A well-known ophthalmologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center has died at the age of 51 in a skiing accident.
URMC officials say that Mina Chung, M.D., a retina specialist who helped blind children to see and furthered the study of retinal disease, including macular degeneration, died Feb. 13 after a fall while skiing in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Dolomites, Italy.
Chung was an associate professor of ophthalmology at URMC’s Flaum Eye Institute and a faculty member in the University’s Center for Visual Science.
Chung is described as a key member of Flaum Eye Institute’s pediatric artificial corneal transplant team and a specialist in pediatric retinal surgeries.
“Mina Chung was an exceptionally skilled, caring surgeon who also excelled as a scientist and educator in the field of ophthalmology,” said Mark B. Taubman, president and CEO of the University of Rochester Medical Center. “She was a valued member of our faculty who will be missed by the many patients and colleagues whose lives she touched, not just here in Rochester but around the world.”
David DiLoreto, Chair of Ophthalmology and Director of the Flaum Institute, also praised Chung for her dedication to patients. “Mina was one of the most dedicated and hardworking physicians I have ever known,” DiLoreto said. “Mina did whatever was needed to serve her patients, and she did it with a smile and enthusiasm that was infectious to all of us who had the privilege of working with her.”
Chung's research interests included inherited retinal diseases and genetic factors contributing to age-related macular degeneration. As part of the University’s Advanced Imaging Retinal Alliance (ARIA), she specialized in developing optics technologies to study early cellular changes in macular diseases.
Chung is survived by her husband, Edward P. Lin, an associate professor in the URMC Department of Imaging Sciences who specializes in neuroradiology. At the time of the accident Lin was with his wife in Italy, where she had traveled to attend an ophthalmic research conference. The couple lived in Canandaigua.
Memorial service arrangements will be announced at a later date. In the meantime, dozens of colleagues, former colleagues, and patients have left messages on a memorial website:
