Dr. Ji Yon Han was born in South Korea and immigrated to the United States during her teenage years. She graduated from the University of Missouri of Science and Technology at Rolla with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and summa cum laude honors. She then went on to serve as a naval officer in the United States Navy as a Nuclear Power School instructor. As an instructor, she enjoyed working with thousands of students and other staff members but desired a path that allowed her to engage with people on a deeper level.
Inspired by her mother’s dedication to underserved populations as a nurse’s assistant, Dr. Han decided to become a physician and advocate for the health of children. She attended The Medical College of Georgia and completed her residency in the field of pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia. After completing residency training, Dr. Han moved to Southern California in 2009 and worked as a pediatric hospitalist in several hospitals, including Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), later working at several outpatient pediatric offices. She founded Grace Pediatrics in 2014 in order to develop long-lasting and close relationships with her patients in a more intimate setting.
As a mother of two, she discovered that pediatrics was her calling as she found great joy in taking care of children, and understands the daily anxieties and challenges of parenthood. She considers each interaction with families special as each parent’s journey is unique, as she can endeavor in new parents’ journey together, supporting breastfeeding, helping new parents get through hurdles of lack of sleep and providing emotional support. As babies grow to become teenagers, Dr. Han is also passionate about teenagers and helping them navigate adolescence without mental health crises - she is devoted to screening all teens for mental health issues and supporting them through each step with consistent follow-ups, making sure that they and their families, together, can build up resilience and confidence throughout their difficult life journeys.
Dr. Han is also very interested in helping families with developmentally delayed children, partnering with parents so that life decisions are made in the best interests of their child. She was recently certified to diagnose autism and is planning on bringing this evaluation program to Grace Pediatrics so that families can get the support that they need from a trusted physician sooner rather than waiting for many months.
She is a board-certified pediatrician through the American Academy of Pediatrics and a fellow member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Orange County local chapter.
Over the years, the nature of medical practice has shifted from being patient-focused to being insurance-focused, limiting her ability to provide the best quality of care for her patients. This transition away from the patient and their family led to Dr. Han’s interest in Direct Primary Care (DPC). This concierge-style model eliminates insurance billing in favor of a patient-focused approach, ensuring that your child’s health remains our top priority. Insurance companies limited Dr. Han’s ability to build deeper patient relationships and provide more personalized care as bureaucratic rules have led to the humanity in medicine being stripped away.
Dr. Han believes that medicine is both a science and an art, where her experience and knowledge of pediatric medicine comes together with compassion to provide care for the entire human being, including their body, mind, and soul. Coordinated and thoughtful care means considering all aspects of her patients’ lives from each family’s unique situations to their values and belief systems, instead of just the symptoms of an illness.
At Grace Pediatrics, we are redefining the healthcare experience for children and their families by providing superior medical care and convenient access to your trusted pediatrician. She loves building fulfilling long-term relationships with her patients and their patients, getting to know them like a family, and providing a true medical home.