How my journey with STIs began . . .

I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.  My parents are immigrants from South Korea who had an arranged marriage and ended up actually liking each other.  Being a first-generation Asian kid in the US, the extent of my sex education from my parents was, “don’t have sex before you get married or we will kick you out of the house.” (In case you are wondering, I was already sexually active by the time I received this advice)

My career in sexual health began as a peer educator at the University of California-Berkeley, where I dressed up as a giant condom and performed a live demo with a prophylactic and a banana on the steps of Sproul Hall.  After that there was no looking back: sexual health, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and HIV prevention have been a steady presence in my life ever since. 

After receiving my medical degree from UCLA, I completed residency in Family Medicine at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles.  I then followed my husband to the University of Minnesota-School of Public Health for my master’s degree. I possess a deep love for Minnesota, but two winters there was enough for me.  I settled back in California, where I completed a fellowship in Sexually Transmitted Diseases at the UC San Francisco School of Medicine (UCSF). 

After all this training it was time to get a real job.  I’m now an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UCSF.  I also serve as the Medical Director of the California Prevention Training Center and a Medical Consultant for the Division of STD Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  A few years ago, I decided that my time on this earth would be best spent making people feel better about their sex lives, reducing stigma around STIs, conducting good science and sharing it with the world as best I can.  So I decided to try my hand at writing a book about STIs, Strange Bedfellows, and someone (who is not related to me) thought it was good enough to publish.  Writing a book is similar to pregnancy and childbirth; it’s a hell of a lot harder than it looks, and when it’s over you need a few years to forget how bad it was before you can think of doing it again. 

I live in Berkeley with my husband and two sons.  If I had more time, I would plant vegetables, pickle them, knit and brew bone broth.  I don’t do any of those things.  I do practice yoga, and feebly attempt to meditate from time to time, but most of my waking hours are spent parenting and thinking about syphilis.  

If you’d like me to come and speak to your group about my book or generally about the topic of sex and STIs or sexual health, please contact me here:

My literary agent is Jessica Papin at Dystel, Goderich and Bourret, and she can be reached here.