The Department of Ophthalmology of Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology is the key discipline of ophthalmology in Hubei Province, the authorized unit for doctor's degree of ophthalmology in Hubei Province, and the standardized training unit for resident doctors.

The department takes the leading position in the overall medical level of Hubei province. It has 133 beds and more than 10 subspecialties including keratopathy, glaucoma, cataract, orbital disease, eye trauma, vitreoretinopathy, oblique amblyopia, eye plastic, optometry, fundus disease, etc. Each subspecialty is led by a national famous professor. The department has also set up the dry eye center and eye laser center. It has been equipped with a femto second laser machine, intense pulsed light, LipiFlow, and other cutting-edge medical instruments. The annual outpatient visits are nearly 200,000. More than 7,000 patients have been hospitalized and more than 7,000 operations were performed. There are 44 doctors in the department, including 21 professors and associate professors, 2 doctoral supervisors, and 11 master supervisors.

In terms of the teaching work, outstanding achievements have been made in the department. The teaching and research section is responsible for the ophthalmological courses of the undergraduate, eight-year, and international students in Tongji medical college. The department also takes an active part in the educational reform and teaching projects. So far, it has won the only excellent ophthalmology course in Hubei province. And it has successfully applied for more than 20 teaching projects of the Ministry of Health and the university. The doctors in the department have participated in the compilation of many textbooks. The young ophthalmologists have won the first and second prizes in the lecture competitions for young teachers. And it has also set a postdoctoral station. From 2019 to 2020, the department has held the "Forum for New Progress in Ophthalmology" and invited many famous ophthalmologists to give speeches. In 2020, the online forum has attracted more than 188,000 people.

Regarding to the scientific research work, the department has successfully applied nearly 20 (9 in the past 5 years) projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, ranking first in Hubei province. It has also applied for more than 20 provincial and ministerial projects. The department has won 6 provincial and municipal scientific research achievements. It has published nearly 100 SCI papers.

Professor Mingchang Zhang, the director of the department, is a member of the Chinese Academy of Ophthalmology, a member of the national group of keratopathy, and the director of the Hubei Academy of Ophthalmology. He is the first to perform corneal transplantation using the allogeneic labial gland transplantation.