April 2nd, 1989. Our family made it to the front page of the Grand Rapids Press after our arrival from Vung Tau, Viet Nam to Grand Rapids, MI. Our barrack at the refugee camp was #309 and I remember telling my mom, “We never moved Mom. Our new home is also 309”. 309 Crescent, a historic Heritage Hill home which was owned by Bethlehem Lutheran Church at that time was our new home. My family had uplifted our Vietnamese roots and we were laying them down in the US.

309 Crescent was a home of amazing memories. I rode around in the church parking lot (now a Corewell Health Parking Lot) on my bike. I hunted for Easter eggs on the Bethlehem Lutheran lawn, attended Sunday School, served as an acolyte and played the piano during offertory time. I jumped up and down in delight when my dad bought our first family car and rode around for rides in the parking lot. I waited patiently for my oldest sister to come home from her shifts at Burger King (now a Corewell Health Cancer Pavilion) for all the toys and promotional items she would bring home. When I was a senior in high school, I was selected as a Burger King Scholarship Recipient despite never working at Burger King. The Burger King on Fuller near Michigan (now demolished) displayed my name as their scholar during the 2003 graduation season even though I spent my high school years working at Rose Bowl Floral.

From Heritage Hill we moved to the Creston Neighborhood where I grew up eating lemon soft serve with rainbow sprinkles from Frosty Boy every summer and swam at Briggs Pool. I walked to the GRPL Van Belkum branch when it was housed in the old building at the intersection of Plainfield and Coit before being moved to its current location. I would check out dozens of books and would spend my summers reading on the front porch at the Coit house. I also accumulated quite the number of overdue fines because I couldn’t be bothered to actually return the books. I was the biggest bookworm ever. In 2014 I hosted my medical school graduation celebration in the old library building where I spent my bookworm days previously known as the Red Ball Jet Cafe (which has now become Echo Salon). 

Both of my parents were teachers in Viet Nam and education was a pillar in our house. Education was always prioritized over fancy Spring Break vacations or the latest designer clothes. From 1st to 7th grade, I happily attended Creston Christian (part of Grand Rapids Christian Schools) through generous scholarship support and under the guidance of the kind Reverend Galen and Thelma Meyer family before transitioning to City High Middle for 8th-12th grade. I played varsity soccer and tennis for the Creston Polar Bears while attending City High Middle. I was a Pegasus and a Polar Bear at heart. I guess a Pegasus Bear?!

I spread my wings and flew from City High Middle to the University of Michigan where I completed a Bachelors in Science in Asian American Health and Culture in 2007. I just couldn’t pick a major so I petitioned the University of Michigan Board my proposed major and it was approved. In 2008, I completed my Masters in Public Health focusing on Health Behavior and Health Education. I gave my parents significant palpitations when I decided to defer my medical school acceptance and move to New York City in August 2008 two weeks before medical school was scheduled to start. I worked in NYC for almost 2 years in Chinatown, Manhattan focusing on pediatric public health programing and spent my weekends playing on 3 soccer teams and having the time of my life. Finally ready to settle down for a bit, I started medical school in August 2010. I was part of the inaugural class at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine’s Secchia Campus and completed both my pre-clinical and clinical coursework on the Grand Rapids campus. 

I’ve spent the last 12 years in Chicago. I completed my pediatric neurology training at the University of Chicago, sleep medicine fellowship at Northwestern McGaw and then spent time as medical staff at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s, Shriners Children’s Chicago, and University of Chicago. 

I’m a single mom to a wonderful 7 year old mini me. He challenges me every day by pushing every boundary and every button. My village has picked me up when I’ve stumbled, fallen, and frankly don’t want to get back up. In June 2023, I lost my nephew Alan Tran in a tragic fentanyl poisoning. I have spent the last 3 years working through my grief. Although the grief will always be there, I am ready to take the next step and work towards making Nhà Alan, a mother’s resource center, a reality. A home to support mothers and their struggles, challenges, and barriers. A home to help mothers in need break the glass ceiling. Because where there is a need we will provide a light. Nhà Alan. A Light. A Need.