A step across the Pacific: An esteemed Chinese orthopedist has gotten his foot in the door of a new medical specialty-new to China, anyway-by studying podiatry with Lake County`s Dr. Lee Tisa. Professor Wang Zheng-Yi, chief of orthopedics at Ye-Jing Hospital in Bejing, is studying podiatry here because there are no podiatrists in China.
”There are orthopedic doctors but none that specializes in foot and ankle care,” said Tisa, who has offices in Waukegan, Anitoch, Lindenhurst and Burlington, Wis.
Tisa, a board-certified podiatric surgeon, has visited China twice to teach his specialty and plans another visit next year. ”There are a lot of differences in what thet do, in the type of surgical instruments they use. Ours are more sophisticated,” he said.
Wang`s visit to the United States is something out of the ordinary for a Chinese doctor. ”They don`t give many people permission to travel outside of the country, so it`s hard to get surgeons here,” Tisa explained.
Wang has seen Tisa`s patients in the office and also has observed surgical procedures in order to get a complete picture of American podiatric medicine. He spent several weeks in Iowa before coming here and will go on to San Francisco and New York before returning to his homeland.