Hyun Hong

Hyun Hong

Pain Management Physician

Introducing

Hyun Hong, MD, is a fellowship-trained pain management anesthesiologist, board-certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology. He was born in Korea and immigrated to Toronto, Canada at the age of 5, and then to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Dr. Hong graduated as a valedictorian at Del City High School, in suburban Oklahoma City. He was an Oklahoma State Regents Scholar, which included a living stipend. It was awarded to top students in the state, designed to keep high academic performers in the state of Oklahoma. He studied mathematics and engineering initially before serendipitously discovering medicine.
After graduating from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center with a Doctor of Medicine degree, he completed an internal medicine internship in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Hong trained in anesthesiology and critical care at the University of Washington in Seattle. It formed the foundations for anesthesiology pain management with broad clinical exposure to neuroscience and physiology. He gained a wide breadth of experience with the extremes of human physiology including heart, lung, and liver transplants, and complex brain surgeries in awake patients. He was and is still fascinated by the incredible range of physiologic disruptions that the human brain and body can undergo and recover -even when the heart and lungs are temporarily suspended with basic life functions being performed through artificial devices during surgery and anesthesia. His residency also included medical and surgical intensive care unit training at Seattle Children’s, and Harborview Medical Centers and at the University of Washington Multidisciplinary Pain Clinic. He worked as an anesthesiologist in private practice for two years before starting a pain management fellowship at Texas Tech Pain Institute in Lubbock, Texas known for pioneering innovative therapies.

His areas of interest include neuromodulation, regenerative biologic therapies, and alternatives to steroid-based injections and procedures. Dr. Hong believes that much of the basis for chronic pain is from inflammation and that treating it medically as well as with lifestyle is critical. His goals for patients who are on medications are conservative medication management including reducing or eliminating opioid dependence, anti-depressants, NSAIDS, nerve medications, and muscle relaxants. His personal health interests are anti-aging advances and exploration of lifestyle and medical ways for elite physical and cognitive performance. He often trials novel gadgets and therapies on himself and his willing physician friends. Please ask him about the latest monkey brain thoughts and please visit our helpful links page to find more beneficial articles. In the past decade, the anti-aging movement has advanced significantly. A well-respected biologist David Sinclair in his book ‘ Lifespan, Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To” suggests that aging is an option. He believes that aging should be treated and that we are learning how to turn back the clock.
He gains medical insights from amazing patient encounters daily and does not infrequently see results that are quite remarkable and applicable to other patients with similar conditions.

Dr. Hong is a proponent of evidence-based medicine, however, understands that it has its limits. It relies on the review of randomized controlled trials and observational studies. Average findings from studies may not apply to real-life patients who don’t fit the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Additionally, industry and special interest groups are the entities who are financially able to sponsor studies, and often studies that could be done are not.
Dr. Hong has served as a preceptor for nursing and physician assistant and medical students at the University of Washington. He is currently a clinical faculty at Washington State University College of Medicine and affiliate faculty for the Seattle University School of Nursing. He has been an adcom member for the University of Washington School of Medicine Admissions. He gains medical insights from amazing patient encounters daily and does not infrequently see results that are quite remarkable and applicable to other patients with similar conditions.