A photo from their wedding. Fellowship graduation.
therapists, spending most of his time simply talking with patients.
“ I remember one older lady probably in her 80s and we talked for an hour one day. She told me her life story of growing up in a small town like I did and for whatever reason, the story turned around to how she grew up catching fireflies. Then, I told her about when I was younger, there was a hill around my house, and I’ d go and catch fireflies with the other neighborhood kids,” he said.“ It brought a smile to her face just hearing my story and making that connection with her, I really enjoyed it and from that point on I knew wanted to do something medical. I still remember the lady that I talked to one day in high school.”
While Dr. Choi originally thought she’ d pursue pediatrics, following the path of her friend from church, she soon discovered a passion for adult surgical specialties. A rotation in Charleston during medical school introduced her to the city for the first time. There were a few surprises for the city girl,“ I remember seeing a deer in the parking lot of the clinic and thinking‘ What was that doing there?!’” But ultimately, she loved the city and the program, so she was happy to later match there. Dr. Ng chose internal medicine for his residency, knowing he would likely go on to do a fellowship later.
While they were born the same year, he is a“ smart cookie”( her words), and he went to college a year early. She remembers him being her senior during one of her rotations in first year and how he was such a kind, respectful teacher and leader. Their relationship remained professional at first, but the following year they began spending more
time together and eventually started dating.
“ It was so nice to have someone on the same track, with the same sense of humor, with so much in common. But then just a couple months into our relationship, he decided to do a three-year critical care fellowship. It was kind of interesting and challenging, but we were at the age and point in our lives that we knew, since we met the right person, we were going to make it work.”
When Dr. Ng submitted his rank list, staying close to Dr. Choi was a priority. To their great joy, he matched in Louisville, just a three-hour drive from Charleston.“ Thankfully, he matched in driving distance, because three years is a long time!” Dr. Choi said, laughing.
They got engaged during his first year of fellowship and her third year of residency. They got married five months later and spent the next two years married long distance.
“ On Friday evenings, we never knew who would get finished first because I was a surgical specialty, and he was a fellow taking care of sick patients,” she said.“ We would both pack our suitcases and put it in the trunk and whoever got done first would drive to the other. He ended up doing most of the driving, but we did our best to see each other almost every week.”
In 2016, after finishing fellowship and residency, Dr. Choi pursued further training in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery in Minnesota at Metro Urology Center Continence Care. When it came
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