နောက်အခန်း: ဘာကြောင့် လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာ ဆေးပညာကို ရွေးချယ်ခဲ့ရသလဲ — ထိုင်းနိုင်ငံမှ ဘေးလာဆေးကောလိပ်အထိ

နောက်ဆုံး ပြင်ဆင်သည် ဩဂုတ် 17, 2026

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A Turning Point After Cambodia

For eight years, my medical journey was defined by the dusty roads of Cambodia and the high-stakes challenge of building a modern urology service from the ground up. From performing the first 4th-generation ESWL cases in Phnom Penh to surviving the logistical nightmare of COVID-19 border closures, my time with Royal Phnom Penh Hospital and Royal Angkor International Hospital was a precious urology experience that shaped who I am today.

However, every long journey has a turning point. As I transitioned back to Thailand in 2024 to join Bangkok Hospital Headquarters (BHQ), I realised that my mission wasn’t simply to practise urology — it was to go deep into a field that remains underserved in Southeast Asia: sexual medicine.

Since October 2025 I have been in Houston, Texas, as a Research Scholar and Clinical Observer at the Scott Department of Urology, Baylor College of Medicine, under the mentorship of Professor Mohit Khera. This is the story of why I chose this path.

The Decision Was Made in Kaohsiung, Not Houston

People assume the Baylor year is where this specialisation began. It isn’t. The real beginning was 2019, when I completed an Andrology Fellowship at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Kaohsiung, Taiwan, under Professor Po-Hui Chiang — a formal clinical fellowship, and still the foundation of everything I do in men’s health. That is where I learned to assess erectile dysfunction properly rather than reach for a tablet, where penile colour Doppler assessment became part of my practice, and where I first operated on the conditions I now spend most of my week thinking about.

That same year I completed a second fellowship at Chang Gung, in robotic surgery and minimally invasive urology. The two have run in parallel ever since: the robot for cancer, andrology for quality of life. If there is a single sentence explaining why I chose sexual medicine, it is that the second one turned out to matter to patients at least as much as the first, and far fewer doctors were doing it well.

The Influence of Professor Somboon Leungwattanakij

The decision to commit fully to sexual medicine was deeply influenced by a titan in the field, Professor Somboon Leungwattanakij. Growing up, I remember seeing a tall, charismatic doctor on television, explaining men’s health with a perfect blend of formal expertise and approachable humour. That was Professor Somboon.

When I joined BHQ, I found myself working in the office right next to him. It was a pinch-me moment. As the most senior expert in penile prosthesis surgery and men’s health in Thailand, Professor Somboon has spent decades helping patients regain their quality of life.

With his retirement approaching, a question arose that the department had to answer: who would continue specialised men’s health at BHQ? After discussions with the hospital leadership and with the Professor himself, that responsibility came to me. I do not think of it as inheriting anything. Reputations are not handed over; they are rebuilt from scratch by whoever comes next, and the honest version of this story is that I have a great deal of work to do before I have earned the comparison.

What I could do was go and learn from the best people available.

Why Baylor College of Medicine and Professor Mohit Khera?

When looking for the deepest concentration of expertise in sexual medicine and penile prosthesis surgery, all roads led to Professor Mohit Khera at Baylor College of Medicine.

The Expertise

Professor Khera is a global authority in the field, having served as President of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA). His work in testosterone အစားထိုးကုထုံး, erectile dysfunction, and complex penile implant surgery is cited by urologists worldwide.

What This Post Actually Is — and Is Not

I want to be precise about this, because titles get inflated easily in medicine and patients deserve to know exactly what they are being told.

• What it is: a သုတေသနပညာရှင်နှင့် လက်တွေ့လေ့လာသူ appointment at the Scott Department of Urology, from October 2025 to October 2026. As a clinical observer I attend clinic and theatre, watch how decisions are made and how operations are done, and take part in the department’s academic work — study design, data analysis, and publication.
• What it is not: a US clinical fellowship, and not a licence to practise in the United States. I do not operate here. An observer observes — that is the accurate word, and I use it deliberately rather than the more impressive one.

So what does a year of watching actually buy a surgeon? Mostly judgement. Which patient should not be offered an implant. How a complication is handled when it happens on a Tuesday afternoon. What a high-volume unit does differently in the twenty minutes before the incision. My operating credentials come from the Chang Gung fellowships and from prosthetic surgery training workshops; what Baylor adds is a year inside the decision-making of a department that sees more of these cases than almost anywhere in the world, and a body of research I would not otherwise have been able to do.

Disclosure: Boston Scientific, a manufacturer of penile implants, has provided travel and accommodation support for my prosthetic surgery training workshops. No manufacturer has any role in what I write here, but where implants are discussed you are entitled to know it.

Overcoming the Storms Before the Journey

The path to Houston was anything but easy. Much like my early days in Cambodia where we lacked the most basic equipment, this chapter was met with significant obstacles.

The Visa Crisis

In early 2025, just as I was preparing to depart, a sudden suspension of visa processing in the US threatened to derail everything. I had already experienced this heartbreak once before — a fellowship at UCSF was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Standing on the edge of a second cancellation was devastating.

In August 2025 the clouds cleared. We secured an interview on the very first day the embassy reopened, and after one anxious moment at the interview window over missing paperwork, we were through.

A Family Leap of Faith

Moving abroad for a year isn’t only a career decision; it is a family one. My wife and daughter came with me, carrying more luggage than I care to admit halfway across the world to start a year in Houston. Their support is the foundation this whole chapter rests on.

The Vision: From Cambodia to the Future of Thai Urology

Looking back at my eight years in Cambodia, I see a pattern of building things that were not there before. I was part of the first flexible ureterorenoscopy, the first men’s health clinic in Phnom Penh, and the first Rezum water-vapour procedure in the country.

I am applying the same instinct to sexual medicine. Men’s health is often treated as a side interest — a field full of need but frequently overlooked or quietly stigmatised. What I want to bring back to Bangkok Hospital Headquarters is not a brand of surgery but a standard of care: honest counselling before an irreversible operation, testosterone prescribed on evidence rather than on a number alone, and a clinic where a man can raise a subject he has been avoiding for five years.

If I go alone I go fast, but if we go together we go far.

That line, which Professor Allen Chiu passed on to me, has guided me since 2019. This year is not only for my own development, but so that patients in Thailand and the wider ASEAN region have access to care they would otherwise travel for.

Conclusion: The Long Way Home

In a poetic twist of fate, I was born at Bangkok Hospital Headquarters. After years of training and practising across Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, and Cambodia, I have returned to the place where my life began.

The eight years in Cambodia were the long way home, and they gave me the grit to handle most of what has come since. Now, with Professor Somboon’s example in mind and a year alongside Professor Khera’s department behind me, the real work starts when I get back.

Quick Facts

• Role: board-certified urologist, Bangkok Hospital Headquarters and Samitivej Sriracha Hospital
• Clinical focus: men’s health and sexual medicine, penile prosthesis surgery, robotic and minimally invasive urology
• Fellowships (2019): Andrology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Kaohsiung, Taiwan, under Prof. Po-Hui Chiang · Robotic Surgery and Minimally Invasive Urology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan
• Observership (2022): Endourology, Juntendo University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
• Current (2025–2026): Research Scholar and Clinical Observer, Scott Department of Urology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, under Prof. Mohit Khera
• Mentors: Prof. Somboon Leungwattanakij (Thailand) and Prof. Mohit Khera (USA)

If you would like to discuss men’s health, testosterone, or penile prosthesis surgery, Dr. Soarawee Weerasopone consults at ဘန်ကောက်ဆေးရုံ