Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Tiffany Moon.
Dr. Moon, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My parents immigrated to the United States when I was three years old in order to pursue higher education. During that time, I was left in the care of my grandparents and did not see my parents again until almost three years later, when I took my first ever flight to America by myself. My parents were trying to build a better life for our family here and I learned the value of hard work by watching them struggle and go from having very little to living the American Dream.
When I was six years old, I went to a birthday party at an ice rink and fell in love with figure skating- the grace, strength, and beauty of the skaters captured my heart and for the next few months, I begged my mother to sign me up for lessons. Skating was challenging – more challenging than anything I had ever done before, but I loved it. The ice was cold and hard and at any given time, I had bruises in different stages on my bony hips from where I’d fallen repeatedly. I skated in the morning before school, in the afternoon after school, and every weekend. As I advanced, it became more difficult for me to practice and travel for competitions while also keeping up with my schoolwork. I knew that the proverbial fork in the road had presented itself. While figure skating was my first love, I knew that it wasn’t my true calling. The truth was that ever since I could remember, I wanted to become a doctor. Years earlier, my parents had been in a terrible rollover car accident. My dad was not wearing his seatbelt and was thrown from the car and suffered a concussion and multiple fractures. It was through the grace of God and the skill and knowledge of the doctors who helped him that he was able to recover. From that moment on, I knew that one day I wanted to be able to help others like those doctors who saved my father. I will never forget the fear we went through during my father’s surgery and the gratitude I felt for the medical team who helped him survive all those years ago. I’ve come to realize it was this moment that sparked my fascination and intrigue for medical science and the endless possibilities to help others, which continues to drive my passion and purpose today.
I’ve always had a love for math and science, so I found the prerequisite classes for medical school genuinely fascinating. Medical school was one of the most exciting and fun times of my life. Being the nerd that I am, I loved learning about the human body, illnesses, treatments, and how I could dedicate myself to helping others. I met some of my closest friends during medical school and also met my husband during that time. I chose to pursue anesthesiology because I loved being able to intimately care for a human being during one of the most vulnerable times in their lives- while they are having surgery. I was also drawn to the pace of the operating room because things can be intense and you have to be methodical and focused, which appealed to my personality. I did my anesthesia residency at UCSF, a wonderful program that gave me excellent training. I worked hard but also had a ton of fun. San Francisco is one of my absolute favorite cities in the world. Since finishing residency, I’ve been a faculty member at UT Southwestern. Most days, I am in the operating room taking care of patients, doing clinical research, and teaching medical students and residents. My job always keeps me on my toes, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be doing something that I love.
If it had not been for the foresight of my parents to move to America, I may never have had the opportunity to pursue my love for science and medicine. Figure skating all those years taught me so much about courage, perseverance, and getting up when you fall down- both literally and figuratively.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has not been entirely smooth, but I’ve learned so many things while walking (or sometimes running) down this road. When I first came to America, I didn’t speak any English so every day, I would go to ESL (English as a Second Language) class. My family and I also had to assimilate to American culture while trying to preserve our own cultural traditions and heritage. I’ll never forget the day when I unpacked my rice and pork with pickled cabbage (which my lunchroom companions described as smelling like “farts”) while everyone else ate their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My parents were still navigating their way and we moved frequently- I went to 3 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 3 high schools. It made it difficult to have any sort of set routine, but it also taught me to be adaptable.
Looking back, I learned so many life lessons from figure skating, but at the time, it got so tough that on many days, I just wanted to quit. But then, I would have an ‘aha’ moment when I landed a combination jump that I had been practicing for weeks. I learned that with perseverance and hard work, something that I once thought I couldn’t achieve was now within my skill set. This gave me the confidence to try other things outside of the rink as well.
What do you do? What do you specialize in?
Currently, I am an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology & Pain Management at UT Southwestern Medical Center. There are three main parts to my job: taking care of patients in the operating room, teaching, and doing research. As far as clinical care goes, I do a lot of thoracic anesthesia (for example, for patients with lung cancer) and trauma anesthesia since I work at a big trauma center. Some days, I take care of relatively healthy patients undergoing minor surgeries and some days, I take care of really sick patients who are having emergency surgery or high-risk surgery- every day is different and I love the variety that my job offers. I also do a lot of clinical research involving airway management, studying different medications that are used during anesthesia, and evaluating how to best treat pain after surgery. One of my favorite aspects of my job is teaching medical students and residents- I think this is a commonality among physicians who stay in academics. It’s truly a joy to be able to teach and then, see them apply the concepts and skills they’ve learned to take care of patients. The mom in me thinks of each of my mentees like my child in a way, and it’s always so joyful to watch them grow and mature into excellent physicians.
What advice would you give to someone at the start of her career?
The advice I would give to others is to embrace your failures and learn from them, but don’t dwell on them or let them define you. Also, be sure to surround yourself with genuine people that inspire you and support you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://utswmed.org/doctors/tiffany-moon/
- Instagram: @tiffanymoonmd
- Twitter: TiffanyMoonMD
Image Credit:
@iamjonnyngo, @estherhuynh, @bookabirdie, @angela_massey_eddy
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