Growing up in South Korea, a 3-year-old Chung severed both his hands when he reached toward a whirring tractor fan blade. The accident happened on a national holiday and his parents, an army surgeon and nurse, couldn’t locate a specialist to help, so together they reattached their son’s hands in a painstaking procedure. Afterward, Chung’s grandfather, a tae kwon do master, trained him in martial arts for years, gradually bringing his dexterity back to 100 percent and helping make him the surgeon he is today. “It was definitely a strong impetus to go into the world of medicine,” Dr. Chung says. “More than anything else, I thought, ‘I want to be able to help someone in such a dire circumstance.’”

Read Dr. Chung’s cover feature in Colorado Health & Wellness magazine, here!