Education and Training
Philip Ngai, MD, MBA, MS
Glaucoma & Cataract Specialist in West Covina, CA
Dr. Philip Ngai is a Glaucoma and Cataract surgeon in West Covina, CA. He has endured over 30 years of schooling and training in order to gain the experience to practice ophthalmology with the quality and integrity that was instilled in him.
Read more below about his education and training.
Undergraduate Studies
Dr. Philip Ngai completed his undergraduate studies at UC San Diego, majoring in bioengineering and double-minoring in healthcare social issues and economics.
While at UC San Diego, he ran for office and was elected as a college senator by a college-wide majority vote. He also was an emergency medical technician rescuing and transporting patients in San Diego County.
Graduate STudies
After UC San Diego, Dr. Ngai studied at Georgetown University to earn a Masters degree in Physiology and Biophysics, which strengthened his passion for health sciences and affirmed his desire to practice medicine.
Medical School
Out of thousands of applicants, Dr. Ngai was selected into a competitive combined MD-MBA program in Orange County, CA.
He completed medical school training at the prestigious UC Irvine School of Medicine.
Business School
Dr. Ngai completed his business training at the UC Irvine Paul Merage School of Business where he focused on entrepreneurship, and worked alongside talented leaders in the healthcare industry.
During business school, Dr. Ngai strengthened his skills that would allow him to create a tightly knit organization that could support a successful private practice.
Early on, Dr. Ngai understood that private practices, a dying breed, are arguably the purest and most personal form of practicing medicine. Larger healthcare systems, usually led by non-physician CEOs and administrators, are crippled by bureaucracy, politics, inertia, overhead, and shareholders who do not necessarily have the interests of patients, physicians, and healthcare teams at heart.
MEDICAL INTERNSHIP
After business and medical school, Dr. Ngai performed his internal medicine internship at the UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, CA, where he worked on the general medicine wards. His favorite places to train during his internship were the Intensive Care and Cardiac Care Units.
Ophthalmology Residency
Dr. Ngai finished his internship and was then honored to be selected as one of three residents out of hundreds of applicants to join the competitive ophthalmology residency at the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at UC Irvine.
This rigorous, top-rated California residency program trains eye surgeons with cataract experience that ranks above the 90th percentile in the nation for cataract surgery. The ophthalmology department was chaired by the world-renown leader in cornea and cataract surgery, and inventor of several intraocular surgical instruments, Dr. Roger F. Steinert.
Glaucoma Fellowship
After residency, Dr. Ngai felt compelled to sub-specialize in the surgical and medical treatment of Glaucoma. Dr. Ngai completed his glaucoma training (technically his 28th grade of schooling!) at one of the top glaucoma fellowships in the nation: the world-renowned Hamilton Glaucoma Center, and glaucoma center of excellence at the Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego.
Under the auspices of Dr. Robert N. Weinreb, one of the nation’s leading glaucomatologists and researchers in glaucoma, Dr. Ngai learned the subtle nuances of the medical and surgical management of glaucoma. While there, he gained extensive experience in traditional incisional, laser, and minimally-invasive glaucoma surgery. In fact, during his fellowship training, Dr. Ngai completed more glaucoma-specific surgeries than many eye surgeons complete in their entire careers.
Professional Societies
Dr. Ngai absolutely loves his job as an ophthalmologist and glaucoma specialist.
Even after 28 years of schooling and training, Dr. Ngai understands the importance of lifelong learning.
As a result, he is a member of the American Glaucoma Society, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and the Refractive Surgery Alliance, among others.
