SreyRam Kuy, MD

SreyRam Kuy, MD was born in Cambodia during a genocide known as the Killing Fields. After escaping from Cambodia, as a young child living in the refugee camps in Thailand she was severely injured during a bombing. Her life was saved by a Red Cross surgeon volunteering in the camp. Today, inspired by that volunteer surgeon, SreyRam is the first female Cambodian refugee to work as a surgeon in the United States. As a surgeon SreyRam takes care of our nation's veterans and works to improve the health of vulnerable populations. Dr. Kuy has been recognized for her work serving the indigent and underserved. She received L’Oréal Paris and Points of Light Foundation’s “Women of Worth” award for her community service, Business Report’s 40 Under 40 Award for her efforts to improve healthcare for low income Medicaid women, the Ford Foundation’s Gerald E. Bruce Community Service Award for her work serving veterans, the American College of Surgeon’s Inspiring Women in Surgery Award, RandomActs.org’s “Caught in the Act” national community service award, and Oregon Health & Sciences School of Medicine Early Career Achievement Award for her efforts to advance healthcare for low income Medicaid women. Outside of surgery, SreyRam is also a writer. She has written for the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Washington Post, The Independent, Salon and the Huffington Post. She is the author of the forthcoming book, "The Heart of a Tiger", the inspiring story of her family’s survival during the Khmer Rouge’s Killing Fields, for which she is seeking a publisher. SreyRam was sponsored to the United States by a Christian Missionary group in the early 1980's. She grew up in Oregon, graduated as Valedictorian from Crescent Valley High School, and attended Oregon State University where she earned dual degrees in Philosophy and Microbiology. She attended medical school at Oregon Health & Sciences University, then finished general surgery residency. She earned her master’s degree at Yale University School of Medicine, and completed an executive health policy training program at Brandeis University. She was also selected as a 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholar. Dr. Kuy’s passions are excellence in healthcare quality, medical education and caring for underserved populations. As a Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholar, she worked for Senator Tom Harkin, writing speeches and policy briefs on women’s health, coverage for breast cancer treatment, Reauthorization of the Older American’s Act, and health care instrument safety. She was appointed by the American Medical Association to serve as a Board Member on the National Board of Medical Examiners, which governs licensing for all US physicians. As a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Yale, Dr. Kuy completed a health policy and health services research fellowship. She has published her research in JAMA Surgery, Surgery, American Journal of Surgery and other publications. Dr. Kuy’s textbook, “Fifty Studies Every Surgeon Should Know”, was published by Oxford University Press. Dr. Kuy served as the first full time female general surgeon at the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center, caring for veterans. She was appointed Assistant Chief of General Surgery and Director of the Center for Innovations in Quality, Outcomes and Patient Safety at the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Surgery at Louisiana State University-Shreveport. Dr. Kuy was subsequently appointed as Chief Medical Officer for Louisiana Medicaid, where she worked to improve quality of care for vulnerable populations and tackled the opioid crisis. Dr. Kuy’s work is guided by a deep faith in Christ and a gratitude for the experiences she’s been blessed with, which have enabled her to make a meaningful contribution to her patients and her profession. Her hope is that the story “The Heart of a Tiger” will inspire readers to have courage and hope in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Read more about The Heart of a Tiger at http://www.TheHeartofaTiger.com. Follow Dr. Kuy on Twitter @SreyRam; connect on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sreyramkuy and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sreyramkuy