USC Keck Primary Care Community Medicine Project Bio
Juliet Hwang, MD, FAAP
Juliet Hwang is a full time pediatrician at the Hollywood Clinic of Queenscare Family Clinics, a federally qualified
health center. It is committed to providing high quality medical care to uninsured and low-income communities.
Juliet is happy to serve our Los Angeles community by providing a medical home with a holistic model of health
and healing. She believes the mind and body are integrated, and to understand illness, we must look at all the
facets of a child’s life. Juliet emphasizes early childhood development, nutrition, stress management, and
incorporates mindfulness meditation techniques where applicable. She also reaches out to administrators,
teachers and school counselors to coordinate care.
Juliet’s parents have had a huge impact on her decision to practice medicine centered on the health of the family.
Her mother is a pediatrician and her father is an internist, both of whom still practice in Flushing, Queens, the
heart of the Korean American community in New York. Other incredible community physicians she met during
medical school, as well as patients, have also taught her what kind of healer she wanted to be. She learned how
the compassionate doctor as healer can empower the patient to facilitate his/her own healing with the right
combination of support and medications.
Juliet majored in Art History at Williams College in Massachusetts and was accepted into the Mount Sinai School of
Medicine as a sophomore through the Humanities in Medicine Program. The program allowed her to pursue her
passions for music, art and poetry and travel.
In medical school, she continued to pursue her passions for the arts and incorporated it into her political activism
for social change. These experiences augmented the textbook knowledge she learned in the classroom. She
experienced first hand how music, art and activism can empower communities and facilitate change as well as
healing. During that time, she also discovered the practice of mindfulness meditation. It helped her understand
difficult emotions and lead her on a path of personal healing and transformation. Juliet chose pediatrics because
she wanted to work with families and focus on the health and development of children.
In 2006, Juliet moved out to Los Angeles for a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Children’s
Hospital of Los Angeles. She was interested in the role of complementary medicine in the treatment of pediatric
cancers. It was a profound experience for her. She witnessed the full spectrum of life and began to re-evaluate
what kind of a career she wanted. After her clinical year, she decided she wanted to focus on preventing illness
and nurture healthy lifestyles in our families by combining western and complementary medicine.
Currently, Juliet integrates her mindfulness practice into her clinical practice. She teaches mindful breathing to
children and teens who come into the clinic complaining of psychosomatic issues, anxiety and depression. She also
facilitates a mindfulness meditation practice for her co-workers at Queenscare. Outside of work, Juliet leads a
weekly mindfulness group for homeless men and women in recovery at a non-profit organization, Homeless
Healthcare Los Angeles.
Juliet also has an interest in international medicine. She has worked in Cuba, Ghana, and most recently in Haiti
after the earthquake. She is also interested in osteopathic manipulation, reiki and somatics as other forms of
healing. Her other hobbies include, Anusara Yoga, Afrocuban Folkloric Dance, Cuban Salsa, poetry, traditional
Korean drumming and singing. She leads a traditional Korean drumming group, Freedom Sounds, that performs at
festivals throughout Los Angeles.
Currently, she is interested in the neurobiology associated with developmental trauma and how it affects
children’s brains.
Juliet advises medical students to listen deeply to the patients they meet throughout their training. She believes
each patient we encounter has something profound to teach us. She encourages students to continue pursuing all
their passions so that medicine continues to nurture them throughout their career.