Retinal Consultants Serving Northern California

Biography

A native of Chicago, Dr. Chang prepared for her future career in retinal surgery by starting piano lessons at the age of 4, and performed a Mozart piano concerto with the University of Houston orchestra at the age of 8. After moving to Seattle, she began her studies at the University of Washington at the age of 14, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a major in piano performance. She then headed east to Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons where she was awarded her medical degree and elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. While at Columbia, she received a full-tuition scholarship to earn her masters degree in biostatistics at the Mailman School of Public Health.

Following internship at the University of Pennsylvania, she became a resident in Ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. There she first met her future colleagues, Drs. Tony Tsai and Robert Equi. She continued at Wilmer for her retina fellowship, where she was the inaugural Mary Hutcheson fellow. She garnered many accolades at Johns Hopkins, among them the prestigious Society of Heed and Michels fellowships.

Dr. Chang has received numerous prizes and grants for her research, and is the author of many journal articles and book chapters. Her scientific work has been published in the most respected journals in our field, including Ophthalmology, Archives of Ophthalmology, and Retina.

When not at the office, Dr. Chang is outnumbered at home by her two young sons, two male miniature dachshunds and her radiologist husband. In addition to tickling the ivories, she enjoys swing dancing, skiing, and baking.

Biography

Dr. Equi was raised in California and attended college at UCLA, graduating Summa Cum Laude. He began his work in ophthalmology while at UCLA, researching treatments for retinal diseases at the famous Jules Stein Eye Institute. He subsequently earned his M.D. at the prestigious University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. He completed his internship at Scripps-Mercy Hospital in San Diego before heading east to the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University to pursue his residency training in ophthalmology. Following residency, he returned to California to be a fellow in vitreo-retinal surgery at the Doheny Retina Institute, part of USC's Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Equi was awarded the inaugural Heed Foundation Clinician-Scientist award in 2002, one of only two ophthalmologists in the country to receive that award. Following his fellowship, he returned to Johns Hopkins to serve as the Assistant Chief of Service of the Wilmer Eye Institute following in the footsteps of his colleagues, Drs. Arun Patel and Joel Pearlman.

Dr. Equi has published papers and written chapters on treatments for infectious diseases of the retina, diabetic eye disease, and macular degeneration. He has been involved in several national clinical trials in the treatment of macular degeneration. He is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and is Board Certified.

Dr. Equi is an avid long distance runner and cyclist, having competed in marathons and triathlons, and he describes himself as a die-hard family man.

Biography

Dr. Patel grew up in Calcutta, India and attended St. Xavier's School. He immigrated to the United States at age 16. He is a summa cum laude graduate from the University of Georgia where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree at age 19. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and received the John W. Nuttycombe Award while at the University of Georgia.

Dr. Patel received his M.D. from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He continued his training at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. He was introduced to California as a Fellow in Corneal Diseases at the Doheny Eye Institute at the University of Southern California, where he received a Heed Fellowship and National Eye Institute's student grant. He returned to the Wilmer Eye Institute to serve as Assistant Chief of Service, where he taught ophthalmology residents and performed complex eye and trauma surgery. Dr. Patel then completed a retinal fellowship with the Retinal Associates of Cleveland. He joined Retinal Consultants and has been in practice here since 1989.

Dr. Patel is a member of the American Society of Retina Specialists and the American Association of Ophthalmology. He received an Honor award from the American Association of Ophthalmology. He is past Program Chairman and President of the ALTA Ophthalmologic Association. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology and is a fellow in the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Dr. Patel has spoken at several national meetings and coauthored papers and book chapters on retinal diseases. He has served as a principal investigator and co-investigator on numerous trials directed at improving retinal care both in the office and in the operating room. These include work that has resulted in significant advances in retinal surgery, diabetic retinal care, and the treatment of macular degeneration.

Dr. Patel has an active retinal practice and has performed thousands of retinal surgeries. He has been recognized as one of the "top doctors" in Sacramento by his colleagues and as a "Top doctor in America". He provides excellent care to patients in his practice and enjoys family life and golf in his free time.

Biography

Dr. Pearlman grew up in Brooklyn, New York and graduated Valedictorian from Cherry Hill East in New Jersey. He is a magna cum laude graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemistry from Harvard University. He received his M.D. degree from Baylor College of Medicine, receiving an award for Outstanding Performance in Clinical Sciences, and graduating Alpha Omega Alpha (top 10% of his class). At Baylor, he also went on to receive his Ph.D. in cell biology, and was awarded the Outstanding Performance in Basic Sciences Award. During his internship, Dr. Pearlman received The Intern of the Year Award.

He completed his Ophthalmology Residency at The Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. He stayed at The Wilmer Institute as a medical and surgical Retinal Fellow for an additional two years. Here, he received a Heed Fellowship, the Knapp Fellowship, and the Ronald G. Michels Fellowship. He was awarded the Special Resident Teaching Award and a Ronald G. Michels Research Grant. Following his Fellowship, Dr. Pearlman served as the Assistant Chief of Service at the Wilmer Eye Institute, where he taught ophthalmology residents and performed complex eye and trauma surgery. He joined the faculty at UC Davis for a year where he enjoyed teaching the residents, and joined Retinal Consultants in 2003.

Dr. Pearlman is a member of the American Society of Retina Specialists, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and the American Medical Association. He has coauthored several papers and book chapters on retinal blood vessel growth factors and on eye trauma. He has served as Program Director of the ALTA Ophthalmologic Society.

Dr. Pearlman enjoys interacting and caring for his patients, has an active family life, and enjoys working on computers.

Biography

Dr. J. Brian Reed graduated from Jesuit High School in Sacramento and stayed in California to earn his baccalaureate from Occidental College in Los Angeles. After a distinguished career in graduate physiology research at the University of Nevada, Reno, he entered the military and earned his diploma in medicine with Alpha Omega Alpha honors from the prestigious Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. After serving as a General Medical Officer in the US Air Force, he performed his ophthalmology residency at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Reed then returned home to the Sacramento valley to complete his fellowship training in vitreoretinal surgery and uveitis at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. He subsequently served as the Chief of the Vitreoretinal and Uveitis Services in the United States Air Force for six years where he distinguished himself as an excellent and compassionate physician.

Dr. Reed has excelled in his field. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles on the subject of inflammatory disorders of the eye in prominent medical journals, among them Ophthalmology, Archives of Ophthalmology, the American Journal of Ophthalmology, and Retina. In addition to delivering lectures and seminars at national meetings, he has also authored several book chapters on ocular surgery. Dr. Reed has earned accolades throughout his career for his research, teaching, and service, including the Surgeon General's Award for Research in Ophthalmology, the Outstanding Educator Award at Wilford Hall Medical Center, and two Meritorius Service Medals.

Dr. Reed joined the Retinal Consultants in 2005 and, when not at work, he enjoys life with his family in and around his home town of Sacramento.

Biography

Dr. Tsai was born in New York City and raised in rural Wisconsin. Since leaving the north woods, he has crisscrossed the country for his education and training, consistently earning recognition along the way for exceptional achievement. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard University as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. As a student at the prestigious School of Medicine at Washington University in Saint Louis, Dr. Tsai's education was fully supported by a merit-based George Wilson Distinguished Student Scholarship. He earned his M.D. and graduated Alpha Omega Alpha with a Merck Manual Award — an award given to three graduates for outstanding academic achievement. He completed his internship at the University of California, San Francisco, before being awarded the Bank of America Giannini Foundation Medical Research Fellowship and the Knights Templar Eye Foundation Pediatric Ophthalmology Research Grant to spend two years in the Ocular Oncology Laboratory at UCSF developing improved methods of genetic testing for patients with retinoblastoma. He then headed east for his residency in ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins, where he first met his future colleagues, Drs. Joel Pearlman, Rob Equi, and Margaret Chang. He then returned to UCSF to complete his clinical fellowship in ocular oncology in 2006-7.

Dr. Tsai has served on the academic faculty at the Wilmer Eye Institute and at UCSF. He has published papers and presented work at national meetings on retinoblastoma, uveal melanoma, and intraocular lymphoma. He is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Medical Association, and the American Society of Retina Specialists. He is board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.

Aside from his passion for providing excellent, compassionate care for his patients, Dr. Tsai enjoys eating good food and he tries to compensate for this by hiking, jogging, and mountain biking. On Sundays in the fall, he shows his Wisconsin roots as a die-hard Green Bay Packers fan.

Biography

Dr. Robert Wendel grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and earned his Bachelors degree from The University of Michigan. He attended The University of Michigan Medical School, and then moved to California. Here, he completed his Ophthalmology Residency at The University of California, Davis Medical Center, distinguishing himself as an outstanding surgeon. Following this, he was a Fellow in Retinal Diseases and Surgery at Barnes Hospital, Washington University, in St. Louis. Upon completion of his retinal training, he returned to Sacramento and joined Retinal Consultants, where he has been in practice since 1985.

Dr.Wendel is a member of the American Society of Retina Specialists, the Western Retina Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and the American Medical Association. He is past Program Director and President of the ALTA California Ophthalmology Association, and has served on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Retina Specialists. He received the Honor Award from the American Society of Retina Specialists in 1997. He is board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.

In collaboration with his partner Neil Kelly, MD, Dr. Wendel pioneered the development of surgery for a previously untreatable condition, the macular hole. Macular hole surgery has now become a highly successful and widely used operation. Dr. Wendel has spoken at many national and international meetings regarding his pioneering work, and he has published several scientific papers and book chapters. In recognition of their major contribution to the retinal field, Drs. Kelly and Wendel were awarded the prestigious Founders Award in 1998. This annual award to recognize excellence in vitreoretinal medicine is awarded by the American Society of Retina Specialists "to individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of vitreoretinal surgery, treatment, research, surgical instrumentation, and patient care".

Dr.Wendel has participated in several clinical trials in the office and operating room. Some of these include the use of heavy liquids, the ganciclovir implant, and silicone oil to improve results in surgery. In the office, he has participated in trials to treat macular degeneration (Miravant and Visudyne), and the use of Vitrase to clear vitreous hemorrhage.

Dr. Wendel continues to provide expert retinal care and he teaches residents at the Sutter and Mercy Health systems. He has been recognized as one of the "top doctors" in Sacramento by his colleagues.