Dr. Kimberly Kho

Patient Feedback

Patterns Across Patient Feedback

Endometriosis Focus

Endometriosis Within a Practice Built Around Complex Benign Gyn Conditions

Dr. Kho is a gynecologist who does not practice obstetrics. Her stated focus is noncancerous conditions that are common but often complex, specifically fibroids, endometriosis, adenomyosis, ovarian masses and pelvic pain. At UT Southwestern she directed multidisciplinary programs for both fibroids and endometriosis. She is now based at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, which runs an endometriosis program, and she has described endometriosis as a condition she treats frequently.

Her published work covers endometriosis, adenomyosis and fibroids. Three endometriosis publications are confirmed: a 2015 study. of endometriosis in adolescents, a 2025 paper evaluating how accurately AI chatbots answer endometriosis questions, and a 2023 study on surgical complications during hysterectomy in patients with endometriosis. Her most recent major publication and most of her conference presentations are on adenomyosis and fibroids. She has been listed on Nancy's Nook since 2021.

Healthgrades and WebMD both label her as treating endometriosis more often than similar providers. These labels are generated from insurance billing data rather than reported by the surgeon or the hospital, and they cannot distinguish excision from ablation. 

Multidisciplinary Approach

Building a Team Approach in Hawaii

A team approach is central to how she describes her practice. Her stated position is that the specialists needed for complex pelvic pain care already exist in Hawaii, naming radiologists, pain specialists and physical therapists, and that what has been missing is someone to organize them into a coordinated team. She has described working with interventional radiologists to build a multidisciplinary fibroid program in the state, and has said building the wider program requires strengthening collaboration across specialties. Nancy's Nook noted a team approach to endometriosis and other sources of pelvic pain when she was added in 2021.

She recommends pelvic floor physical therapy as part of treatment, describing it as necessary when the muscles around long-standing pain have started working badly. She has also said untreated pelvic pain gets worse over time if this is not addressed. No public source confirms whether colorectal, urological or thoracic surgeons are routinely available to her surgical team in Hawaii, which matters for patients with disease on the bowel, bladder or diaphragm.

Diagnosis Methods

Normal Scans Do Not Rule Endometriosis Out

Her stated position is that endometriosis can only be confirmed by looking inside during surgery and taking tissue, usually through laparoscopy, which is keyhole surgery through small cuts in the abdomen. She has acknowledged that imaging is improving to the point where it can strongly suggest endometriosis, but has been clear that tissue remains the standard for diagnosis.

She has spoken directly about patients arriving in emergency rooms with severe pain and normal scans and being told nothing is wrong, and has said this needs to change. A 2026 patient account describes her operating on a patient with no imaging evidence of endometriosis, finding stage 1 disease, and preparing that patient in advance for the possibility that nothing would be found. Her published work includes a study of adolescents with endometriosis which found that patients waited an average of nearly two years from first symptoms to diagnosis and had usually seen three doctors before anyone identified the disease.

Educational Presence

A Substantial Academic Profile in Endo, Adeno, and Fibroids

Dr. Kho is a senior academic surgeon. She holds an endowed professorship at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii, described as the first professorship of its kind in advanced gynecologic surgery at a major American academic institution, and she is Associate Chair of Faculty Development there. She sits on the Board of Directors of AAGL, the main professional body for minimally invasive gynecologic surgery, and chairs its task force on surgical ergonomics. She serves on the editorial board of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, including in the textbook Williams Gynecology, and has been a National Institutes of Health supported clinical scholar.

Her endometriosis-specific work is narrower than that record suggests. Three endometriosis specific publications are confirmed. The first is a 2015 study of endometriosis in adolescents, co-authored with her fellowship mentor Dr. Ceana Nezhat, which followed patients aged 21 and under diagnosed at laparoscopy. The second is a 2025 paper assessing how accurately AI chatbots answer common endometriosis questions, which found answers about basic facts were largely accurate while answers about treatment were less so. The third is a 2023 study using a national surgical database which found patients with endometriosis had higher complication rates after hysterectomy, and concluded surgeons need better tools to anticipate how complex these operations will be.

Her most prominent recent publication is a 2026 clinical review of adenomyosis in Obstetrics and Gynecology, written by invitation. Her conference presentations that could be confirmed by title are on fibroids and on surgical ergonomics. No endometriosis-titled conference presentation was located, and no appearances were found on the established endometriosis podcasts.

She runs her own Instagram account, where she posts about endometriosis, adenomyosis and fibroids, about her research, and about people she has mentored.

She also posts on LinkedIn. Separately, her employers have produced features about her, including a Hawaii Pacific Health interview about endometriosis and two University of Hawaii articles about her professorship and her adenomyosis review. She has appeared on the BackTable Women's Health podcast discussing adenomyosis and her research on childcare as a barrier to healthcare, and on a Gliss podcast episode about endometriosis. The endometriosis interviews are the exception rather than the pattern in her media appearances.

Post-Surgical Care

Almost No Public Information

No public source describes what follow-up looks like after surgery with Dr. Kho. There is nothing on record about how soon the first appointment happens, how long she continues to see patients afterward, whether she sees patients personally at follow-up, or what she recommends in terms of hormonal treatment after surgery. Patient accounts mention follow-up appointments taking place but give no detail on timing or who conducted them.

For patients with endometriosis who are going through menopause and taking hormone therapy, she has said she includes progesterone for every such patient, including those who no longer have ovaries or a uterus, and that she uses the lowest dose that controls symptoms because estrogen can drive endometriosis growth. She has also said endometriosis can flare in menopause with or without hormone therapy. This is a specific situation and should not be read as her general position on hormones after surgery, which is not publicly documented.

Philosophy and Fit

Medication First, Then Surgery, and Never Waiting for Menopause

She describes treatment as a staircase. Her stated starting point for most patients is hormonal medication, usually a three to four month trial, taken continuously rather than with a monthly break, on the reasoning that steady hormone levels give fewer symptoms than the natural rise and fall. She names low dose combined pills and, as her preferred option, a progesterone-only medication called norethindrone acetate. She says patients should message her early if a medication is not working rather than stopping it, and that the point of the first visit is to establish what the patient actually wants fixed so progress can be measured against it later. This appears in a single podcast interview and is the only public account located of how she sequences treatment.

She reaches for surgery when medication has not restored quality of life, and describes that threshold in terms of daily living rather than test results, naming pain with intimacy, pain with bowel movements, missed work and missed activities. She has said clearly that patients should not be told to wait for menopause, because endometriosis lesions produce their own hormones and symptoms can persist or worsen. She uses the strong menopause-inducing drugs sparingly, saying that by the time a patient qualifies for them they usually need surgery instead, and Nancy's Nook noted in 2021 that she limits this class of drug to rare cases where a patient wants to delay surgery.

On hysterectomy she has been direct that it does not cure endometriosis, because endometriosis is by definition outside the uterus, while also saying it can be life changing for patients who also have adenomyosis. She recommends anti-inflammatory diets as a supporting measure rather than a treatment, and is openly critical of health influencers selling unproven remedies. She has described her role as helping patients articulate what they are living with and then telling them that it is not something they have to accept.