#5 A Brief Autobiography of the Best Surgeon I Know

I was born in 1968 in Seoul, South Korea, as the second and final child in my family.  My older brother was born 18 months earlier.  In Korea, my father worked for an import/export company and my mother was trained as a pharmacist.  My parents decided to move to the United States in 1970, and left my brother and me in Seoul to be cared for by my maternal grandparents.  My brother and I joined my parents in 1972, and we lived in a small apartment in Inglewood, California. 

My parents had a very difficult time when they first moved to the United States.  They worked some odd jobs and then opened two small businesses, a wig shop and a purse wholesale business.  They saved some money and bought a discount clothing retail store around 1974.  This store was amazingly successful, and my family moved to the affluent city of Rancho Palos Verdes in 1975 so my brother and I could attend one the best public school districts in California.

I lived in Rancho Palos Verdes from second grade until I graduated from high school.  I had a very happy childhood.  My parents continued to work hard running their clothing store.  They encouraged my brother and me to play sports, visit friends, and study in school. We were a fairly close-knit family and spent most weekends doing things together.  It was clear when I was growing up that the most important thing in my parents’ lives was the well-being and success of their children.  Both my brother and I were fairly successful in academics and athletics in high school.  I played varsity football and baseball, was the student body treasurer, and graduated academically near the top of my class.  My brother was recruited to the Harvard University football team and left for college in 1985. I was also recruited to the Harvard University football team and followed my brother to Harvard one year later.

My four years at Harvard were not the happiest years of my life.  In retrospect, I feel my upbringing was fairly insulated and it took some time for me to learn to live without my parents and old friends and adjust to a new environment. However by my junior and senior years, I had switched from playing football to playing rugby, made some good friends, and improved my academic record.  I had wanted to go to medical school since high school, and I thus went to UC San Diego Medical School right after college.  My roommate in college also went to UC San Diego Medical School, and we lived in a nice two bedroom condominium next to the La Jolla campus.  Although medical school involved a lot of studying, we had a lot of fun.  I played basketball after class, went out with friends, and took trips with classmates to Mexico and Spain. 

After medical school, I went back to Boston for residency in 1994 at Man’s Greatest Hospital (MGH).  Surgical residency at MGH was an amazing learning experience but was also amazingly brutal.  Except for two years during which I worked in a laboratory, my training involved working 100 hours per week, taking overnight call in the hospital every two or three nights, and being responsible for the care of patients.  In addition to learning how to be a good surgeon, my training at MGH taught me just how far I could push myself in reaching my goals.  I went to New York and did a surgical oncology fellowship at one of the top cancer centers from 2001-2003, and I joined the staff at MGH upon completion of my fellowship. After 9 years at MGH, I moved to cancer center where I did my fellowship and worked there for another 9 years.

I recently celebrated my 27^th wedding anniversary. My spouse is a successful Ph.D. scientist and runs a basic science research laboratory. We have three kids who are still in high school or middle school. My main hobbies are golf and woodworking. I like to read nonfiction and listen to podcasts on personal finance and behavioral economics.