About this episode

Dr. Sandy Chung shares her journey from a challenging childhood to becoming a leader in pediatric mental health and discusses the impact of a tragic case that inspired her work.

Dr. Sandy Chung never planned to become a doctor. She grew up in a trailer park, on Medicaid, the daughter of Chinese immigrants who couldn't get professional jobs in the U.S. despite their advanced degrees. Her mom sold clothes in a factory. Her dad was a waiter before the family eventually opened a Chinese restaurant. And in the fourth grade, standing at a bus stop trying to figure out what to be when she grew up, the mother of one of her friends — who turned out to be an OR nurse — told her: "Sandy, you should become a doctor." That single sentence redirected her entire life. Today, Dr. Sandy Chung is the past President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the founder of the Virginia Mental Health Access Program (VMAP) — now a $15 million state-funded program that has handled over 13,000 consult calls — and the founder of Trusted Care Foundation, a nonprofit she built to match college students to careers across the healthcare ecosystem. In this episode of Inspiring Women, host Laurie McGraw sits down with Dr. Chung to talk about how a single tragic case in 2017 — a 14-year-old patient with bipolar disorder who couldn't access his psychiatrist in time, ran out of his…

People in this episode

Host: Laurie McGraw

Guest: Dr. Sandy Chung

Topics covered

• healthcare
• mental health
• pediatrics
• immigrant experience
• nonprofit work

Keywords

• mental health
• healthcare access
• pediatrics
• nonprofit
• immigrant story

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: American Academy of Pediatrics, Virginia Mental Health Access Program, Trusted Care Foundation

Places: U.S.

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