Kevin Hwang, MD, is an internal medicine physician and professor at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, where he sees patients, teaches residents, and leads research and quality improvement projects. His scholarly work has appeared in leading medical journals and has been cited over 1,500 times. Dr. Hwang is board-certified in internal medicine and clinical informatics.
His decades of experience in complex clinical environments have given him unique insight into both the life-saving potential and darker possibilities of modern science. He has written and reviewed articles on a freelance basis for MedPageToday, GoodRx, Healthline, WebMD, and VeryWellHealth, honing his ability to translate medical concepts for general audiences.
Well before trying his hand at a novel, he dabbled in short stories as a teenager and kept writing through college at Rice, where he majored in Biochemistry and English. He eventually published two short stories: "Match Hopes" in The Other Side of the Doorbell anthology and "Details" in The First Line. He still has the $5 check framed.
"Match Hopes" in The Other Side of the Doorbell: An Anthology of Short Stories
"Details" in The First Line, Volume 4, Issue 2, Summer 2002
This combination of clinical expertise and writing experience led Dr. Hwang to explore fiction that examines the psychological and ethical complexities that arise when medical care meets human suffering. The idea for The Regression Strain came to him shortly before the pandemic reached US shores — then got shelved entirely when COVID arrived. He was swamped with work, and convinced nobody would want to read about a medical crisis on a cruise ship during an actual pandemic. Eventually he talked himself back into it. From start to finish, it took seven years, including editing, rewriting, and long stretches when medicine took priority. The grueling years of residency shaped protagonist Dr. Peter Palma's backstory more than he'd like to admit.
Living close to Galveston, he has always been fascinated by cruise ships as floating cities. Medical emergencies become exponentially more complex when you're days from the nearest hospital — the perfect pressure cooker for a thriller. He studied real cruise ship medical protocols and drew on conditions that genuinely affect brain function and behavior. The Regression Strain, his debut novel, was released in 2025 and has garnered multiple awards and honors.
Dr. Hwang attended Rice University and The University of Texas Medical Branch. When not treating patients or crafting his next story, he can be found scribbling on index cards, rehabbing his nagging musculoskeletal injuries, and enjoying Tex-Mex and sushi with his wife and children.
He is a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) and the Independent Author Network (IAN).