About Me

Welcome to my Web page and thanks for your interest. I am an internal medicine physician with the long-term care, hospice, and palliative care team at Downey Medical Center.

Biography

I am from Vietnam and immigrated to the United States at the age of 10. I attended UC Irvine and then UC San Diego for medical school. I did my residency in internal medicine at UCI-Long Beach VA. After a stint at a large physician group for three years specializing in care at nursing homes, I joined Kaiser Permanente. I became a physician both because I come from a family of health care providers and because this is a field where care and compassion are valued as much as scientific knowledge and intellectual challenges. My wife of 12 years works as a pharmacist. We have four younger children, which can be a handful at times (well, pretty much all the time). With whatever little time I have left, I like to keep in shape by running; however, keeping up with the kids is itself a form of exercise.

About my practice

My main practice is in long-term care, including nursing homes and palliative care. In nursing homes, my team and I take care of recently hospitalized members in need of physical rehab or IV medication. We see the patient as a total person, not just as a collection of diseases. In hospice, I help care for patients with a short time to live, helping them be as comfortable as possible.

How I thrive

I believe that both mental and physical health are interrelated and that is the philosophy of Kaiser Permanente. As many physical ailments have a mental root, I believe this is the best approach to modern health care, instead of an overemphasis on technology. I believe many stress-related illnesses should be approached from a spiritual perspective. I strive daily to be positive in dealing with the many challenges I face. It can be tempting to have a jaded outlook, but I never forget that I am dealing with human beings at their most vulnerable point in life.