Dr. Katherine Xiong

Dr. Katherine Xiong learned at an early age the dedication needed to pursue a medical career. Her father was a radiologist, her mother an occupational therapist.

“Given their professions, I grew up with a deep appreciation and respect for the medical profession,” Dr. Xiong said.

After excelling at UT Southwestern Medical School, Dr. Xiong is embarking on a promising medical career of her own.

In recognition of her work and enthusiasm for the neurology field, Dr. Xiong was selected as the 2018 recipient of the American Academy of Neurology Medical Student Prize for Excellence in Neurology.

Dr. Xiong will soon begin a pediatric neurology residency at Stanford University. She hopes to remain in academic medicine as a practicing clinician and educator of future residents and medical students.

“I hope to not only participate in meaningful clinical research, but I will focus my efforts on working to improve and optimize the current standards of practice to ensure maximum quality care in the inpatient and outpatient setting for my patients,” she said.

Dr. Xiong thrived as a medical student, earnings honors during her clinical neurology clerkship and induction into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. She was also nominated by her peers for the Gold Humanism Honor Society in recognition of exceptionally compassionate patient care.

She worked with her research mentor, Dr. Robyn Horsager-Boehrer, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, to construct sustainable interventions that significantly reduced the rates of episiotomy at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.

Dr. Rana Said, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, also helped mentor Dr. Xiong during her medical education. Dr. Said called her an “outstanding medical student” and noted her ability to work well with patients.

On one occasion, she recalled, Dr. Xiong helped a teenage exchange student from China feel less frightened about being hospitalized with acute headache and an aneurysm by speaking to him in his native Mandarin.

“She has an infectious desire to learn, an easy-to-like personality, and the intelligence to be extremely successful in whatever field she chooses,” noted Dr. Said, also a member of the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute. “There is no question that Katherine is going to be an outstanding neurologist and academic leader.”

Dr. Xiong was born and raised in San Antonio until age 11, when she moved to Dallas and later graduated from The Hockaday School. She studied neuroscience at Brown University, graduating with magna cum laude honors.

At Brown, Dr. Xiong was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and co-directed a student-run dance group her senior year. She was also a peer adviser to incoming freshmen and served as a tutor for adults with developmental and physical disabilities in Providence, Rhode Island.

Her fascination with the nervous system led her back to Dallas to attend UT Southwestern Medical School, where she solidified her interest in pediatrics and neurology while working in a child neurology inpatient service during her neurology rotation.

“It was during this time that I realized this was a community of patients living with a collection of pathologies that I was interested in serving and understanding,” said Dr. Xiong, who credits Dr. Said for inspiring her during the rotation. “The combination of groundbreaking research, the collaborative physician community, and the opportunity to be a provider and advocate for a comparatively underserved patient population made child neurology the ideal specialty for me.”

Dr. Horsager-Boehrer holds the Luis Leib, M.D. Professorship in Obstetrics & Gynecology.