NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., September 23, 2021 — Officials with Hoag Digestive Health Institute –ranked last month among the top 50 such programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report – today announced the appointment of two renowned physicians to guide the institute’s current treatment programs and planned expansion.
Tse-Ling Fong, M.D., FACP, FAASLD, has been named director of the Hoag Liver Program, while Caroline Hwang, M.D. has been named director of the Margolis Family Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program.
“We are thrilled to welcome Drs. Fong and Hwang to the Hoag Digestive Health Institute,” said Chief Clinical Institutes Officer Teresa Conk. “Their experience and expertise in gastrointestinal care will build upon Hoag’s commitment to enabling patients to achieve some of the highest clinical outcomes in the nation.”
Dr. Fong obtained his medical degree from the University of Southern California. Following his residency in internal medicine at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, he completed a hepatology fellowship at the USC Liver Unit. He also completed a fellowship in gastroenterology at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center before becoming a clinical associate with the Liver Diseases Section at the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Fong is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and members of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease and Western Society for Clinical Investigation. For more than 12 years, he has been named to the “Best Doctors in America” distinction.
“Very few hepatologists lead liver programs in Orange County. The fact that Hoag has asked me to run the program represents the commitment of Hoag to support our liver disease patients,” Dr. Fong said.
Board-certified in gastroenterology and a recognized expert in the field of inflammatory bowel disease, Dr. Hwang came to Hoag in 2019 from Keck Medicine of USC, where she was medical director of their IBD Center and served as an assistant professor of medicine, as well as a mentor for numerous physicians-in-training specializing in IBD/GI care.
Dr. Hwang is a member of the American Gastroenterological Association, American College of Gastroenterology and the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. She received her Doctor of Medicine from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles. She then went on to complete an internal medicine residency at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, a clinical research fellowship for the Hereditary Colon/Pancreatic Cancer Prevention Program at Columbia University and a gastroenterology fellowship at University of California San Francisco.
“Hoag’s multidisciplinary approach puts the patient first, and I am excited to work with a talented team to help address these debilitating GI conditions and improve patients’ quality of life,” Dr. Hwang said.
“The Hoag Liver Program takes advantage of cutting-edge technology and highly skilled specialists who are all focused on liver disease. There’s nothing else like this in Orange County,” said Robert T. Braithwaite, Hoag’s president and chief executive officer. “This same approach is being applied to the IBD Program, as Hoag continues to attract the most established experts and pioneering minds in their respective fields.”
Hoag will bring its cutting-edge research, comprehensive care, clinical trials and promising therapies to Irvine in addition to its Newport Beach campus.
A distinctive feature of Hoag’s program is that it brings together a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, rheumatologists, radiologists, pathologists and others who meet regularly to discuss complex cases and establish a comprehensive approach. The inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) program also provides patients with access to dedicated registered dieticians, nurse navigators and clinical trials with promising new drugs.
Braithwaite said Hoag is proud to be ranked in the top 50 nationally in Gastroenterology and GI Surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021-2022 Best Hospitals Rankings. Hoag Digestive Health Institute offers programs for a wide range of digestive health issues, leading the way in complex digestive care, and works collaboratively with Hoag-affiliated specialists, providing access to a highly specialized surgical team to provide expert care.
For more information, visit https://www.hoag.org/specialties-services/other-programs-services/digestive-health/.
ABOUT HOAG
Hoag is a nonprofit, regional health care delivery network in Orange County, California, that treats more than 30,000 inpatients and 500,000 outpatients annually. Hoag consists of two acute-care hospitals – Hoag Hospital Newport Beach, which opened in 1952, and Hoag Hospital Irvine, which opened in 2010 – in addition to nine health centers and 13 urgent care centers. Hoag has invested $261 million in programs and services to support the underserved community within the past five years, including areas like mental health, homelessness, transportation for seniors, education, and support for single mothers. Hoag is a designated Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Hoag offers a comprehensive blend of health care services that includes five institutes providing specialized services in the following areas: cancer, heart and vascular, neurosciences, women’s health, and orthopedics through Hoag’s affiliate, Hoag Orthopedic Institute, which consists of an orthopedic hospital and two ambulatory surgical centers. In the 2021 – 2022 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Rankings, Hoag is the highest ranked hospital in Orange County and the only OC hospital ranked in the Top 10 in California. For an unprecedented 23 years, residents of Orange County have chosen Hoag as one of the county’s best hospitals in a local newspaper survey. Visit www.hoag.org for more information.
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