Meet the Team

Francis Chui, Former chief of gastroenterology & staff physician, Kaiser Permanente Redwood City

I am a physician specializing in the field of gastroenterology. My college majors were chemistry and chemical engineering. Having studied scientific disciplines throughout my life, I have always treasured the brain as the most magnificent body organ because of the tremendous potential from the neural networks allowing humans to not only having cognitive abilities but also the possession of feelings and emotions, thus distinguishing humans from other living organisms.As such, it must be very hard for anyone to witness the slow and unrelenting deterioration of the human mind. Unfortunately, I had personal experience of witnessing this process happening to two of my immediate family members. Both my father and mother-in-law suffered dementia in their final stages of lives, as they battled with Lewy Body Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease respectively.Throughout the process of taking care both my family members with cognitive dysfunction, it became apparent to me that the perspective of the general population towards dementia is still rather rudimentary. There is also a general lack of awareness about the early symptoms and signs of dementia, when medical evaluations and potential interventions may make a difference in the natural progression of the underlying diseases. Finally, in the advanced stages of various dementia conditions, besides national organizations like the Alzheimer’s Association, I discovered there is very little assistance and support at the level of community organizations to either the patients or their caregivers, including daily problem solving of care issues and challenges and emotional uplifting. It is my sincere wish that establishing a community center to provide emotional and spiritual support as well as other resources for patients with cognitive dysfunction and their caregivers will provide some of the missing links to this important societal problem.

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