Hung Nguyen, PA emigrated to the U.S. after the Vietnam war. PA Nguyen says from an early age, he was always drawn to the field of medicine. As a young man, he met a PA colleague and thought, “I want to do this!” And so began his four-decade, multi-faceted PA vocation. Over the course of his career, PA Nguyen has practiced in a wide range of disciplines – primarily in internal medicine and family practice, and also geriatrics, emergency medicine, and GI. He is now retired from clinical practice but he continued his career by completing his DMSc.
Q: What drew you to the DMSc?
A: I wanted to earn my doctorate. I had a friend who completed the program a few years prior to my matriculating, and he highly recommended Lynchburg’s program to me. I have been impressed with the structure of Lynchburg’s program, and the curriculum has been challenging and perfectly suited to the profession.
Q: What were your favorite courses?
A: Very timely were the Disaster Medicine course taught by Dr. Gregory Davenport, and Global Health with Dr. Elyse Watkins. This past January, we were studying the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, and looking at the models, and we predicted the pandemic — we literally watched it happen in the United States. I would add that I am confident that we will be able to overcome the virus, and social distancing is the way to do it.
I also found the interactions with other PAs in my classes to be very enriching. My classmates have been top notch PAs from all over the country, and also overseas. Collaborating with them has added to my academic career immensely. The DMSc program was rigorous, and the curriculum timely and interesting, and addressed current issues in real time.
The DMSc is my third professional degree in PA medicine. I am so pleased that I was able to reach my goal of obtaining my doctorate at this stage in my career. I am so thankful to the faculty for their guidance and support.
Q: What are you seeing in California with the COVID-19 pandemic?
A: The situation is changing every day with the coronavirus — in my state as well as worldwide. As of today, California has more than 10,018 cases after New York, New Jersey, and Michigan in total cases. All the non-essential businesses in California are closed, and Californians are following the national guideline to stay home until April 30, 2020. As of yesterday, the mayor of LA county recommended all Angelinos to wear masks to go out in public. The state wants to reactivate retired health professionals for emergency needs; and I am waiting to see when I will be called. It is essential that we all follow the rule of social distancing and stay home, even if it is voluntary. Otherwise, the infection and mortality rate will exponentially increase.
