Meet Your Partner in Medicine – Dr. OK

Michelle Owens-Kumar, DO, FAAFP FAAHPM is a compassionate, holistic physician leader dual board-certified in Family Medicine and Hospice & Palliative Care, with over a decade of experience advancing whole-person care, professional well-being, and clinical sustainability.

She completed her medical education at Kansas City University of Medicine in Kansas City, MO. She then completed a general surgery internship in New York at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital but changed her career path after an early experience delivering difficult news to a family. That moment clarified a purpose: continuity, compassion and care that honors what matters most. She moved back to her home town of Austin, TX, to pursue her training in family medicine and then completed a hospice and palliative medicine fellowship at UT Southwestern/Parkland focusing on collaborative, compassionate patient-centered communication skills and expert symptom management to improve quality of life.

She returned to Austin after her training and is a proven leader in developing innovative care models across inpatient, outpatient, home, and virtual settings. She is nationally recognized for physician well-being expertise and reflective practice facilitation, integrating lived experience with evidence-based strategies to promote vitality, resilience, and fulfillment. Dr. OK is skilled at meeting patients where they are and caring with empathy, clarity, and a focus on the best quality of life possible.

Dr. OK speaks and teaches on clinician well-being, grief in medicine, and team-based care. In South Austin, she is building a direct practice where people have access, time to be heard, and plans that bring comfort, clarity and the best quality of life possible.