Our Providers

Dr. Roger Kornu grew up in Northeast Texas, the son of an internal medicine physician.  After graduating valedictorian of his high school class, he went on to study at Stanford University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences with Departmental Honors.  He then returned to North Texas and graduated with his Medical Degree at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas.  Internship, residency in internal medicine and fellowship in Rheumatology were also completed at UT Southwestern.

In 2008, he moved to Orange County and has served as an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine.  In late 2017, he opened a private rheumatology practice now called Southern California Rheumatology.  His clinical interests include inflammatory arthritic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis, and connective tissue diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus. In addition, he has a special interest in the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis.

In addition to his clinical practice, he is actively involved in clinical research. He has been involved with clinical investigations of several novel therapies in diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, osteoporosis, and systemic lupus erythematosus.  Dr. Kornu is also an educator and speaker on rheumatologic diseases and has given Grand Round lectures at hospitals such as Anaheim Regional Hospital, Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Orange Coast Memorial Hospital.  He has frequently lectured to the Orange County Physician Assistant Society and Orange County Nurse Practitioner Society.  He has published in peer review journals and is the current editor of the Rheumatology chapter of the medical textbook, Medical Secrets, 6th edition.

Dr. Kornu maintains board certification in both Rheumatology and Internal Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He is also a fellow of the American College of Rheumatology.

In the community, he has been involved with Arthritis Foundation since 2009 and leads a team for the annual Orange County/Inland Empire Arthritis Walk every May.  Team Kornu has raised thousands of dollars to help fund arthritis research and programs. He was Medical Honoree of the 2019 Orange County/Inland Empire Arthritis Walk.

Dr. Kornu was named a Top Doctor in Orange County by Castle Connolly in 2016.  He has been named by the Orange County Medical Association as a Physician of Excellence for both 2018 and 2019. He has been featured in the January 2018 and January 2019 edition of Orange Coast Magazine.

He spends his free time with his wife, who is a local pediatrician, and his three children.  He has participated in medical missions to Mexico, Laos, Thailand, and Nigeria.  Dr. Kornu is an avid photographer who enjoys landscape and portrait photography.