Margaret Chung
Toronto Daily Star, August 23 1937
Margaret Chung (1889-1959) was the first woman of Chinese descent born in America to become a physician. She started her medical career in Chicago in the field of psychiatry, becoming a state criminologist for Illinois, before accepting a position as a surgeon in Los Angeles in 1918. While there, she removed Mary Pickford's tonsils.
Moving to San Francisco's Chinatown in 1922, she treated the local population, area celebrities, and Navy pilots. Many of her patients became her "adopted sons"; among the adoptees of "Mom Chung" were Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, and Ronald Reagan.
While Ms. Chung was volunteering to go to China in 1937, she was also secretly assigned to recruit fighter pilots for the "Flying Tigers", the First American Volunteer Group of the China Air Force. During the Second World War, she served Thanksgiving dinner to up to 175 people at her house and wrapped 4000 gifts at Christmas. When she retired from her medical practice after the war, her "adopted sons" purchased a house for her in Marin County.
Created September 25, 2025.