Seong H. Cho, MD
Board-Certified Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Specialist
"When I consider my career as a physician, I feel privileged and blessed. This profession is about care, love, compassion, and dedication. In addition, it is about human science, which always fascinates me to explore the human body and diseases.
"As a physician and scientist, I try to better understand why some people have allergic diseases and what the best treatment options would be for the individual patients, namely 'Personalized Medicine' by innovation and science.
“It was a long and exciting journey for me to become the best physician I could be. I trained in an ENT surgical (otolaryngology) residency in Korea and was fascinated by allergic disorders that some people respond to friendly environments such as dogs, cats, and pollens.
"Thereafter, I decided to do research in allergic diseases and studied at the University of California at Los Angeles after becoming board certified in ENT in Korea. Recognizing that people not only suffer from allergic diseases, including severe asthma and anaphylactic reactions, but also die from these diseases, I committed myself to research allergic diseases using human cells, mice, and lung and DNA samples from patients who died with asthma.
“After spending several years in research, a strong desire to apply my research directly to patients arose in my heart, and l decided to obtain subspecialty training in allergy and immunology.
"This decision required that I take the U.S. medical license exam and begin another 5 years of residency training in internal medicine at the University of Tennessee, and allergy and immunology advanced subspecialty resident training at Northwestern University.
"My training in ENT, internal medicine, allergy and immunology, and bench research has distinguished me from other physicians and enabled me to better understand my patients' conditions and provide them with optimal care.
“As I taught and mentored medical students, residents, and allergy and immunology fellows at Northwestern University and now teach at the University of South Florida, I continue to have the opportunity to guide these trainees to be well-trained and caring physicians.
"It also gives me the chance to look at myself as a physician, and realize that medicine is not only delivering a scientific knowledge and skill, it is a combination of knowledge and better understanding human beings and delivering personal care and compassion to those who suffer."
Born in Daejeon, South Korea, Dr. Cho is married and has two sons. In his spare time, he enjoys sports and volunteering to help young people in his church.
