Dr. Shiue taught her first cooking class to patients less than a week after the CME class and slowly began building her cooking and teaching skills while providing classes at an adult night school, public libraries, community centers, and other community-oriented venues. This allowed her to further develop her public speaking skills and learn what people were most interested in learning. Eventually, Dr. Shiue pitched the cooking class to the board of directors at the medical center where she was employed at the time and found an unlikely ally in the center’s president, who had transformed his health with improved eating habits. He was working on an executive MBA at the time and was interested in helping to develop a business plan for Dr. Shiue’s idea, which they both thought would be a great fit for their medical center. While the proposal was unfortunately turned down, Dr. Shiue was later presented with an intriguing new opportunity at Kaiser Permanente.
During a time when Kaiser Permanente’s Thrive ads prominently showcased the organization’s focus on integrated healthcare and permeated the Northern California market, Dr. Shiue learned of a new medical office being built. Her friend, a primary care doctor at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco, shared that a primary care doctor was needed at the new location. Dr. Shiue hadn’t let go of her dream to lead a healthy cooking program for patients and wanted to be able to integrate this into her job.
Eventually, Dr. Shiue connected with many at Kaiser Permanente, including cardiologist and then head of the medical center, Dr. Maria Ansari, who today serves as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of The Permanente Medical Group and KPSOM Board Member. After Dr. Shiue shared her vision, Dr. Ansari agreed to start a pilot cooking program and Dr. Shiue soon accepted a new role as the first Director of Culinary Medicine at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco.
Before she began her new role, she took a year off to attend culinary school. “[My justification for] not having income for a year and in paying tuition money was that I wanted to be the best teacher I could be for my future students,” said Dr. Shiue. “I wanted to really have the confidence that I could answer all the questions about cooking techniques [in a] systematic way of teaching.”
Today, Dr. Shiue is a multi-hyphenate juggernaut who excels as an internal medicine physician, chef, KPSOM culinary medicine instructor, author of the cookbook Spicebox Kitchen: Eat Well and Be Healthy with Globally Inspired, Vegetable-Forward Recipes, and Director of Culinary and Lifestyle Medicine at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco. In addition, Dr. Shiue serves on the board of the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, as well as the boards of Meals on Wheels, San Francisco, and the San Francisco Marin Food Bank, two organizations that address food insecurity. In all these roles, Dr. Shiue continues to carry forward her mantra that eating well should be enjoyable and is key to good health.
