next photo

prev photo

Dr. Binh Nguyen has a busy day job and is married with two children. That does not stop her from serving in several volunteer and advocacy organizations, as well as state boards, including appointment by former Governor Tim Kaine to the Virginia Asian Advisory Board (VAAB), where she has been the chairman since 2010. Recently, she was appointed by Governor Bob McDonnell to the Virginia Radiation Advisory Board.

            Under Dr. Nguyen’s leadership, VAAB has organized town hall meetings in different regions to collect data, worked with local offices on the Census 2010, facilitated rallies in Richmond on legislative issues, called on members of the General Assembly while in session, and coordinated with other Asian American associations to organize the annual New Year reception for the General Assembly and Governor McDonnell’s office and official members, among other things.

            VAAB has also successfully partnered in events with Asian American, medical and other professional organizations in coordinating job fairs, health fairs, conferences, and outreach and diversity meetings with Virginia Tech University and others.

On August 7, Saturday, a Health Fair will be held at the NOVA College Annandale Campus from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dr. Nguyen said, “The Health Fair, organized by the Vietnamese Medical Society of Northeast America (VMSNA) and other community organizations, is one of the major events in Northern Virginia, serving over a thousand individuals on one day of activity.”

            On August 11, the Business Development Assistance Group (BDAG), a not-for-profit organization in Virginia led by Toa Do, will organize a conference, “Expanding Virginia Exports to Korea 2011.”   This event was part of Dr. Nguyen's initiatives with VAAB to promote international trade and investment for Virginia.

            BDAG President Toa Do praised Dr. Nguyen’s leadership and commitment. “She treats everyone with respect, which is unquestionably the best way to get the cooperation and support of everyone,” he said in a brief interview. “She has a profound understanding of the issues from all angles, and equally important, she has a remarkable ability to reach consensus on tough issues.”

            What makes Dr. Nguyen, and other people like her, want to give back to society? She explained the foundation of her character, “my aspirations and accomplishments” in an email interview.

            “I was born in Vietnam, spent part of my childhood in Europe, and started high school in the U.S.,” she began, describing an extraordinary journey as a citizen of the world. “It has been great having the opportunity to live in three different continents, observing and practicing different cultures, learning many languages, absorbing vast knowledge and meeting people of diverse origins.”

            In this country she now calls home, she has succeeded in a noble profession. Dr. Nguyen has been the Chief of Thoracic Radiology Section, Department of Radiology at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the nation’s capital. 

She was Assistant Professor of Radiology for Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, as two of the top prestigious academic institutions. Currently, she is Assistant Professor of Radiology at the Uniformed Services of the University of the Health Sciences.

She has been training many future radiologists for over a decade, including military radiologists, for the past seven years. She has also conducted many researches. She is co-author of many medical abtracts in the fields of lung and heart diseases, and was awarded for a research project performed during her radiology residency. 

Dr. Nguyen completed her fellowship in Thoracic Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Nguyen graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. degree in biochemistry.

As a student, she was recognized with multiple honor societies, including Phi Beta Kappa and scholarships during her undergraduate years in the General Honors Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. She was elected president of the American Medical Association (AMA), Medical Student Chapter, during her second year in medical school and was given an award of recognition by the AMA. 

VAAB Report

Dr. Nguyen was appointed by Governor Tim Kaine in 2009 to the Virginia Asian Advisory Board (VAAB). Since 2010, when she became VAAB chairman, she has provided leadership that is noteworthy for its dedication, a complete grasp of the Big Picture and its nuances, and her extraordinary civility.

            “The VAAB report will be presented to Governor McDonnell very soon,” she said. “This will be the most significant accomplishment of the VAAB during my tenure as the Chair.”

            Dr. Nguyen said that at the VAAB quarterly meeting, held last July 1 in Richmond, important guest speakers made presentations on topics that are the focus of the VAAB report.

“Lawyer Emily Sumner of Challa law firm in Richmond, discussed the issue of immigration in Virginia, especially related to employment and economics,” she noted. “Jay Chen, president of Asian Fortune newspaper, talked about the recent highly successful Asian Fortune Job Fair.” The BDA and the Korean American community in NOVA also made presentations of successful endeavors in the past few years, she added.

            She added: “Toa Do, president of BDA presented the upcoming Export Trade Conference to South Korea, as one of the main areas of focus of the VAAB report related to international trade and foreign investment in Virginia. Ting-Ye On, president of CAPAVA, presented Asian American community effort to work with the General Assembly on legislative issues.”

            Dr. Nguyen said the VAAB quarterly meeting “was successful with the presence of Virginia Commerce and Trade Secretary Jim Cheng and Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Trade Jimmy Rhee, who reviewed the VAAB report.”

            She said both Commerce and Trade officials also briefed the VAAB on Governor McDonnell’s highly successful trip to Asia, in which they were part of the delegation. She added, “The dialogue between Secretary Cheng and Assistant Secretary Rhee and the VAAB was frank, constructive and mutually beneficial–building on a continued collaborative effort to work on issues that are important to the administration and the Asian American communities in the Commonwealth.” 

Human Rights

Dr. Nguyen has, indeed, gone far in more ways than one. But she has not forgotten her country of birth, making a difference by her involvement on human rights issues in Vietnam and other countries in the Asia Pacific region.

            Her highly-developed sense of civic duty and responsibility to the community started when she was a student. “My volunteer and civic works go back to high school and college,” she said.

            The sense of civic duty, with the mastery of time management, has become a life-long habit. “Professional work, family life and civic responsibilities require a fine balancing of time, priority, energy and passion,” she said.

She added: “The Asian heritage, whether Vietnamese in my case, or other region of Asia, emphasizes hard work, dedication, perseverance, optimizing potential, creating opportunity, helping family and friends, and giving back to the community.”

  In recent years, Dr. Nguyen was the president of the International Committee to Support the Nonviolent Movement for Human Rights in Vietnam and the spokesperson of the Coalition for Human Rights in Asia, eventually transforming and merging these organizations to a common goal under Rallyfordemocracy.org, which is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy.  She has been instrumental in organizing activities with different Vietnamese American organizations and collaborating with organizations from many countries in Asia. 

In early 2009, Dr. Nguyen organized a major movement to rally the US Government through Congressional hearing and State Department briefings as well as meetings at European embassies for their support in reviewing the human rights records of the Vietnamese Communist Government on the occasion of the United Nations Periodic Review (UNPR) of Vietnam by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).    She then lead a coalition of Vietnamese overseas to meet with the French Government officials in Paris for their support in this matter in the days leading to the UNPR and subsequently attended the UNPR meeting in Geneva on the day of the UNHRC review of Vietnam in May 2009.  

  Dr. Nguyen works closely with international organizations. Among these are Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom Now, and the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation to monitor human rights violations and abuse, especially in Vietnam. She has been frequently invited by the U.S. Congress, U.S. Department of State, and the AFL-CIO as a subject matter expert on human rights issues in Asia.