A Conversation with Dr. Yvonne Kangong, MD

Dr Yvonne Kangong is a popular keynote speaker, mentor, advocate, and community builder in Calgary, Alberta, where she also practices Family and Obesity Medicine at SaddleTowne Medical Clinic. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health, and is also the author of the book What’s Obesity Got To Do With It? (2022).

As well, Dr. Kangong is a clinical lecturer with the Cummings School of Medicine, University of Calgary and received a teaching award in 2019, as well as a number of other community awards. She is the founder of Breakers Health, a medical consultancy, weight management and public speaking company.  Dr. Kangong is also the Medical Director of the Mosaic Primary Care Network in Calgary, and is on the advisory board of the Canadian Collaborative Research Network (CCRN). In addition, she is co-owner with her husband of the KFS BBQ Smokehouse & Meat Market in Calgary.  She and her husband have three children.

Dr. Kangong is a shining, bright light in her community and her church, and she loves to volunteer. She has a gift for seeing the potential in everyone, bringing hope and laughter to those around her. It’s no surprise that she earned the name ‘Giggles’ at one point! The story of her remarkable journey thus far is inspiring, to say the least. We’re very excited to share our conversation with this delightful and very dedicated woman.

22 minutes

Transcript of the interview:

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
My prayer every day is Lord, You helped me to be a doctor, but above all, You are the mighty healer. Help me heal people. Let it be through You, by Your Spirit, by Your power. Either by my words, my actions, or just my smile – let me bring some hope.

Bill Locke 
This issue we’re very fortunate to have Dr. Yvonne Kangong, a respected physician, mentor, advocate, life coach, churchgoer, community builder, and mother of three. Besides teaching at the University of Calgary Medical School, she is the Medical Director of the Mosaic Primary Care Network. She is also an advisor for medical research, and the owner, with her husband, of a barbecue smokehouse. Most recently, she’s written a book: “What’s Obesity Got To Do With It?” Yvonne, I’ve been looking forward to getting to know you since we met you at a lovely event a couple of weeks ago, in Calgary.

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
Yes, I’ve been looking forward to it, too.

Bill Locke 
I wanted to find out a little bit about your background, your family, and a little profile for those who don’t know you.

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
Yes, I am Yvonne Kangong, married to Mr. Wilfred Kangong, and mother of three amazing kids – Elizabeth, Solomon, and Arielle. I am a Christian. My husband’s father was a pastor. My grandfather was a Presbyterian pastor. My daddy and my mom used to sing in the choir. So I grew up in a Christian home. So to me, faith is very important. And we are raising our kids in the same way, following the Lord because you can never go wrong with that. And I was so blessed to be married to my husband, whose family is also Christian.

Bill Locke 
Tell me a little bit about your training and how you got here.

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
Originally I came from western Africa. At the age of 11, I felt led. I knew that I was going to be a doctor. I didn’t know how. I was still in Cameroon, where we had a neighbor who was a gynecologist, and I used to sneak by his clinic to see what he was doing. And one day, I was caught by the people working there, peeping through the holes while he was doing some exams, and I got a big crack on my head. I will never forget that. And so he saw that. And he called – he told them don’t do that. So he came to me and he said, “So tell me why are you so interested in what’s happening here in this clinic.” I told him, “I want to be a doctor, like you.” You know, his name was the late Dr. Biaca, may he rest in peace. He really inspired me. And fast forward, I went to do Microbiology in Nigeria, at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University – that’s way in the north. And during my holidays, when I came home, I would go to his clinic. He had a laboratory, and so since he knew I was interested, he’d let me work with the people in the lab. And so he just helped, you know, develop that interest. And my mom was also a midwife and a nurse. And so she kept saying, you know, I think you will be good for medicine. I think you like it. So she really supported me also. So then I graduated from Nigeria, went to St. Lucia, and in this way, I did my medical school. And later on came to Calgary where I did my residency in family medicine at the University of Calgary. And in between that period, I also got to do my Master’s in Public Health from Lakehead University, and that was online. So in between all that time, I met my husband, we had kids, and I started working at Alberta Children’s Hospital as a research coordinator.  And how did I get to this position? I started volunteering. So I always tell people, it’s good to volunteer because you never know who’s watching you. I volunteered at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Emergency for research projects. And someone just asked me one day, “What’s your background?” So I told him, and he said, “Okay, send me your CV.” So I sent my CV, and fast forward, when it was time to apply for residency, I started in the exams. When I took the exam the first time, I failed. I told my husband, “Oh, I’m done with all this.” And he said, “No, no, no, no, no, you didn’t come this far to stop.” We were also getting ready to move to South Africa because it was so hard to get into Canada and the Canadian system. And so we went to church one day – we were going to St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church here in Calgary – and I’ll never forget this: the congregants came to us, and said to us, “We’re praying for you people. You will stay in Canada and God will open doors for you.” And I looked at my husband, and we said, “Okay, God, what are you trying to tell us?” And so we kept on going, kept on trusting God, you know, kept on working hard. And at some point, I had to leave Calgary – leaving my kids at home and my husband and the nanny – to go all around Canada to get Canadian experience for almost a year and a half. Those were really difficult times. But I did it, because God was with me, and God was with my family and kept us all going. So I graduated from the University of Calgary, with the help of my preceptor, Dr. Rod Crutcher, who also happened to be a Christian. Oh my, God will align the places and people to inspire you and guide your path. So he was my residency preceptor, and as he was a Christian, there were times that I would come looking so devastated with the stress of residency, and he would call me into the room and say, “We gotta pray.”  So God lined Christians along my path until today, and he is still my mentor. I will still always reach out to him, you know. So I graduated from the University of Calgary, and he was retiring. He said, “I think you’d be a good fit to take over my role here, to continue training residents. And I was like, “Who, me? How?” And he said, like, “Yes, you. I think you can do it!”  So I graduated in June. By July, I was a preceptor clinical lecturer at the University. So if not for God, where would I have been? So then after that, I continued in the community, working as a family doctor and then a position came from the Mosaic Primary Care Network Board of Directors. So, for a Primary Care Network, the government gives money to community physicians based on the number of patients, to take care of the needs of those patients. That might be a mental health doctor, or a dietitian, or perhaps a kinesiologist. And so they have a board, like a nonprofit, and I was on the board. And after being on the board for a while, I became the Assistant Medical Director, and now I’m the Medical Director. And so we have 370 doctors.

Bill Locke 
Did I hear you say 370 doctors?

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
Yes. We have 370 doctors that are part of that Primary Care Network. And we have about 170 other staff, namely nurses, medical office assistants, pharmacists, all of that – we work together to provide for the needs of our patient population. And I only look back and I say, “It’s only God, because I couldn’t do it on my own.” I had long gaps in my resume. And when I went for residency interviews, they sometimes asked, “Where have you been all these years?” I told them, I worked in call centers, I worked in factories. And I was grateful to God that I was fertile, and I made babies during that time. And I think for me, those were the “icebreakers” during those interviews. So here am I, just me, a little girl from Cameroon, a lover of God, who has taken me to places I never could have imagined.

Bill Locke 
So you’ve gone from Cameroon, not even knowing if you could get into any kind of professional opportunity, to now being a medical director of a pretty big medical initiative, teaching medicine, right? You’ve also raised a family, or are raising a family – and written a book, which we’re going to talk about, and you’ve even started a barbecue business.

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
(Laughs) My husband is the brains behind the barbecue business!

Bill Locke 
In all these situations that you’re talking about, you had a plan, but you weren’t sure if your plan would come through – and then other times, you didn’t really have a plan for something to happen, but yet, you somehow discerned God’s will, for yourself, for your family. How do you do that, Yvonne?

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
Prayers, meditation, and I’m blessed to have a wonderful husband, God-fearing; Wilfred is his name. When my feet get shaken, he holds me and says, “Hey, listen, let’s take a journey back. Let’s look back at where we were before. Look at where we are today! If not for God, where would we have been?” And that’s when I say, “Oh, yeah, if He did it then, He will do it now.” So I always say you need that community of faith;  people that will hold you when you’re falling, because you can’t do it on your own. Right? Yes, we know we’re Christian, and there’s a Bible. But sometimes we look back and complain, “Why me? Why me?” So I’ve got to instead say, “Why NOT me?” Even Job, the follower of God, had the worst things happen. Every time I read the Book of Job, I say, “Wow, would I have kept on following God, if that was me?”  You know what I mean? Everything that he went through! So every time when I feel like I’m getting overwhelmed, and I am asking the question, “Why me?” – I say instead, “Why not me? If Job could still say, ‘God, I’ll keep on following you.’ I haven’t even seen one-tenth of what he went through! Why not me?”

Bill Locke 
I understand you’ve written a book about obesity. And I wonder why would you write about obesity, and what is the purpose of this book, Yvonne?

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
You know, the purpose of this book is to shed a light on the stigma and bias faced by people with obesity. Growing up in Cameroon, I saw that people with obesity were called names, like “fat”; or “chubby”. And people always thought that people with obesity are lazy; all they do is eat, eat, eat, sit. And I did have a patient at some point who passed away because she had obesity. She had some other medical conditions, but everyone blamed it on her weight. So that was an eye-opener for me when that happened. I said to myself, “I need to do something. I need to do something because that could have been preventable.” And so during the pandemic, I also changed my lifestyle. I had gained some weight. And then during the pandemic, I said to myself, “Well, I have a lot of time right now working from home. Let me try and see what I can do, you know, to better my life. And I can also share that with my patients.” So I took some time and I did the American Board of Obesity Medicine diplomate. I passed that exam, and I said, “With all the knowledge that I’ve learned, let me write a book.” And that’s how this book came about. So it talks about my own struggles with obesity, like any other woman out there whereby you have kids, you get pregnant, you gain weight, and you find it hard to lose. And just when you think you’re done losing that weight, you get pregnant again! It’s like a cycle. You wake up in the morning and you look at yourself in the mirror and you go, “Oh, now what happened? Nothing fits!” So the way the book starts is – it’s pretty interesting – it starts like this: (reads aloud) “It’s Friday, what a difficult week it’s been, juggling work, family, driving kids to sports activities, creating time for self-care. Time to take a break. But first, what am I going to wear? I looked around the closet, my jeans didn’t fit. What happened here? Does this sound familiar?” That’s the story of most women out there. And also there are some men who also have had different challenges in their life. So I talk about the causes of obesity, what we can do as a whole, what policymakers can do as a whole, treatments out there, and genetic causes of obesity, and all the other medications out there – just some evidence-based research for the nerdy people. And thirty tips to a healthier you – just little things that you can do, one day at a time, to move towards your health goal.

Bill Locke 
It seems to me that part of this is about good medical advice, or good healthy common sense types of things, but it’s also about inspiring patients, encouraging them to not give up, to persist; if they fall to pick themselves up because we’re bound to lose weight and then put it on again. There’s a psychology – maybe even a spirituality – to this because we look to God for all things. And who knows, maybe if we pray for our health or others pray for our health, God can help us deal with that, too.

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
Exactly. You know, one thing that I also emphasize in the book is that there’s also science behind weight gain. It’s not only willpower, right? Because sometimes people say, “Oh, if I could just eat less!”  There’s always this idea of “eat less,  move more”. It’s time to put an end to that. Because lifestyle changes account for about five to 10% of weight loss. But then there is genetics. If you have two parents with obesity, you have about 70 to 80% chance that you also will have obesity. So there are so many odds against us. Sometimes certain medications people take – even blood pressure medications, birth control pills, and medications for depression and anxiety – there are so many different medications that can lead to weight gain. So it’s a whole comprehensive approach that I take in my practice, where I look at behavior, physical activity, medical nutrition therapy, then there’s medication, and there’s also bariatric surgery. So I tell people, it doesn’t make you weak, to get to that point where you might say, “You know what, I need this help.”

Bill Locke 
You are talking about men and women, but I know women are important to you, because you spoke at a wonderful event recently which was honoring women, calling them “Women of Distinction”, in which you recognized those many women who were given the award. Why do you think it’s important to do something like that?

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
You know, I think I like people to see where I’ve been. To see that if I can stand here today, so can you. Because as women, we have so many challenges. When we go to bed, we’re already thinking about the next day. What are we going to eat? What are we going to do? Or, this child has this, and this other child has this. Not that daddies don’t do that. No, daddies do that too. But we’re just wired to think way further. And so if another woman sees me standing there, and giving them hope, I just think it’s so important. And the African proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child” – it can also be a group of women to inspire younger girls.

Bill Locke 
That’s something we don’t see in Canada as much I think, as in some countries, like maybe rural Cameroon. I think women there are probably much more connected, as a community, than women here in Canada or the US.

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
Exactly. But I think, as time goes on, with communities coming together, I think it’s getting a little bit better. Right? It takes all of us to join our heads together. I think what I find here is that people are often associated with a certain group. So if they’re in one part of the church, they have their own network, just like any other organization.

Bill Locke 
Tell me how your spirit, your soul, is nourished and given hope.

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
When I wake up every day, my friends always laugh at me. I send them a message. When I wake up in the morning, I want the devil to say, “Oh, no! Why did she get up today?” Because I have to call on the name of the Lord. So I always am sending them a text in the morning, like: “Hey, brother, sisters, I can see the devil hitting his head and saying, “Oh, no! Why is she up today?” Because I am going to rebuke the devil, and I’m going to call on the Lord to guide me through this day. And I encourage everyone to do the same, because it gives you so much strength; it gives you so much hope. I’m here today because of all the love God has for me. It gives me peace. It gives me joy. You know, people always ask, what is the source of my joys and I tell them Jesus-mycin. You know, there are antibiotics like Azithromycin and Erythromycin. So I tell them mine is Jesus-mycin, because I get that by going to God every day in prayer and praising God and singing. And I want to pass that hope to my patients also. That’s why when you go see a doctor who is happy, then you feel happy. And when you go see a doctor who is grumpy, it rubs off whether you like it or not. So that positive energy is so important. And my prayer every day is, “Lord, you helped me to be a doctor. But above all, You are the mighty healer. Help me heal people. Let it be through You, by Your Spirit, by Your power – and either by my words, my actions, even just my smile – let me bring some hope in them.

Bill Locke 
That’s beautiful. So what’s next, Yvonne? Do you have any other doors opening? Or are you opening any other new businesses?

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
New businesses? No. Right now I’m focusing on my main interest, which is diabetes and obesity. So we’re working on healthy foods for people with diabetes and obesity, or anyone who wants to live a healthier life, wherever God leads us. And another thing that we’re focusing on also is our faith. We have to, you know. We find sometimes that life gets so busy. We can always get busy with the things of the world, but what about our faith? So that’s our goal this year.

Bill Locke 
Well, bless you, Yvonne – your family, your marriage, your clinic, your book, your new ventures. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Dr. Yvonne Kangong 
You’re welcome. I feel like singing. What song am I going to sing? (sings the hymn On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand.) That’s my rock. Thank you for having me.