Cynthia Wu, MD

Bio

My journey to Santa Rosa began in Ohio where I grew up with my parents and my two younger sisters. From there, I ventured out of the Midwest to go to college in Boston. I eventually spent my next 13 years on the East Coast, unaware of what the West Coast had to offer. After completing medical school at NYU in 1998, I moved back to Boston to do my residency training at The MassGeneral Hospital for Children. I got married and had my first child right after residency and thought I had settled down in the Boston area, working at a private practice in one of the suburbs there.

My husband, however, matched at the University of Michigan for residency (he was a few years behind me in school because he decided to do a few more years in training to get a Ph.D.) so we picked up and moved back to the Midwest in 2003. My parents, of course, were thrilled being that we were only a couple hours drive away. I found a job being one of the pediatric hospitalists at the University of Michigan but the overnight shifts proved to be a little too grueling, especially for my two young daughters at the time. This prompted me to go back to private practice after about a year.

In 2007, my husband received this wonderful opportunity to work at Kaiser in Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park. We visited this area for the first time in the fall of that year and loved it instantly. The friendliness of the people here, the near perfect weather almost year round, and the bounty of things to do in the surrounding areas were a dream come true. We moved here in 2008.

After relocating here, I began looking for work again. When I interviewed at Kaiser Santa Rosa, I was amazed at how organized and efficient the physicians were. The concept of a separate treatment room and injection room to streamline the flow of patients and to provide better hands on services for the patients in the office was just unheard of in my previous practices. I was excited about the prospects of working here and was fortunate enough to be offered a position here starting in the fall of 2009.

From the moment I started medical school, I knew I wanted to be a pediatrician. I have always been drawn to children, their smiling faces, their innocent questions, and their easy-going, happy-go-lucky personalities. During my residency training, I found that not only did I enjoy seeing my patients grow and develop from visit to visit and helping other patients recover quickly from acute illnesses, but I also found talking with their families and answering their parents' concerns and questions were just as rewarding. For me, it is this combination of working with children and working with their parents that makes being a pediatrician a lot of fun.

As a result, my practice philosophy centers around not just providing the best medical care for my patients but also providing clear communication between my patients, my patients' families, and myself.

My Medical Specialty

My specialty interests and affiliations within my field:

Fellow Member of the American Academy of Pediatrics

Member of the Sonoma County Medical Association

Great health resources that I refer to:

Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: From Birth to Age Five by Steven P. Shelov

For calming babies with colic:
The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp

For any breastfeeding mother:
The Nursing Mother's Companion
by Kathleen Huggins

The American Academy of Pediatrics website for parents:
http://www.aap.org/parents.html

To find out a place to check if your carseat is installed properly:
www.seatcheck.org

The Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania Online Vaccine Education Center
www.chop.edu/service/vaccine-education-center/home.html
(If you are on the fence about giving your child immunizations, watch their video - Vaccines: Separating Fact from Fear)

Photos from My Training Years or of Practicing Medicine in My Field:

Proud big sisters when their little sister was born

Interests

Currently reading:
The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer, The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

My favorite book or author:
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, Two Little Girls: A Memoir About Adoption by Theresa Reid, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Hobby Photos & Links:

My girls making pizza dough together

Family & Friends

My children and people I care about:

My husband and I have been blessed with three girls. The two older ones are a year and a half apart but are practically the same size. Everyone who sees them thinks they are twins. The youngest one is barely 2 1/2 feet tall but thinks she is a "big girl." She always insists on doing whatever her big sisters are doing, even if it is eating green things like spinach and green beans. All the other toddlers around her are "babies" even though she is by far the smallest in size.

We had a few goldfish in the past that didn't survive very long. We stopped replacing them when the kids began getting very upset when they kept dying. Right now, our only "pets" are the 3 girls.

Pet Photos:

Winnie-the-Pooh costume with two

Travel

An adventure I've had:

Before kids, my husband and I went on a few trips that were quite memorable - Sydney, Australia, Hawaii, and Barcelona. The trip to Barcelona was probably the most exciting. The Spanish tapas and cheeses were absolutely delicious. The architecture, especially those by Gaudi, was amazing. We also visited the wonderful museums of Picasso, Miro, and Salvador Dali. Definitely a place worth going to at some point in your life. After kids, the first real family vacation we took was a Disney Caribbean Cruise. The two older girls were just 4 and 5 and into Disney princesses so it was perfect for them. Needless to say, we spent many hours standing in line to meet and greet characters but we had lots of fun just watching their smiling and excited faces.

Favorite place in the world:

Home with my family. Nothing gives me more joy and peace of mind than being with my husband and kids.

Travel Photos:

Disney Cruise Line