How mentorship helped this first-generation DO become the first Vietnamese-American dean of a medical school

The first thing John Pham, DO, remembers about arriving in the United States wasn’t opportunity—it was uncertainty. His parents, once a fighter pilot and an airline employee in Vietnam, stepped into a new life where their credentials didn’t carry over and survival came first.

“We had nothing,” he says plainly. “My parents had to start over.”

From that starting point, the idea of becoming a physician seemed almost abstract. “My parents were always saying you could do better than we can,” he recalls. “I would have never become a doctor if I was still in Vietnam.” Their belief in possibility, shaped by sacrifice, became the quiet force behind his journey as a first-generation DO.

Taking a chance

Still, the path wasn’t direct. After college, unsure of how to get into medicine, he took a chance by walking into a physician’s office with nothing more than a CV and hope. The doctor, a mentor he still credits today, skimmed the paper, disappeared briefly and returned with a simple invitation.

“Here’s a lab coat. Let’s go,” his mentor said, handing over a white coat. In that moment, mentorship transformed from an abstract idea into a lived experience.

“To me, that was about paying it forward,” Dr. Pham says.

Watch Dr. Pham’s full segment below.

Essential bridges

That philosophy would carry Dr. Pham through setbacks. When he first applied to medical school, he didn’t get in. Like many first-generation students, he faced barriers that weren’t always visible on paper. The MCAT’s verbal reasoning section proved especially difficult.

“I was fine with the science, but I struggled with the test because I spoke two languages,” he explains. Yet what initially felt like a limitation later became one of his greatest strengths. Being bilingual allows him to serve patients in ways that transcend clinical care through language, trust and cultural understanding.

Today, as a family physician, the dean of University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine and the first Vietnamese-American dean of a medical school, Dr. Pham sees his story not as exceptional, but instructive. He speaks openly about the myth of meritocracy as a solo endeavor.

“You have the grades, you have the MCAT,” he tells students. “But to take it to the next level—it’s who you know, not what you know.” For him, mentorship and community are not optional advantages, they are essential bridges.

His journey reflects more than personal success—it embodies a generational handoff. His parents’ sacrifices created the conditions for possibility, his mentors opened doors and now, he extends that same hand to other osteopathic medical students.

Dr. Pham’s story is not just about becoming a physician. It’s about what happens when resilience meets opportunity—and when someone, at the right moment, says, “Let’s go.”

Related reading:

First-generation medical student: Listening matters in uncharted waters