

• CHARLES ROBERT SOLTES SCHOLARSHIP| NECO | 2016
  -Dedication to the College and to the optometric profession, exemplary record of community service; leadership and compassion

• NECO ALUMNI SCHOLARSHIP | NECO | 2016

• K99 PATHWAY TO INDEPENDENCE AWARD | NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE | 2014-2016
  -Research on dry eye disease

• Pfizer 2014 ASPIRE Young Investigator Research Awards in Endocrinology | 2015-2016
  -Research on corneal wound healing

• ARVO FOUNDATION FOR EYE RESEARCH/VISTAKON DRY EYE FELLOWSHIP AWARD | ARVO | 2011
  -Research on Meibomian gland dysfunction

Languages

• English, Chinese-Mandarin