Lake Arrowhead Medical

Dr. Kyi Kyi "Gigi" Win, -a specialist in internal medicine- with clinical interest in adult medicine, women's health and geriatrics, has set up practice in the Lake Arrowhead Medical Center adjacent to Mountains Community Hospital.

Win is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine.

She elected to move to Lake Arrowhead because it has many retirees, and "I just love senior citizens." Other reasons for coming to the mountains were that she and her husband, a dedicated fisherman, want to raise their children in a small, safe, conservative, green community that offers fishing.

Describing herself as a "medical missionary," Win said, "My mother was a Baptist missionary and I, too, feel strongly about God and the role God plays in my daily walk.

In my freshman year in college, I volunteered to work as a dietary aide in an Episcopal nursing home. I quickly realized that medicine and religion are two professions that fit together perfectly."

Win knew then the direction of her education and future.

"Medicine has become my mission, my heart and soul. Never having seen my grandparents, I fell in love with the clinic's elderly patients as I fed them with a spoon. I knew then that I wanted to practice geriatric medicine.

Later, as I was earning my biology degree from Cal State Los Angeles, I volunteered at the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles. There my interest broadened to all needy adults.

Subsequently, I became aware that many women prefer female doctors, because they love to listen and talk, so I concluded that women's health would be a part of my medical mission too."

Win was born in Rangoon, Burma. The country reverted to its original name, Myanmar, six years ago.

Her family was forced to leave when she was 13 because of political pressure on her activist mother. The United States was the logical place to come, since her father had obtained a civil engineering degree from the University of Michigan.

The family settled in the San Gabriel Valley and Gigi graduated from Alhambra High School, then moved on to California State Univeristy, Los Angeles. She and her boyfriend, James, then a computer operator, married when they were still teens.

"I made him promise that he would put me through medical school," she recounted. "We made financial adjustments by eliminating many of the little luxuries. But when I got my medical degree, I retired him so our children could have a full-time parent."

Win decided she wanted to enter the University of California at Los Angeles Drew School of Medicine because of its affiliation with the King Drew Medical Clinic in Watts and because that hospital's mission coincided with hers - "to serve the underserved with competence and compassion."

"Southeast Los Angeles is where the rubber meets the road," Win observed. "It's where people don't keep up their health because they have no access to health care. The emergency room is their primary care facility."

After obtaining her Doctor of Medicine degree from UCLA, she served the first two years of her residency at the University of Southern California because she again was able to work with an indigent population at the Los Angeles/USC Medical Center.

To complete her residency, she moved her little family to Farmington, Conn., because the University of Connecticut offers a "geriatric curriculum that is very, very strong." While there, she worked at the New Britain Hospital and a Hebrew home for the aged.

Returning to Southern California, Win gained professional experience as a primary care provider, first with the large Talbert Medical Group in San Jacinto and then as a staff member at Hemet Valley Medical Center.

Despite her passionate feelings about medicine, Win says, "I'm a mom first."

Yet another passion of Win's is classical Burmese dance. She started dancing at age 5 and became a professional dancer, teacher and choreographer - and continues to do all three when she finds the time.

29099 Hospital Road, Suite 107
P.O. Box 2229
Lake Arrowhead, CA 92352
(909) 337-0059