Kathleen C. Hwang
Dr. Hwang truly has an international background. She was born in Taiwan, moved to Brazil at a young age and finally settled down with her family in Arcadia at the age of 16. She finished the last two years of high school at Arcadia High School and proceeded to attend UCLA, where she graduated with honors with a B.S. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. In love with California, but wanting to explore different parts of the state, Dr. Hwang went off to San Francisco to attend the University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry for four years, graduating among the Top 10 in her class with a D.D.S. degree. Finally, heading back South, Dr. Hwang completed her orthodontic residency at one of the top- ranked orthodontic programs in the nation – the University of California, Los Angeles, where she taught for many years after graduation.
In addition to teaching at UCLA, Dr. Hwang has lectured to the Orthodontic Society in Guatemala, and the students and faculty at both National Taiwan University and Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital. Traveling is her passion, having gone from touring Asia, Europe and New Zealand to eco adventures in Brazil. Combining her love for travel and giving back to the community, she heads south to orphanages in Mexico twice a year with a group of dentists to provide dental care to the under-served children.
Dr. Hwang is a member of the Cleft Palate Board at Miller Children’s Hospital in Long Beach. She is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics and is affiliated with many dental organizations: American Dental Association, American Association of Orthodontists, Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists, and the San Gabriel Valley Dental Society. Throughout her educational career, Dr. Hwang has been the recipient of numerous awards of achievement. Most notably, she has been inducted into the Omicron Kappa Upsilon National Dental Honor Aociety, a prestigious position only available to the top dentists in the nation. She has also been awarded numerous merit-based sholarships and awards, including the Pierre Fauchard Academy Scholarship, the American Equilibration Society Achievement Award, and the American Association of Public Health Achievement Award.
Dr. Hwang and her husband Kevin look forward to raising a family sometime in the near future. In the meantime, she enjoys playing with her nephews Nicolas, Alex and Aiden.