Dr. William R. Boone Jr. and Kyoko Nakamizo Scholarship recipient follows in her grandmother's footsteps 7,000 miles from home
The figures are staggering. In 1960 in the United States, the number of female physicians
was just slightly more than 14,000, just less than 7% of active doctors. In China
at the same time, that number shrinks even more to only a few thousand women working
as physicians, but it was from these meager figures that Rinka Ko’s grandmother, whose
highest level of education was middle school, rose up to become a beloved pediatrician
in China. Ko heard so much of the inspirational work of her grandmother, and now,
65 years later, halfway around the world, the first-year student at UNT Health Fort
Worth’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine is blazing her own trail to becoming
a physician.
“She always told me how much all the neighborhood relied on her,” Ko said.
She heard the stories from her grandmother about stealing her brother's books and memorizing everything she could. The inspiring family history is what led Ko to Fort Worth after taking an even bigger leap of faith and moving to a country she had never visited before.
Born in Japan, her family moved to Shanghai, China, when Ko was very young. She attended an international high school, which prepared her for a potential move overseas to attend college, which was a dream of her father's.
“My Dad always wanted me to work in the U.S.; that was his dream for me,” Ko said. “He felt limited staying in China, and he was so curious about other parts of the world, but he was always very interested in the culture and the idea of freedom in America. The American dream was something that he always wanted, but just couldn’t make it work out.”
When it came time to pick a college, Ko had many friends end up in Canada, the United Kingdom and even Japan, but for her, it was going to America, and specifically, Texas. It wasn’t her father, though; it was her high school guidance counselor who said that the University of Texas at Austin was the perfect fit for Ko. It was 2021, and COVID-19 was still ravaging the world, so if Ko was going to go halfway around the globe, it was going to be blind.
“I decided on a college without coming or visiting,” a chuckling Ko said. “It was so funny that I just decided to go to Texas, and my Dad really liked Austin, so I did it.”
It’s roughly 7,400 miles from Shanghai to Austin, and Ko’s journey to the United States took 30 hours to complete.
“I was so tired, and it was so hot when I got to Austin,” Ko said.
What better way to be welcomed to Texas than on a scorching August day? The weather wasn’t the only shock; Ko was on her own, in a foreign country, away from her family for the first time in her life. She was homesick.
“It was a huge transition, and it was the first time living without my parents,” she said. “My Dad called me every night, but it was really difficult. I didn’t want to show it to my parents because I didn’t want them to be worried, but my freshman year, I was just trying to stay alive in a new environment.”
Ko might not have been prepared for the cultural differences, but she was well-prepared for the academic work. Health care was always on her radar, but it was neuroscience that she ended up majoring in.
“My psychology teacher in high school was a really big influence on me,” Ko said. “He introduced me to a lot, and I was very interested in neuroscience, not because I wanted to do pre-med, though.”
She was an honors student in the Polymathic Scholars Honors Program at UT and was on her own with nobody to rely on.
“I overcame various barriers and quickly adapted to the new environment,” she said. “I was able to navigate the culture shocks and handle the challenges independently.”
Ko supported herself financially by working part-time and then creatively starting her own tutoring business on the side, while still tackling the demanding honors courses. The rigorous pace didn’t slow her academic prowess at all, as she was honored with the College Scholar Award for high academic achievement while at UT.
“Through this experience, I developed resilience and adaptability to overcome future obstacles,” Ko said. “Additionally, I learned how to form connections and build a community amidst a sea of unfamiliar faces, which are skills crucial in medical school and beyond as I forge bonds and collaborate with fellow students to achieve our shared goal of becoming physicians.”
Right or wrong, Ko also felt the pressure to live up to the expectations of her family. Instead of unwinding on a Friday night after a week of classes, Ko hunkered down in her dorm room to study.
“I came to realize that the pressure from my Dad was because he really wants me to do well, and that changed my mindset,” Ko said.
She did have a few outlets for relaxation, and one of them was singing. It was a hobby she picked up in high school, and at UT, she even performed in a talent show where she sang a solo Japanese song with a pianist accompanying her.
As she started to adapt to her new home, toward the end of her sophomore year, Ko was thinking of career paths. As a neuroscience major, maybe research instead of medicine?
“I couldn’t imagine myself doing research; I wanted something more stimulating,” Ko said. “My grandmother would FaceTime with my parents when they called, and she reminded me of how I was going to be a doctor.”
A neuroscience degree isn’t common for students going into medicine, but it isn’t a deal breaker either. Ko started volunteering at homeless shelters and hospitals to see what the environment was like, in addition to an internship in Houston, shadowing a pediatrician. She loved it, Ko was convinced now that she was going to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps.
“I loved the clinic environment when the kids would come in so nervous, and then you see them, and they leave knowing things are going to be okay,” said Ko. “As an immigrant, I wanted to do something impactful, not just get out of college and go work, but something I would be proud of and that would help other people. Medicine was the perfect route for that.”
Ko had to catch up, though in a hurry, by studying for the MCAT and applying to medical school.
The calendar flipped to January 2025, and it was then that Ko received an invite to interview at TCOM. She prepared hard for the interview, which came and went, and then she waited. Ko knew that on Feb. 14, it was Match Day for applicants.
“My Valentine’s Day was either going to be really good or really bad,” Ko said. “It came out at 8 a.m., and I couldn’t wait. I checked right after my morning classes and found out then that I got into TCOM. I called my parents, they were just really happy, and my Dad was very close to tears.”
Her family had been so supportive, and now Ko was going to live out her dream, just like her grandmother predicted. The family support, however, would be limited as she started medical school. Only her brother was at her graduation from the University of Texas.
“My parents gave up their green card, so they can’t live in the US, but they can visit,” Ko said.
Supporting Ko financially is even more difficult because she is the only one in her family who is a U.S. citizen. Sending money overseas is a very complicated process, but Ko found support from her homeland, Japan, right here in Texas.
Ko was one of the first recipients of the Dr. William R. Boone Jr. and Kyoko Nakamizo Scholars Program for students at TCOM. The scholarship is for $5,000 a year for the next four years. At UNT Health’s recent Evening of Gratitude, Ko met with Dr. Boone’s wife, Kyoko Nakamizo, who is Japanese herself.
“I am so thankful for Dr. Boone and his wife for that, because now I don’t have to
worry about what to eat or the rent; it was so helpful,” Ko said. “We actually sat
at dinner together and had a chance to talk with her; we spoke in Japanese. I felt
honored.”
“He was a family physician, and he loved family medicine. I’m in a family medicine organization, and I’m considering that as well as anything in primary care.”
Ko is trilingual, speaking fluent Chinese, Japanese and English. She also recently became an American citizen in February of 2025, but hasn’t lost her identity as a Japanese citizen.
“That culture is still there with me, but now that I am a U.S. citizen, I say that I’m American,” said Ko.
Where she ends up practicing, however, is still a question. Osteopathic physicians outside of the U.S. still face challenges, and Ko still goes back and forth, wondering where she wants to be.
“I have lived here for five years, and I’m going to live here for another six, so I’m still kind of deciding where I’m going to practice,” she said. “I have thought so many times of going back home and just being near my family because I can see them getting old now, and it hurts not being able to spend time with them. They want me to practice in China if it's feasible, but it's going to be hard.”
As Ko continues her medical education journey, she can’t help but think about her grandmother’s words and how they aren’t just wishful thinking but a reality coming to fruition.
“She always wanted me to be a doctor,” she said. “She repeatedly said I was going to be a doctor, and if you want it enough, you repeatedly say it, and when you say it enough times, in my case, I think it really did come true.”