By Anthony Bonaparte, The Suburban
Born in East Los Angeles, California, Richard Kim moved to Seattle, Wash. for high school, finishing in 1995, and then obtained a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Washington. After earning his medical degree from Albany Medical College, Kim remained in Upstate New York where he opened his first sports medicine practice in 2014. His specialty eventually evolved into focusing on diagnosing musculoskeletal problems, usinxg advanced nonsurgical techniques such as stem cell therapy to help patients heal. Today, Kim’s name hangs above the entrance of three private clinics he founded in Gansevoort, Skaneateles, and Plattsburgh, NY, just over an hour from Montreal. The Suburban recently spoke to Kim, the founder and CEO of Richard Kim Medicine. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
The Suburban: What was the plan going for a degree in biochemistry?
Richard Kim: I had a lot of different thoughts, like dental school, or doing straight research.
The Suburban: When did you first think of becoming a doctor, and why?
Kim: During my undergraduate years. I was always keenly interested in science, and I always found myself to be in positions of volunteering in different communities. I volunteered for a cancer research centre, not doing cancer research but helping kids with cancer or kids of parents who had cancer, and I just really enjoyed that time, being in that pivotal role, interacting with these people. That’s probably where I first realized that this combination of science and helping people was a role that I really enjoyed.
The Suburban: How was the idea of medical school reinforced?
Kim: Soon after my undergraduate education, I spent six months with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India. I filled a backpack, showed up at the door and said, ‘Please put me to work. I want to know if I really want to help people for the rest of my life.’ And they did. There was a lot of work. That’s not a wealthy organization. You’re mostly just providing dignity for people who are dying. That was the pivotal moment where everything in my life changed.
The Suburban: How did sports medicine lead to the regenerative therapy practice you have today?
Kim: I developed a liking for the procedural aspect and the mechanics of sports medicine, as well as being around people who were athletic, active, and had this sense and mentality of persevering. Of getting through injuries and going on to either win games or get back to their highest possibility or quality of life. It was very appealing to me. But in starting the sports medicine practice, I kept running into the wall of injections; a lot of cortisone and steroids and there was no great alternative. Surgery was the next obvious option and that jump is incredibly invasive.
The Suburban: What extra qualities do you try to bring to your practice?
Kim: The people in my office are incredibly dedicated and almost excessively work to meet peoples’ needs. And I think you’ll find that’s the way they are in their families. They bring that same level of energy here to the office, and when we do that for our patients, our patients know the difference. The level of care in this office is unlike any other clinic.
The Suburban: What are some of your biggest challenges?
Kim: The challenges never end. When you’re a physician, you can master the field and you can master the science, but each individual who walks through the door brings something you might have never seen before. There’s also challenges as a business owner. How do you grow and not sacrifice quality as you grow? At this point, we are three different offices, three different geographies. How do we juggle it all? How do you expand your services without diminishing the quality of the product on established services that you do have. So, the challenges are vast when it comes to medicine, especially in private practice.
The Suburban: How important is your north-of-the-border clientele?
Kim: Canadian patients are definitely an important part of the practice. Although your health care is different, your back pain is the same. But access to certain services is sometimes limited and difficult to come by. Being able to offer this type of service to Canadians has been a real addition for us and our practice in the Plattsburgh space has done nothing but grow since we started that clinic three years ago.