A second-year student has been named as the winner of an annual scholarship provided to women medical students at the UC Davis School of Medicine.

Yvonne Thanh-Nga Pham, a resident of Orange County, will receive $3,000 as the recipient of the Julita A. Fong, M.D., Scholarship. The scholarship is intended for “a woman medical student, during any year of her studies at the UC Davis School of Medicine, who is a member of the American Medical Woman’s Association and who is in need of financial assistance.” Fong resides in Reedsport, Ore.

Pham is co-officer of the AMWA–UC Davis Chapter, which was established as a student interest group in 2008. Over the past year, the chapter has invited Women in Medicine faculty members to speak about surgical specialties, academic medicine and breast cancer screening.

Women’s health issues

Having become involved in breast cancer epidemiology research in the past year and screening Vietnamese women for breast and cervical cancers as a volunteer at the student-run Paul Hom Asian Clinic in Sacramento, Pham is passionate about women’s health issues. She has known women with breast cancer, and these experiences have reinforced her resolve to spread awareness of the disease and to encourage screening for prevention.

As the AMWA chapter’s breast cancer walk team captain, Pham was responsible for raising hundreds of dollars for breast cancer research and helped design the team’s popular “Save Second Base” team T-shirts.

Community volunteer

Pham’s mother, after coming to North Carolina as a Vietnamese refugee in 1975, worked for a clothing company while pursuing higher education. Pham’s family, which includes four siblings, endured financial hardship and moved to Pennsylvania, New York, Oklahoma and, finally, California to find sustainable work.

No stranger to hard work herself, Pham taught piano in high school while tutoring other students in chemistry and math. As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, Pham worked part-time as a music tutor in the Bay Area to supplement her income. After graduation, she worked full-time as an AmeriCorps volunteer for the American Red Cross, gaining experience in emergency and disaster-relief situations.

Anissa Routon is a senior writer for the UC Davis Health System.