One Philippines is honored to feature one of the most respectable, highly distinguished, and well-known philanthropists in Houston’s Filipino American community – Dr. Owen Capocyan.
Truly inspirational, his story of becoming a doctor was not even intentional. He revealed that he was more inclined to apply for Engineering after high school instead of pursuing Medicine.
Dr. Owen said that his mother inspired him to become a doctor. He said, “My mother was a rural health nurse in our town before she moved to the US. She somehow was able to sway me into pursuing a career in medicine. I guess, my mom’s passion in taking care of sick patients as a nurse has etched some memories in my mind.”
Dr. Owen has been practicing in the US since 2009. He finished Family Medicine residency at Texas Tech University in 2007 and completed a Fellowship in Geriatrics in 2008. He joined Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine as Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine from 2010-2020. From 2020 up to the present time, he works as Assistant Clinical Professor at the Sam Houston State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Everyone faces challenges in their profession. Dr. Owen shares his challenges in medical practice, he said, “One challenge in geriatric practice is the struggle with self-care and loss of independence. Aging is progressive and along with it is the decline in the patient’s mental and functional status. Another issue I deal with many times is elder abuse and neglect. This is more common than many people thought. Elderly abuse can be financial, physical, emotional/psychological, or sexual abuse. Sadly, in most cases, it is the family member or caregiver who is the abuser. Another area of extreme challenges is dealing with death and loss. No family member/s would want to lose a loved one. However, in geriatric practice or in hospice or palliative care, many times, we are faced with patients who are at the end-of-life stage. These are very frail and debilitated patients or with multiple chronic medical comorbidities. Death is inevitable as we all know. Discussing with the patient or their family about facing death or loss is not an easy task.”
As an accomplished and distinguished medical doctor, Dr. Owen humbly shares his outstanding achievements, he said, “There are 2 things that stand out to me at least, that I am proud of as far as my geriatric practice is concerned. When I started my practice at OakBend Medical Center in Richmond, geriatric specialty was still in the “infancy” period relative to most traditional specialties such as general surgery, obstetrics, internal medicine, family medicine, etc. I was asked by the CEO of the hospital what are my ideas as far as what can the hospital do in relation to my specialty. I proposed the ideas of establishing a Geriatric Psychiatric Unit and an Acute Care for the Elderly (ACE) Unit. This led to the establishment of both the Senior Behavioral Care Unit in 2014 and subsequently the ACE unit in 2015 at OakBend Medical Center. Both were my brainchild so to speak and I was the medical director of both units until I left to be in private practice in 2019.”
Dr. Owen believes that life is a matter of choices. While he accomplishes more in his chose profession, he makes sure to be there for his family always. He said, “I am a husband and a father first and a physician second. I have always told myself that I would rather lose my job than not being able to give the time needed for my family. If there is a conflict between my work and family, I always choose my family first. So far, it has worked, and it is still working.”
When he is off work, he plays golf or chess. He plays golf almost every weekend on Saturdays and Sundays, and still catches chess games online, especially the big events like world chess championships. He also loves cooking or grilling for his family and finding time to dine out and explore diverse cuisines from all over the world. His family enjoys travelling to at least 2 countries a year.
Dr. Owen is married to his beautiful wife whom she met in medical school at the University of Santo Tomas. She is Lorelei Cabrera Capocyan, a practicing OB-GYN. They have two boys, Sam Lander, and John Patrick. Sam is a Biomedical Engineer who graduated in 2022 from UT Austin and is currently a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University doing a master’s in biomedical engineering with a tract in AI and neuro-engineering. John Patrick, is 17 years old, currently a Junior at Clements High School.
In the community, Dr. Owen sees himself as a strong advocate and volunteer. He uses his profession to help others or as a speaker to spread awareness of geriatric care. He believes in giving to charity. He trusts organizations that promote transparency. He supports those who are true and noble in their acts of building a strong Filipino American community. Although he is hopeful, he believes on the significant impact solidarity among Filipino Americans.
In his final message, he urged Filipino Americans in Houston, “We Filipinos can improve and do better to have more solidarity. We are the 3rd largest Asian-American ethnic group in Houston area, but we are not well-represented in our civic society. We still not have enough Filipino American leaders elected to public office. I believe, when we have more solidarity, we can improve our representation.”
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