- November 17, 2024
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Dr. Joe Li opened his medical office, the GoldenFeet Podiatry, Monday, Dec. 1, at 140 Pinnacles Drive.
According to Li, the goal of GoldenFeet is to provide a range of care from pediatrics all the way to geriatrics.
“I have received great training at my residency, where I was able to see a lot of different conditions from deformities all the way to broken bones,” Li said. “I had to work long hours, so I’m highly trained to do my job.”
On Li’s journey to becoming a doctor, he had to endure the loss of both of his parents. After his first semester of college at Barry University, his mother lost her battle to cancer in 2006. Three years later, while he was interviewing for different residency positions in Texas, Li’s father died.
“It was extremely emotional for me at that time,” Li said. “But, I was able to hold myself together for the interviews. I always had a supportive family, and they helped me get through that rough period.”
“One moment I’ll never forget is when Dr. Irvin Kanat, the residency director of two hospitals in Michigan, offered me both positions as his top pick at his hospitals,” Li said. “He knew I was going through a tough time, so immediately after the interview, he had a discussion with me in his hotel suite, where I broke down. Although I didn’t choose his hospitals, he continued to be a very nice man to me until his death. He always told me that he knew I would make the Detroit residency proud.”
Li excelled in all his residency interviews, becoming the top ranked pick at four of the five hospitals he applied to. Li chose to take his residency at the Detroit Medical Center level one trauma hospital, which he claims was a well-rounded program that covered neurosurgery to basic office care.
“I learned so much at the Detroit Medical Center,” Li added. “Because the city is so big, we took many trauma calls, not just for foot injuries but any broken bones.”
Li graduated with his doctorate in podiatry medicine in 2013, and he decided to return to Florida to be closer to his wife, Karenia, and because he had previously worked with Health Park Podiatry in St. Augustine.
“I’ve seen a lot of potential in the Palm Coast community,” Li said. “The people have received me, and the physicians here have been very supportive of a new practitioner.”
Li currently holds privileges at Florida Hospitals in Palm Coast and in St. Augustine.
“I wish my parents could be here to see that I’ve moved forward the way my parents would’ve liked,” he said. “My brother Howard and I have grown very close, but that’s what happens when you lose your parents; it makes you very different. You learn to value your relationship with everybody a lot more.”
