John Choe, MD, MPH
Being a doctor means being a good teacher
Dr. John Choe completed his undergraduate studies at Brown University in Rhode Island, after which he spent a year teaching high school before attending the New York University School of Medicine and completing his internal medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania.
“The running theme throughout those years was education,” says Choe. “The best part of what I do is to teach and share information with my patients. When I first became interested in becoming a physician, I learned that the word “doctor” comes from the Latin word for teacher. I’ve really tried to take that to heart.”
He came to Seattle in July 2000 for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Clinical Scholars Program. The University of Washington and UW Medical Center were among the small number of institutions participating in this program of intensive training of future medical leaders. Choe also earned his Masters in Public Health from UW during this time and has came to love the Puget Sound region.
In 2002 he participated in a two-year fellowship program with Dr. Scott Ramsey, director of the Cancer Prevention Clinic. During this fellowship—the UW Biobehavioral Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program—Choe worked with cancer prevention researchers from the UW and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. By 2004, Choe had a job at the UW School of Medicine and Harborview Medical Center in the Division of General Internal Medicine.
A great deal of Choe’s time is devoted to research, not just clinical care. His focus is public health, especially among Washington’s immigrant population. He’s hoping to find ways to improve access for immigrants to healthcare in this country.
Part of the improvement he’d like to see is increasing the number of people who get vaccinations for hepatitis B, and who receive regular screenings for cervical and colorectal cancer.
“Prevention in settings outside the hospital with diverse communities and organizations really requires different approaches to health education,” Choe says. The Cancer Prevention Clinic is the first of many small steps to improving public health by making screenings and information for cancer prevention more readily available.
“The CPC is in tune with the whole person, not just one element,” he says. “My experience in public health makes me very mindful of this as well.”
In his spare time, Choe provides diabetes education as a volunteer in small community settings. He also enjoys downhill skiing in the wintertime, and is an occasional amateur photographer.
More information about Dr. John Choe can be found on the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Web site at http://depts.washington.edu/gim/faculty/choe.htm
John Choe, MD, MPH
Dr. Choe is the director of the Cancer Prevention Clinic as well as a primary care provider at Harborview Medical Center.Patient Care Philosophy:
Dr. Choe's focus is public health, especially among Washington’s immigrant population. He’s hoping to find ways to improve access for immigrants to healthcare in this country. Part of the improvement he’d like to see is increasing the number of people who get vaccinations for hepatitis B, and who receive regular screenings for cervical and colorectal cancer.
Title
- Acting Instructor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine
Education And Training:
- New York University School of Medicine
- Internal Medicine Residency, University of Pennsylvania
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Clinical Scholars Program, University of Washington
- University of Washington, Masters Public Health
- Fellowship training, UW Biobehavioral Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program
More Information:
- Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, University of Washington, 2000-2002
- Senior Fellow, Biobehavioral Cancer Prevention and Control
Training Program, University of Washington, 2002-2004