The Balancing Act of Team Darko

For Renee and Nii Darko, demanding lives are a dream come true.

By Kimberly Winter Stern

To the casual observer, the busy life that Renée Volny Darko, DO (COM '06), and Nii Darko, DO (COM '06), lead could be interpreted as a carefully orchestrated three-ring circus. Based in Duncansville, Pennsylvania, the couple have challenging but fulfilling careers as physicians — Renee is an OB-GYN and Nii is a trauma and critical care surgeon — and each actively mentors medical students. They volunteer in different parts of the world, including Haiti and Ghana, and have launched several businesses targeted to helping other medical professionals succeed.

And then there’s Nii-Amu, the couple’s four-month-old son whose first name is often bestowed to a family’s first-born male child and means “king” in Nii’s ancestral country of Ghana. “Amu” honors Nii’s great-grandfather. Even through just his name, Nii-Amu represents the Darkos’ dedication to family.

Fundamental to the Darkos’ success may be the hearty laughter that flows easily between them and their determination to be the very best in whatever role they’re playing. But the foundation of their marriage, according to Nii, is that he and Renée dreamed together early in their marriage.

“When we married in November 2013, Renée and I imagined what our life would be like in 5, 10, 15 years,” Nii says. “It was Team Darko all the way—we support one another whether decompressing from a stressful day, working with colleagues to help them personally define balance, or co-parenting Nii-Amu. We’re in this together.”

Renée grew up in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Haitian immigrants; Nii is the son of Ghanaian immigrants who later moved with family to Irvington, New Jersey, outside Newark. Although they grew up only 15 minutes away from one another, both fostered a keen interest in helping people as youngsters. Each had a knack for science, but Renée and Nii arrived at their respective decisions to pursue medicine through very different paths.

“As a little girl, I was fascinated with going to the doctor, always interested about what they were doing – and why – to make someone better,” says Renée, whose parents also attended medical school but were unable to finish due to family circumstances. “The notion of getting to know people, their history and establishing a rapport with them resonated.”

While Renée was inherently curious about medicine, Nii was charmed by prominent fictional television doctors. “Growing up in meager surroundings,” Nii says. “I ascribed to that kind of lifestyle as a kid. I watched all of the popular doctor shows of my generation — ‘ER’, ‘Doogie Howser, M.D.’. As I got older and started researching about being a doctor, I genuinely liked the reality of it.”

As Renée and Nii charted their journeys to medical school, they first met on the phone, thanks to Dale Sanders, DO (COM ‘99).

“It was an hour-long conversation, nothing romantic,” Renée recalls. “Nii and I were both going to attend Kansas City University and Dr. Sanders, whom I met at a pre-med conference, thought it might be good for us to connect.”

Three months later, the aspiring, young medical students arrived on campus and quickly became study partners; by the latter half of their first year they acknowledged the chemistry of their friendship and started dating while simultaneously navigating the peaks and valleys of medical school.

“KCU afforded us remarkable opportunities, from the beginning of our studies and even now,” Renée says. “Score 1 for Health was very important to me — doing physicals and dental checks for underserved kids in the community and volunteer work at Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center in Kansas City’s urban core helped solidify why I chose the medical field. The fact that the school makes medical missions a priority was important.”

Nii agrees with his wife that the KCU culture also deeply influenced his approach to medicine.

“Being part of a vibrant, caring environment was inspiring,” he says. “Our goal as students, and now, as practicing physicians, was to help people in every capacity, to be a champion for equal access to high-quality health care. KCU ingrains that in its students.”

Renée and Nii have continued their philanthropic pursuits. She spent time in Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake, and together they’ve volunteered four times in Ghana.

“As physicians, we have social responsibility,” Renée says. “Another value KCU teaches.”

“Going overseas allows us to fully realize that this is why we became physicians,” Nii says, “no matter what station of life someone is in, they deserve access to decent health care.”

The couple took advantage of a dual-degree program during their time at KCU, receiving MBAs at Rockhurst University along with their KCU doctoral degrees in osteopathic medicine.

“KCU produces not only world-class physicians, but also physician leaders,” Nii stresses. “The school takes medicine to a whole different level, beyond just earning a medical degree.”

Renée and Nii have applied their business acumen to creating several unique ventures. Assisting burgeoning traditional and non-tradition medical schools with developing strategies to apply for medical school is Renée’s focus with her company, Pre-Med Strategies. Nii, a devoted podcast fan, hosts Docs Outside the Box, which highlights physicians across the country doing extraordinary things.

“Pre-Med Strategies is the product of a flicker of an idea I had after meeting Dr. Sanders and asking him to be my mentor,” Renée says. “He agreed and in exchange requested my commitment to provide pre-med students with resources and coaching after I graduated.”

Docs Outside the Box showcases Nii’s personality, penchant for finding fellow physicians elevating medicine in myriad ways, and a life-long love of basketball which inevitably is woven into each show. Podcasts end with Nii asking guests to complete the statement: “I’m not just a doc, I’m … .”

When asked to fill in the blank himself, Nii responds: “I’m aspirational, compassionate, curious.”

Renée offers, “I’m compassionate, a protector and ambitious.”

Together the couple developed Equal Access Health – a locum tenens company – to help doctors achieve work-life balance while providing continuous, quality health care to patients.

For “Team Darko,” the balancing act they perform every day is exactly what they signed up when they chose to become doctors, mentors, humanitarians, entrepreneurs and parents.

They wouldn’t have it any other way.

For the Darkos, being a physician doesn’t mean just going into an office, delivery room or operating room and helping patients — it’s a multi-dimensional profession, a mission they started nurturing during their time as KCU student doctors.

“My philosophy continually evolves,” Renée says, “but I consider myself a healer, educator, advocate, leader, mentor and entrepreneur — which, as an acronym, is HEALME.”

For Nii, his vision returns to ground zero: equal access health care for all, regardless of socioeconomic status or location.

“As a trauma surgeon, I see people at the most vulnerable point in their lives,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what they can or can’t afford as far as health care. Situations aren’t predetermined — they happen. Everyone should be treated the same.”

Aside from practicing medicine and being parents, three of Drs. Renée Volny Darko and Nii Darko’s passions are financial peace, marital bliss and career freedom – a trifecta they seamlessly combine on Keeping Up with the Darkos. As the primary author of the blog, Renée communicates, often lightheartedly, real-life situations she and Nii encounter as “Team Darko.”

“Love, family and career,” Renée says. “Yes, you can have it all and succeed.”

Check out Keeping Up with the Darkos at keepingupwiththedarkos.wordpress.com.