Hello everyone, I’m Dr. Chung, and I call myself a holistic physician. I am board certified in Internal Medicine and certified in Functional Medicine by The Institute for Functional Medicine. My journey to becoming a physician started way back when I was a little girl living in South Korea with my family. I grew up attending an international school started by American missionaries. At the tender age of 5, perhaps inspired by the missionaries, I decided I was going to be a doctor so I could help people. Growing up in South Korea, I experienced both conventional western medicine and eastern medicine in the form of Chinese medicine. What I didn’t realize back then was how my exposure to both types of medical practices would profoundly shape how I viewed the human body and its power to heal.

Fast forward many years and a transatlantic move with my family back to my father’s home country (the United States), I attended the University of Virginia for college and medical school (wahoo-wa!). I then went on to Duke University Hospital for my Internal Medicine residency. After residency, I spent another year training as a geriatric fellow at the Washington University in St. Louis, so I could be more equipped in taking care of older patients. After several years of practicing on my own, I quickly realized that I was not doing much more than prescribing medications, increasing the dose, lowering the dose, switching medications… you get the point. Unfortunately, our healthcare system has been rooted in sick care, so my experience as a primary care physician was reduced to sick visits, medication management and referrals to specialists, with a once a year “preventive” annual physical visit. I went into medicine because I wanted to truly help people heal from disease. However, I had not been equipped with the tools to do so in my training, nor did our healthcare system allow for longer, more holistic and personalized patient visits. Fortunately, I discovered functional medicine and lifestyle medicine as I searched for ways to expand my knowledge in preventive and holistic medicine. In my personal and professional journey for holistic health, I also connected with so many like-minded and brilliant colleagues and mentors. I am so proud to be part of a bigger movement to change how healthcare is delivered in the US.

The culmination of my years of training in conventional, functional and lifestyle medicine, as well as my experience as a holistic primary care physician have led me to believe fundamentally that the human body is a beautiful, intricate and complex machine that has the incredible ability to heal itself given the right nutrients and environment. I believe in the power of a food and lifestyle first approach, with careful and judicious use of natural supplements, vitamins, and medications, including hormone replacement therapy, as necessary for healing and maintenance of health.

When I’m not wearing the “doctor hat,” I am also a wife to my wonderful husband, a busy interventional cardiologist, and our three adorable and energetic children. I love to travel, experience new cultures, and learn new languages. I speak Korean fluently and have a high level of fluency in Spanish, and some knowledge in French. My personal goal is to learn to speak French fluently one day!