My Story

I have lost many friends and colleagues to suicide. The shock and the pain that these losses had on me and on those around me have had profound impacts on the direction of my life. As a survivor of suicide loss, my journey moving forward meant coming to terms with my own helplessness in these situations and fostering emotional vulnerability and awareness in myself and in others.

This has led me to pursue openness and connection for all - the sense of security that allows us to be honest with our own struggles and experience with those around us. From these circumstances, I sought out ways to combat my own helplessness, to equip myself so then I would be able to intervene. The lessons I learned during my growth from victim to survivor of loss is reflected in the following quote and in my mission.

My Mission

“For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement.”

- Victor E. Frankl

Everyone has a unique story - our experiences and struggles inform the way we behave and cope with the world. By recognizing and accommodating these differences, I seek to better care for individuals living with mental illness.

 “Jack of all trades, master of none, but better than a master of one.”

As an aspiring physician and storyteller, my interests revolve around mental health topics such as depression, anxiety, autism and suicide prevention but also cultural topics like the Vietnamese diaspora and the Asian-American experience. I explore burgeoning areas in health like narrative medicine and the medical humanities as a way to incorporate both my scientific and artistic skill set.

Outside of healthcare, I enjoy making art and comics, playing Dungeons & Dragons (5e of course), singing (a cappella and barbershop) and dancing (tap and ballroom).

Fred Astaire first sparked my interest in both tap dance and ballroom. For three years, I competed as a tap dancer as part of Euphony Tap Ensemble. Nowadays, you can find me taking lessons and competing with the Ballroom and Latin Dance Association at the University of Chicago.

Right now, I am a premed, a researcher, an artist, an advocate, and a lifelong learner, and I hope to add so much more to this as time goes on.