File:Dr. Ching Tia Byron Kao.jpg

Summary

Several generations of Brunswickians remember visits to longtime physician Dr. Ching Tia Byron Kao, who practiced out of his home in Gum Springs Hollow, above City Park. Dr. Kao's Chinese name Ching Tia means "to worship the biggest Tia Mountain" where Confusius is said to have lived. A native of Shanghai where he was born and raised, Dr. Kao received his medical education in China and was responsible for rebuilding the hospital of Wuxi, which is now considered one of the most prestigious hospitals in China. As Mao Zedong's Communist Party moved to consolidate control of the mainland, Dr. Kao and his wife, also a doctor, took his elder brother's advice and fled to the U.S. in 1948. Dr. Kao practiced general surgery in Wilmington, DE and Washington, DC prior to accepting a full-time offer to be a general practitioner in Brunswick in 1957. Before he built his home on Gum Springs Road in 1960 where he operated his practice, raised his family and lived the rest of his life, he occupied office space in the old Gross residence on S. Maryland Avenue and in the former Beth Isreal Synagogue on A Street. Dr. Kao passed away at age 96 in 2012. (Photo & information courtesy of the City of Brunswick, MD History Commission and an article in the 9/27/07 Brunswick Citizen)