DR. WHO Kellen Choi, DO, MBA & Alex Ng, MD, MBA
by Kathryn Vance
On family vacation.
Before they ever met, before they even dreamed of practicing medicine in the same city, Dr. Kellen Choi and Dr. Alex Ng were quietly being shaped by the people and moments that would one day define their careers – and eventually, their lives together. One grew up navigating the world across continents; the other in a small, tightly knit town. One was inspired by a tearful story in a church pew; the other, by a simple moment of connection with a patient. Though their journeys began worlds apart – literally and figuratively – both were propelled by a desire to serve others, and would ultimately find their way to Charleston, West Virginia, and then to each other.
Dr. Choi grew up transcontinentally. Born in South Korea, her family moved to the U. S. in the‘ 90s for her father to study electrical engineering. After a few years, they returned to South Korea before ultimately settling in Houston, Texas in 1999. Attending four different schools across two countries before high school shaped her into a“ global thinker,” a mindset that still guides her today.
Dr. Ng grew up entirely the opposite. Born and raised all K-12 in a small town outside Charleston, everyone knew everyone in his town. For undergrad, like many he grew up with, he chose to stay close by and attended West Virginia University in Morgantown. He had a close-knit group of friends there who also wanted to go to medical school, and their crew was off to WVU School of Medicine. After finishing there, he still stayed close by for training at Charleston Area Medical Center
34 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE for internal medicine residency. That would turn out to be one of the best decisions he made for his future.
Meanwhile, Dr. Choi did her undergraduate also close to home and attended Texas A & M University, followed by medical school at the University of North Texas. Craving a broader experience outside of Texas, she pursued residency in urology in – you guessed it – Charleston, West Virginia.
To understand the rest of their stories, we must first look back at what inspired them to get into medicine in the first place. Coincidentally enough, each of them can point it back to one individual and one exact moment that changed the course.
For Dr. Choi, she had her sights set originally on global marketing and business. However, one Sunday morning before starting in college, she sat in church and listened to a young man who shared a medical mission trip testimony.
“ He was there, crying, sharing about his trip to Afghanistan where they’ d spent a summer helping war orphans, children who had lost their families, of so many suffering children around the world and how he wanted to help them and be a pediatrician,” she said.“ Something hit me hard, I started crying and, in that moment, I thought,‘ I want to do what he just said!’ I changed my major from business to biomedical science and I fell in love.”
Dr. Ng also wasn’ t sure that he wanted to be a physician at first. While in high school, he volunteered at a hospital helping physical