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Today's Featured Biography
AlexAndria Kung
Full-time Senior Medical Liaison in medical education, recent PhD graduate in orthomolecular-integrative medicine, AlexAndria M. Kung has over 18 years of experience in the medical industry. AlexAndria has managed educational programs, conducted pharmaceutical/nutraceutical research, instructed exercise classes, and engaged in various writing activities. After earning her MPH from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, she interned with the Bureau of Oceans and International, Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the US Department of State, and later engaged in a short academic program at the Midwest College for the Study of Oriental Medicine. AlexAndria has worked for such organizations as the Illinois and Louisiana Departments of Public Health, the American Medical Association, Pfizer, Inc. and Abbott Laboratories, and continues her liaisons with the NIH, WHO, UNESCO, and AHMA*
AlexAndria's interest in photography and travel started as a child. Her late father, Dr. Samuel S. Kung, felt that cultural exploration was the spice of life. He also believed deeply in academia and fulfilled a dream of being mentored by Dr. Albert Einstein. Dr. Kung’s passions became instilled in his daughter from her early days. AlexAndria’s first real photograph, of a wild buffalo in Wyoming, was taken with a $3.00 camera. She ran to her parents for safety before the bull charged. Her first international trip took her to Henan, China, where she met her father's side of the family. Since then, she has traveled to over 100 countries including Brazil, Jordan, Tanzania, Nepal, the Patagonia region, Bhutan, Tibet, Costa Rica, Panama, Australia, Borneo, New Zealand, Mongolia, and Antarctica. She has carried her backpack in temperatures from -19 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and over oxygen deprived altitudes. She has set up camera equipment in front of curious onlookers in hail, snow and sand storms. She has been approached by wild dingoes, jellyfish, bats, territorial ostriches, and killer bees. She has also found out the hard way why mosquito nets need to be tightly tucked under a sleeping pad. AlexAndria seeks out travel experiences that are unique, spiritual, tough, and at times, physically demanding.
From running into the Dalai Lama in Bangkok, to teaching aerobics to Xiao-Lin Temple monks, to flying a Piper over Mt. Cook, and being stranded on a Zermatt ski-lift, AlexAndria welcomes adventure. From sipping Lhasan beer, to biking across a hanging bridge in Pokhara, and scuba diving with giant turtles off the Great Barrier Reef, and sliding down snow hills with Chinstrap penguins in Antarctica, she loves a challenge. From baboon-hunting with Tanzanian Bushmen, to witnessing a train demonstration in Aquas Calientes, to getting lost at the Acropolis, and dining with Berber nomads in the Sahara Desert, AlexAndria seeks change.
The most important travel aspects for her are to experience culture, avoid the tourist route, enjoy the journey, and do whatever it takes to get the photo. She actively has photo shows (currently at Cafe Ambrosia and Pomegranate in Evanston, IL) and does cultural lectures with the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago, IL). AlexAndria's other personal interests include exercise, camping, operatic singing, the theater, museum-going, and conversing in both French and Mandarin Chinese. She is listed in the National Register’s Who’s Who in Executives and Professionals, and is a member of the Anthropological Alliance of the Chicago Field Museum, National Geographic, the Chinese-American Educational Foundation, CCFR and APHA†. She continues to support DWB, AMWA, AACP, UCS, and AAOM‡, and is an active member of the Alumni Associations at Tulane University and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. AlexAndria currently resides in Evanston, Illinois with her two Ragdoll showcats.
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
--Mark Twain
Come join AlexAndria on a trip around the world at www.kungphoto.com. Every journey she takes reinforces her commitment to celebrating humankind on every continent.
www.kungphoto.com
*NIH=National Institutes of Health; WHO=World Health Organization; UNESCO=United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization; AHMA=American Holistic Medical Association.
†CCFR=Chicago Council on Foreign Relations; APHA=American Public Health Association.
‡DBW=Doctors Without Borders; AMWA=American Medical Writers Association; AACP=American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy; UCS=Union of Concerned Scientists; AAOM=American Association of Oriental Medicine.
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