Giving Hope
Pediatric Interventional Radiologist Kevin Wong Fixes Bodies from the Inside
Pediatrics, to me, embodied the ideals of medicine that Touro instilled upon me. People remember that hospitals are built for patients, and what can we do to make their experience better? As a pediatric interventional radiologist-- and we end up taking care of some of the sickest kids in the hospital-- I do super minimally invasive procedures that usually involve incisions no greater than about three centimeters. Most of the work is done with needles, and we use imaging to guide ourselves into all different places of the body. We do biopsies and fix things from the inside without having to cut somebody open.
If you have a super sick kid, you don't necessarily want them going to have a big operation when they can just have a little poke hole and IR to fix the problem. It's very low risk. And when you tell a parent, all right, you just got this news that so-and-so has a mass on their kidney, but I'm going to find out what it is, everybody's very happy. Every day is filled with small, gratifying moments.
After graduating, I did my residency at Michigan State University. And then from there, I did my fellowships at Phoenix Children's Hospital. And I'm one of 10 fellows in the entire country in pediatric interventional radiology.
Touro was always on that leading edge of, how can we do this better? That the ideals of medicine are centered around the patient, how can we help that patient. And how can we help them not just with medicine, but how can we help them as a whole person to get better?
Touro is the perfect school, where it's not so big that there's so much hierarchy that you can't make changes, but it's not so small that you won't be able to achieve all your dreams. There's really no limit to what you can get out of Touro.
TouroCOM alumnus Kevin Wong is one of only ten pediatric interventional radiology fellows in the country and is the last person in his graduating class (class of 2012) to complete his training. As a pediatric interventional radiologist, Wong utilizes imaging techniques alongside cutting-edge, minimally invasive procedures to diagnose and treat diseases in children.
“Touro was always on the leading edge of, how can we do this better? This led me to pediatric interventional radiology,” recalled Wong. “In pediatric interventional radiology, we take care of some of the sickest kids in the hospital. We do super minimally invasive procedures that usually involve incisions no greater than three centimeters. Most of the work is done with needles and we use imaging to guide ourselves to all different places in the body. We can fix things from the inside without having to cut someone open.”
Wong, whose mother is a practicing OBGYN, grew up attending rounds with her. While a career in medicine was always in the back of his mind, he initially considered becoming an engineer. This changed during his time as a track and field athlete. “I saw how much hope the staff doctor, a DO, gave the athletes who were suffering from devastating injuries,” recalled Wong.
Though TouroCOM Harlem had only opened its doors the year before, Wong knew it was the correct choice for him.
“Their message and mission were in-line with what I wanted to do,” recalled Wong, a member of TouroCOM’s second graduating class. “They wanted to help the community and teach the ideals of medicine. Medicine should be centered around the patient and making the patient better as a whole: mind, body and spirit.”
While Wong contemplated orthopedics, a relationship with a radiologist during his internship year made him reconsider. “In radiology, it’s always something different,” said Wong, who did his residency in radiology at Michigan State University. “You have to know a little about everything.”
Wong chose to specialize in pediatric interventional radiology because of his love for interacting with his patients and their families. And being able to give hope and help grateful parents doesn’t hurt either. “You are able to provide answers,” said Wong. “There isn’t anything like being able to help parents take care of their children.”
Wong, who finished his second fellowship in pediatric interventional radiology at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, is also committed to moving the field, and medical education, forward. He runs the Instagram feed for the Medical Imaging Department at the hospital, where he shares his cases with residents and fellow doctors. So far, the account has more than 35K followers.
“Touro is the perfect school,” said Wong. “It’s not so big that there’s so much hierarchy that you can’t make changes, but it’s not so small that you won’t be able to achieve all your dreams. There’s really no limit to what can get out of Touro.”
