From Los Angeles to Chicago to Columbia, Mo.—with some stops in Thailand and Israel along the way—ophthalmologist Jeff Wongskhaluang is excited to set down roots in Kansas City, where he is joining Grin Eye Care. Specializing in standard and advanced cataract surgery, secondary lens placement, and advanced corneal surgeries, Dr. Wongskhaluang is one of only a handful of cornea surgeons in the country to perform a new microscopic transplant procedure called Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK). “As technology and techniques progress, we are able to better suit the needs of our patients,” he says.
Dr. Wongskhaluang—who goes by “Dr. Wongs” to his patients and colleagues—grew up in Los Angeles and trained at the Chicago Medical School. It was during an ER rotation at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago that Dr. Wongskhaluang met his wife, Marjie, who grew up in St. Joseph, MO. Dr. Marjie Wongskhaluang, an infectious disease specialist, will be joining Infectious Disease Associates of Kansas City; after a stint in Columbia, MO, where Jeff is still a clinical instructor at the University of Missouri-Columbia and Harry Truman VA Hospital, the couple is excited to be living so close to family again.
Before the Wongskhaluangs settled in the Midwest, however, they embarked on a month-long trip around the world, which included an extended stay in Israel. “One of the most edifying experiences of the trip was visiting old Jerusalem,” Wongskhaluang says. “Seeing history come to life was so surreal. It was my mother-in-law’s life long wish to visit the Holy Land, and she finally got to do it!”
Now it’s on to the next adventure: “I’m glad to call KC my new home,” Dr. Wongskhaluang says. “I really look forward to starting my life and career here.”
