Sports medicine and pediatric orthopedic surgeon Dr. Alvin Su‘s journey to Nemours Children’s Health was paved with a passion for patient care. He was drawn to our hospital in Delaware and New Jersey by the collaborative spirit among the orthopedic team.
“The orthopedic group at Nemours works as a team,” says Dr. Su. “We support each other very well. This is huge for patient care, and for long-term career development and physician wellness. We can take good care of our patients, and ourselves. Plus, Nemours is a true academic institution that supports scientific research, which is instrumental to future improvement of clinical care.” This effort from the orthopedics team allows surgeons like Dr. Su to prioritize what truly matters – doing the right thing for their patients.
Outside his work at the hospital, Dr. Su pursues a variety of interests and hobbies. A dedicated martial artist with a black belt in traditional karate, Dr. Su practices two styles of martial arts and shares his love for the discipline with his children. “I’m very pleasantly surprised that they enjoyed martial arts no less than I do!” says Dr. Su. Additionally, he is an amateur guitarist with roots in musical theater. “I started learning guitar with my son because he wants to take lessons, not knowing that I’d fall in love singing along while playing my guitar!” says Dr. Su.
Dr. Su finds many parallels between his hobbies and his medical profession. His martial arts background serves as a foundation for his expertise in orthopedic surgery and sports medicine. “Like many other sports, martial arts study the effective movement of the human body to perform techniques,” says Dr. Su. “This has a lot to do with anatomy, biomechanics, physiology, and injury when techniques are done incorrectly. A lot of the principles in martial arts can be applied to other sports, in regard to how one adjusts the body mechanics for better performance and lower injury risk. In addition, I do see and treat quite a bit of injuries in young martial arts practitioners – you’d be surprised to see how many young folks are doing martial arts nowadays, in the U.S. and around the world!”
Dr. Su’s patients might laugh when hearing about a mishap that occurred during one of his martial arts demonstrations. When he was younger, Dr. Su was eager to impress with his high kicks. One day, during a session at the dojo, he aimed to showcase his best kick, only to hear a loud “kkrrrssh!” as his karate pants split right down the middle. Despite the wardrobe malfunction, Dr. Su soldiered on, pretending nothing had happened as he finished the session. To his relief, it seemed that nobody had noticed the mishap. However, upon his return to the dojo, a friend approached him with a teasing smile and whispered, “Hey, your underwear looked cool, but none of us wants to see that ever again.” Dr. Su’s achievements embody a philosophy rooted in humility and self-improvement. Through martial arts, he imparts invaluable lessons to his children about self-defense and the importance of avoiding conflict. “Martial arts taught me the ‘do’ way of life,” says Dr. Su. “The more I train, the more I am humbled. Like everything else in life, there’re always so much to learn; there’re always people and things we can learn from. I am a sports medicine surgeon. A lot of times people think sports are all about triumphing over others and the winner gets all. Throughout this lifelong hobby, one revelation in my career was that winning and competing are distractions. We ask ourselves to become better surgeons and parents every day, because that’s our calling, and not because we need to prove that we are better than others. That moment of revelation was huge in my life. I have been a much-fulfilled person since then.”
