May W. Kong, MD

Growing up, I was fascinated by science and reasoning. Medicine naturally piqued my interest because it incorporates both of these aspects. I chose to pursue a career as a hospitalist because I enjoy taking care of the overall medical management of people who are acutely ill. For me, the most rewarding part of my job is watching my patients improve over the course of their treatment.

My patients range in age from 18 years old to older than 100, but my average patient is between 50 and 90 years old. As a hospitalist, I treat a variety of acute illnesses that require hospital care, including but not limited to diverticulitis, decompensated heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation, sepsis, pyelonephritis, altered mental status, syncope, arrhythmia, and gastrointestinal bleed, among others. As the primary physician for my patients in the hospital, I also coordinate with physicians from other specialties to treat patients who have serious chronic medical conditions.

My philosophy as a physician is to evaluate the patient as a whole person and keep him or her involved in the treatment plan. Based on my experience, I find that educating patients on their medical conditions and the inpatient treatments helps tremendously in decreasing rehospitalizations for the same conditions.