Three years into her pre-med studies at University of California, Berkeley, Vivian Nguyen discovered that being a physician was not an ideal fit for her. She started taking courses in public health, global poverty and health policy which led her to begin thinking about health care in a more comprehensive way through a public health lens. As the child of refugees from the Vietnam War, Vivian has always been interested in eliminating disparities faced by immigrants and refugees by empowering communities to participate in the solutions generating process.
When she graduated from college, the ACA was rolling out, “which was a very exciting time in health care,” says Vivian. Her first job was as a program assistant for a community clinic consortium in Northern California where she educated community members, patients and providers people about health care reform, Covered California and Medi-Cal expansion. She later transitioned into a strategic communications role within a sexual and reproductive health non-profit where she helped develop and implement policies that advanced women’s health initiatives. Prior to her graduate studies at Yale, Vivian also worked for an innovation center housed in a large health system that applied human-centered design and leveraged technology to address the health impacts of social isolation and loneliness in seniors and family caregivers.