Delivering babies, serving students Dr. Clark says she works with many first-time parents
BY SERENA DUGAR IOANE Dr. Clark stands in front of the BYUH Health Center where she has worked one day a week for seven years to help students who are expecting babies. Photo by Jeffery Dang
Dr. Li-Duen Clark has been working at the BYU–Hawaii Health Center as an obstetrician-gynecologist (ob-gyn) for seven years and delivers one to four babies a week, she shared. Although she has her own clinic, she travels to BYUH to make student mothers’ lives more convenient and said she loves working with students here. “Most students do not have cars and catching a bus during pregnancy is hard, so I accepted the request to make students’ prenatal care more convenient,” Clark explained. Seven years ago, the BYUH Health Center asked her to work with them and come to the campus to help students, she explained. Since then, she travels to Laie weekly to provide prenatal care for student mothers. 28
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Noelle Pohina, Dr. Clark’s medical assistant and office manager, said, “Every Wednesday she checks 9-to-10 BYUH student mothers. And we hope we can come more often because her Wednesdays are so busy, and her schedule is always packed.” Clark shared some months, she delivers TVA babies once a week and other months, three to four times a week. Love and service for students Even though she has to drive a long distance to come to campus, she said Wednesdays are her favorite day of the week. “I am always impressed by BYUH students. They study and work while building their young families.” Clark shared the majority of students she works with are expecting their first
child. She said she believes their future pregnancies won’t be too scary if their first pregnancy experience is good. “I spend a lot of time helping them learn about pregnancy from the beginning to the end. I believe it is an important foundation for their parenthood.” Janlavtsogzol Battulga, a senior from Mongolia majoring in accounting, said when she came to BYUH, she got pregnant right away with her first son and met with Dr. Clark. “I thought she would be an old white woman, but I was shocked that she is a young and beautiful Asian doctor. She is very experienced and gentle. She is knowledgeable and knows what she is doing,” Battulga said. Dr. Clark is from Taiwan but moved to the United States when she was 12. She
