At the convocation ceremony on May 27, Nguyen Do Thu Phuong wore a sash decorated with the map of Vietnam. "I'm especially proud to wear something even more meaningful than my diploma on my chest: my homeland."
Nguyen Do Thu Phuong at the Harvard Medical School Master's Convocation Ceremony for the Global Health Delivery program, May 27, 2026. Photo courtesy of Phuong
The 25-year-old is an alumna of Bao Loc High School for the Gifted in Lam Dong Province. Before enrolling at Harvard in 2024, she completed dual degrees in Nursing from VinUniversity and International Economics from the Foreign Trade University in Vietnam.
The nearly 30-hour flight to Harvard was her first trip abroad.
After landing, she spent nearly an hour figuring out how to book a ride, only to end up at the wrong address because a neighboring city had the exact same street name and house number.
