Our mission

Kyu Chung, MD, graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1977 and the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1981. He is currently a clinical associate professor at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the founder and director of the Institute for Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine since 1995. This Institute’s name was changed in 2005 into the current name: Chung Institute of Integrative Medicine. In 2012, Dr. Chung founded the Won Sook Chung Foundation, named for the foundation’s benefactor, to fulfill the mission of education and research of safe, effective alternatives to mainstream medicine. Dr. Chung served as the Chief of the department of Family Medicine at Cooper University Hospital for 13 years before electing to devote his entire efforts to his role as the director of the Chung Institute. Dr. Chung is board certified in Family Medicine by the American Board of Family Medicine and board certified in Medical Acupuncture by the American Board of Medical Acupuncture. He has been named in both the Philadelphia Magazine and the New Jersey Monthly Magazine as one of the “Top Doctors” and named as one of the “Best doctors in the Northeast” by Woodward/White.

Dr. LaRiccia is the Research Director for the Won Sook Chung Foundation.  As research director, he works with the foundation’s team to focus on specific areas of research.  He develops study protocols, research designs, writes and edits research papers while mentoring the research team in all aspects of research, biostatistics, and medicine in general.  His vision and passion is first and foremost helping patients attain optimal health.

Dr. LaRiccia holds a bachelor’s degree from Youngstown State University, a master’s degrees in psychology from Temple University, a master’s degree in clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and a M.D. from the University of Ghent in Ghent, Belgium. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and a Licensed Acupuncturist and has over 40 years of clinical experience. Dr. LaRiccia is a member of the medical staff of Penn-Presbyterian Medical Center and an Adjunct Scholar at the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

Dr. LaRiccia has been active in professional organizations, serving as President of the Acupuncture Society of Pennsylvania and President of the New York Society of Acupuncture for Physicians and Dentists. He is the recipient of awards related to acupuncture and has been listed both in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in Healthcare.

Dr. LaRiccia has a vision to share information about integrative medicine diagnostics and treatments so safe, effectve therapies can one day be available to all.

Dr. Brobyn joined the Chung Institute in 2010 with over two decades of clinical experience including teaching, lecturing and clinical trial work. Dr. Brobyn received her BA cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University in 1990 and her MD from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1994. She completed a residency in Family Medicine at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, NJ in 1997 and served as Chief Practice Management resident. Dr. Brobyn attained board certification by the American Board of Family Medicine in 1998 and in 2008, she was honored with the degree of Fellow from the American Academy of Family Physicians. After serving three years on active duty in the United States Air Force, Dr. Brobyn served as Assistant professor for the Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine and attending physician in Cooper Hospital’s Department of Family Medicine from 2000 until 2010. Dr. Brobyn currently serves as Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine as well as Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. Dr. Brobyn graduated from the Helms Medical Acupuncture course in 2011 as well as completed training in prolotherapy under the direction of the University of Wisconsin’s Hackett Hemwell Foundation. She attended the foundation’s medical mission to Honduras in March of 2011 where she was awarded the ROY award for excellence in both prolotherapy technique and dedication to the mission itself. As part of her initiative to bring bio-identical hormone replacement therapy to the Chung Institute, she completed training by The American Academy of Anti-Aging in the use of bio-identical hormones in 2013 and now has more than 10 years’ experience practicing BHRT.

Dr. Brobyn has been active in research since her residency where she began in community outreach projects in public education. She went on to participate as a clinical investigator in large pharmaceutical trials such as the Jupiter trial and as well as several groundbreaking NIH trials such as The ACCORD study and AIM HIGH. While working for Cooper University, she spear-headed the formation of a clinical trials division within the department of Family Medicine. After transitioning into alternative medicine, she joined the team at the Won Sook Chung Foundation to focus on integrative medicine research. At the Chung foundation she has published numerous articles as both first and second author and mentored medical students to assist them in publishing their own papers. Her current focus lies in developing evidence-based approaches to multifactorial, chronic disease research. Dr. Brobyn has been serving on the Cooper University Hospital’s Internal Review Board for human research protection for the past 19 years. In her spare time, she sings alto for The Philadelphia Pops Festival Chorus and cantors at her church.

Kevin Q. Ng, MD is a Philadelphia area native where he completed the majority of his professional training prior to setting down roots in South Jersey. He graduated from the University of the Sciences (currently St. Joseph’s University) with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a minor in biology. There he performed oncogene (cancer gene) research in a cell biology lab, inspired to do so by his mother’s diagnosis of lung cancer at the time. He then attended Temple University School of Medicine where he had the opportunity to study abroad in Kenya to broaden his perspective on tropical medicine and parasitology. In 2014, he completed both an Internal Medicine Residency and Infectious Diseases Fellowship at Cooper University Hospital while conducting a research study focused on candidemia and sepsis. He currently practices full time as an integrative medicine practitioner at the Chung Institute of Integrative Medicine while maintaining academic positions as an Attending Infectious Disease Physician at Cooper University Hospital and Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. Dr. Ng enjoys teaching at all levels ranging from undergraduates to attending and specialist physicians. He is passionate on furthering awareness and accessibility of integrative modalities by performing clinical research with the Won Sook Chung Foundation and educating through social media.

Teresa Cafaro, BSc has 19 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry as project manager, clinical research associate and medical reviewer. Midway through her pharmaceutical career, Teresa explored research possibilities in    the field of integrative medicine. At that time, she had the opportunity to work with Dr. Lariccia for a short period before returning to the industry. Years later, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. LaRiccia recruited Teresa to manage the Cooper Vitamin D3 clinical trial. Her years of experience with randomized clinical trials made a smooth transition for her to become a research coordinator at Cooper University Health Care. The position, funded by the foundation, enabled Teresa to effectively manage trial operations. Teresa’s responsibilities for the study included oversight of subject recruitment, informed consent, data collection, adherence, data integrity and completeness, and institutional review board communications and submissions Her technical skills in many applications including Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint and EDC systems prepared her for writing complex SQL queries for the foundation. The queries retrieve data from various systems used in the groundbreaking research being conducted by the Won Sook Chung Foundation. Teresa’s passion for healthy living and important research in new and exciting areas fuel her dedication to the foundation and the promotion of its goals.

Brigid Bandomer BSN, RN joined the Won Sook Chung Foundation in 2018, after recovering her health with the help of Dr. Chung and Chung Institute. Brigid came to the foundation with insight and perspective from her clinical experience as an RN, years as a patient with a chronic illness and years volunteering for various non-profit organizations.

Her unique perspective has driven her to research alternative treatments and therapies with the goal of sharing acquired knowledge with the public.  Brigid oversees education and special projects for the Won Sook Chung Foundation. Her responsibilities include promoting the mission of the foundation; integrating systems and websites for the Chung Institute and the Won Sook Chung Foundation; developing content for the websites, including blog posts and patient information sheets; and collaborating on research projects in varying capacities from interviewing and educating patients to collecting data to implementation of projects, to name just a few.

Since joining the foundation, Brigid has continued her education both informally from her coworkers and formally. She completed her BSN from Chamberlain University, became a board-certified baccalaureate holistic nurse (HNB-BC) and is currently completing the requirements to become a board certified holistic nurse coach. Brigid strongly believes the key to attaining optimal health for the individual and the community begins with research and education.