Pham-Dang Family Scholarship

Dr. Thang Pham and his wife Dr. Nu Dang left war-torn Vietnam in 1979 by crossing into Cambodia and then into Thailand. It was a journey made on foot, through forests and across battlefields, through a foreign land fraught with danger. There was no easy escape from Vietnam and many who tried did not make it. This included Pham’s younger sister, Phạm thị Minh-Tuyền. She was 22 years old. It was in Cambodia that Pham and Dang befriended Dr. Kyle Coble, who was a volunteer dentist with the American Refugee Committee working in refugee camps near the border of Thailand. Pham and Dang created this scholarship in 2017 in honor of Dr. Coble, whose friendship helped them reach freedom, and in memory of Phạm thị Minh-Tuyền, whose sacrifice reminds them of its cost.

Pham and Dang were the first of 10 family members to graduate from VCU (most from the School of Dentistry).