Meet an ambidextrous neurosurgeon and multimedia artist
“What an honor to gaze at the living human brain… no more beautiful work of art”
Kathryn Ko, MD, MFA (@doc_ambidexter) is a practicing neurosurgeon and multimedia artist in New York City. She attended medical school at the University of Hawaii and completed neurosurgery training at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. She also earned a Masters of Fine Art in representational painting with a medical emphasis. During medical school, Dr. Ko switched from the right to the left hand and is now completely ambidextrous.
Yesterday, @doc_ambidexter answered questions from our community of over 500,000 healthcare professionals. You can read the entire Q&A on Figure 1.
Ambidexterity and Art
The majority of questions to Dr. Ko revolved around her efforts in becoming ambidextrous and her background in both medicine and art. When beginning to use a non-dominant hand, Dr. Ko recommended starting with simple tasks: opening doors, brushing teeth, and eventually to writing. When a medical student wrote that he/she was considering taking up calligraphy as a hobby to improve finger dexterity, Dr. Ko advised: “don’t do calligraphy as a hobby ~ do it as though your life depended on it!”
“I’m thinking like a surgeon at the easel and like an artist in the OR. I became an artist when I picked up the scalpel.”
Regarding how Dr. Ko’s diverse knowledge of art and science has changed her perspective in either field, she wrote, “it has made all the difference and enabled both to be better. I urge all my students including the art students to study topics outside their fields… your life will be higher for it.”
Login to Figure 1 to see the full Q&A with Dr. Ko. You can also follow @doc_ambidexter on Instagram.
