Two ‘Tieus’ Are Better Than One
Married Health First physicians blend perfect prescription of medicine, family and partnership

Dr. Ken Tieu, a board-certified bariatric surgeon, and Dr. Aimee Tieu, a board-certified urogynecologist, met in medical school at Penn State University.
Viera, Fla. – It’s not uncommon for one physician to marry another physician — any more than an attorney or accountant marrying someone who works in a similar field or profession.
What is uncommon, however, is when both physician spouses work in the same specialty, for the same organization, in the same hospital, and often care for many of the same patients.
But for Merritt Island residents Aimee and Ken Tieu, both surgeons at Health First’s Viera Hospital, it’s the right prescription that helps balance work and family life, while also building stronger community roots.
“A doctor marrying another health care professional is pretty common, but both being in the same discipline isn’t,” Aimee says. “With both of us being surgeons here, there are weeks we see each other more in the operating room than at home. But like many other couples with challenging careers and home lives, we strike a nice balance.”
Dr. Ken Tieu, a board-certified bariatric surgeon, and Dr. Aimee Tieu, a board-certified urogynecologist, met in medical school at Penn State University.
While their specialties are admittedly different, they do tend to overlap from time to time.
Ken specializes in robotic-assisted general surgery and bariatric surgery, including adjustable gastric band, gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, and revisional bariatric surgery. His general surgery practice also includes treatments for GERD and acid reflux-related conditions, colon and gastrointestinal cancers, hernia repairs, and gallbladder and appendix surgeries.
Aimee, also an expert in robotic surgery, focuses on pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery. Her specialties include Pelvic Floor Reconstructive Surgery, Pelvic Organ Prolapse, Urinary and Fecal Incontinence, and Urodynamic Testing.
Having served Brevard County patients together at Health First now for over 12 years, the Tieus, who met 17 years ago while in medical school, can agree on one thing: No cold weather. Ever again.
“I did my fellowship down in Fort Lauderdale and said, ‘That’s it. We’re never moving anywhere cold again’ — because I grew up in Ohio as well. So, I went from Ohio to Pennsylvania to Texas and then Florida and said, ‘yeah, no more cold, no more scraping our cars, snow and all that stuff,’” Aimee said.
“I grew up in California,” said Ken. “I had never seen real snow and ice until Penn State and thought at first ‘This is amazing. This is great.’ So that was nice for … maybe a week. And then you realize winter lasts for six months — and coming from California, I had one pair of shoes and one jacket for all of Pennsylvania winter.”
Medical training, career opportunities and, of course, weather all combined to lead the Tieus to Health First and Brevard County, where they’ve practiced medicine and are raising three children. A 12-year marriage, three young kids and two very challenging careers sounds like a lot.
“We’re going on 17 years together, and this is my first and only job outside of training,” said Aimee. “We’ve been with Health First the whole time, but we’re able to truly support one another because of our close career link. Contrary to what some people might think, we absolutely do love working together. I remember being a resident at University of Texas, and there would be days that I wouldn’t see Ken. We weren’t married at the time, but we were together, and it would just be nice to be doing obstetrics and have other residents or other people say, ‘Hey we saw Ken, He came in to help us with a case.’
So, it’s nice to be in the same hospital system, in the same hospital, in the same office, because our lives are so busy that if we didn’t work together in the same vicinity, you could literally be like ships passing in the wind. Moments like this give us an opportunity to kind of see each other and we can check in and see how we’re doing or see who’s picking up which sick kid from the school, at what time. It works!”
“I think it would be very difficult if we worked in different locations, or for other hospitals or health systems, for sure. But being together, with years of treating patients and working with similar colleagues, I hear from other people saying ‘Hey, she’s (Aimee) great, she’s great at what she does.’ But just for me to see, you know, what we went through in training, and we put a lot of effort into what we do, but just to be there and see what she does and think, ‘we really did this,” said Ken. “But I’m lucky to be in this situation, especially with us both being in similar medical tracks [laparoscopic and robotic surgery].”
“It does help because we do face a lot of the same challenges. It’s nice to be able to go home and say, “Hey, I had this tough case.’ And I know that Ken is one of the best surgeons in the area for abdominal surgery. So, I can ask him questions about an upcoming case or for planning. There are other times I’ll be talking to a patient, and I’ll say, ‘My husband’s a general surgeon. Do you mind if I ask him what he thinks about this CAT scan?’ It’s nice just to be able to have another surgical brain looking at something, and we’re both able to provide the best care for our patients.”
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