by Shira Klapper, Medical Writer/Editor

Quyen Chu, MD, MBA, FACS—Professor of Surgery and Director of the Peritoneal Surface Malignancies Program, Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Sciences Center-Shreveport, and a graduate of the 2009 ASCO Leadership Development Program (LDP)—has been appointed by President Obama to the Board of Directors of the Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF). The VEF’s mission is to foster reconciliation between the two countries while strengthening Vietnam’s technology and scientific sectors.

	Dr. Quyen Chu

As a 2009 member of the  VEF U.S. Faculty Scholar Program, Dr. Chu was able to share his medical expertise with medical workers in Vietnam via teleconference and then in person during a two-week mission trip. As part of its goal of educational exchange, VEF also brings Vietnamese students to study in the United States. In his new role as a board member, Dr. Chu will serve alongside other presidential appointees and members of the Cabinet and Congress.

“One of the best things that ASCO has ever done”

In an interview with ASCO Connection, Dr. Chu stated that his participation in the ASCO Leadership Development Program played a decisive role in developing his leadership skills and paving the path to his current appointment to VEF. The LDP is a year-long program that seeks to prepare the future leaders of ASCO through leadership classes, advocacy experience on Capitol Hill, and opportunities to network and receive mentoring from ASCO leadership.

“The ASCO leadership program allowed me to develop into a better leader, to learn how to be aware of my surroundings, to understand the other person’s perspective... how to build team and how to align people towards a vision,” he said.

Forging alliances between Vietnam and the U.S.

Dr. Chu was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States at age seven with his family. His lifelong dream has been to forge alliances between the two countries he has called home.

“Basically, the whole mission [of VEF] is reconciliation between the two countries after the Vietnam war,” said Dr. Chu. “I’m Vietnamese-American, and I always dreamt of a day when the two countries would work together to forge a common path forward. I dreamt of the day when I could take an active part in the reconciliation process. VEF was one of the ways I could contribute in that manner.”

Philanthropic development work

In addition to his work at VEF and as an associate editor for ASCO University, Dr. Chu co-founded the Louisiana World Surgical Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit organization that raises money to provide medical equipment to developing countries. Recently, the organization was able to buy a Bookwalter Retractor for a Kurdish hospital, using a $30,000 donation from a pharmaceutical company.

Dr. Quyen Chu (far left) performs surgery at Roberto  Calderon Hospital in Managua, Nicaragua.

“My colleague, a transplant surgeon, and I have done a lot of mission trips together,” explained Dr. Chu. “We noted that when we went to Kurdistan, Nicaragua, and Vietnam, there was just so much we could do, and there were so many things missing in these countries... The thought was to build a nonprofit organization to procure some money to basically buy some equipment to help them with the infrastructure building in the surgical field.”

 

Dr. Chu’s interest in enhancing the medical capacity of developing countries is tied directly to the immigrant experience of his childhood.

“When I first came to America, my dad was a barber and we were very, very poor. And I promised myself that if I ever make it, I’m going to give back,” said Dr. Chu. “I didn’t want to wait until I’m old. I wanted to do something while I have the energy. So when these opportunities arose, I just took advantage of them.”

(In March, 2014, Dr. Chu received the Ellis Island Award, given annually by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO). The award is given to native or naturalized US citizens who, according to NECO’s website, “live a life dedicated to helping others” and preserve and celebrate the history, traditions and values of their own ancestry group while exemplifying the values of the American way of life).

During his year in the LDP, Dr. Chu mentored with Patrick J. Loehrer, MD, who is the Immediate Past Chair of the LDP and a Professor and Associate Dean at Indiana University Division of Hematology and Oncology as well as the Director of the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center.

When asked to comment on Dr. Chu's accomplishments, Dr. Loehrer said that "Quyen has had a remarkable journey that few of us can fathom."

"Moving from Vietnam in the shadow of one of the  darkest hours for both our countries, he moved to Louisiana with his family when he was seven years old," Dr. Loehrer continued. "As he grew up, he was reminded by his father not to forget his roots, not to forget the less fortunate and never to forget that he was brought on this earth to make a difference. Quyen honors his family and his profession in the work that he has done at LSU and what he will be doing as a member of the Board of Directors of the Vietnam Education Foundation.  As one of the first graduates of ASCO's Leadership Development Program, he also honors our Society."

Dr. Chu credits his experience in LDP with allowing him to turn his lifelong dreams into real-world accomplishments.

“LDP I think is probably one of the best things that ASCO has ever done,” he said. “I think without the leadership skills, I probably would not have been nominated.”

Dr. Quyen Chu is Professor of Surgery and Director of the Peritoneal Surface Malignancies Program, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-Shreveport; Chair of the Education, Quality and Communications Subcommittee of the International Relations Committee of the American College of Surgeons Young Fellows Association; Co-founder of the Louisiana World Surgical Foundation, Inc.; Associate Editor of ASCO University and Program Director for the ASCO/HVO Oncology Program in Vietnam. He is among the recipients of the 2014 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, given annually by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations.