Adversity shaped program director’s recruitment strategy and career path

After graduating from the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, Ku-Borden applied to the Ventura Family Medicine Residency, in part, because she was interested in global health.

“I wanted to go to a program that could prepare me to do international work,” Ku-Borden said. “When I was applying to residency, I did a sub-internship at Ventura County Medical Center, and I was impressed by the full-spectrum training the family medicine residents received. They were the only residents in the hospital. They ran trauma codes. They were in the OR with the surgeons being the primary assist. They were in ICU and OB, so I was really drawn to that program, applied and matched there.”

Ku-Borden, who did elective rotations in Kenya and Haiti, later completed a fellowship at Ventura County in high-risk obstetrics. Shortly after that, her son was born.

Family health crisis changed her medical career path

“I was thinking about doing international work and bringing our son overseas,” said Ku-Borden, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants. “You just never know what can happen.”

Her newborn had biliary atresia, which required Kasai portoenterostomy to allow bile drainage from his liver when he was 5 weeks old. Ten years later, he is on a transplant list. 

Ku-Borden, who already had accepted a faculty role post-fellowship, put her global health goals aside and embraced academic medicine. She has been faculty at Adventist Health White Memorial Family Medicine Residency since 2015 and its program director since 2023.

Navigating health care as a parent

Ku-Borden said her son’s health journey has been “painful and life-changing,” but added that it also has made her a better doctor and teacher.

“I experienced the health care system as a parent, and it gave me a deeper sense of empathy in solidarity with patients I care for,” she said. “I’ve had home health supplies and medications delivered to my house and hooked up my son’s IV antibiotics through a PICC line and later, a port-a-cath. As a doctor, it’s not just about writing the orders. The patient or caregiver has to be instructed about how to use those things. They have to time the delivery, know how to clean a central line, connect the tubing and medication, and flush the line. There are so many little things that patients go through, and they may have questions about all the steps.” 

In addition to her clinical, teaching and administrative roles, Ku-Borden is serving on a California Quality Collaborative (CQC)expert work group that’s designing standards, workflows and tools to integrate postpartum care into primary care, and improve maternal outcomes. She previously served the CQC on a similar work group that focused on health equity. 

“I’ve learned to live with this reality, continuing to do what I love and caring for my kids,” she said. “They see me as a doctor. They see me in scrubs. They see me run out for deliveries. I want them to see me as not just their mom, but as a doctor who really cares about my community, patients and residents.”

Recruiting challenges and the SOAP

Responding to unexpected outcomes is a lesson Ku-Borden also has applied to being a program director. White Memorial didn’t fill all eight of its positions in the National Resident Matching Program’s (NRMP) Main Residency Match in 2025 and participated in the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) for the second time in four years to fill its positions.