Anne Dreyfuss/VCU News
Khanh Le is one proud dad and you can imagine why: his youngest son, Christopher Le, is his last child to attend the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.
The Le family at the this July. (Left to right) Katherine, Khanh, Brian, Nga, John and Christopher. Sister Audrey Le not pictured. (Photo by Allen Jones, VCU University Marketing)
Each of Christopher’s older siblings has attended the VCU School of Medicine. His brother Brian is in his final year of residency in the VCU Department of Surgery, while John is an internal medicine physician at VCU Medical Center. Sister Audrey graduated in May and is in her first year of residency at Brown University, and sister Katherine is starting her fourth year of medical school at VCU. All five siblings are also graduates of the VCU School of Engineering’s biomedical engineering program.
This is the ultimate success story that had very difficult and humble beginnings. Patriarch Khanh Nguyen tried to escape in post war Vietnam at age 18 but was caught by police after walking for three days in the jungle toward Thailand. Khanh was transferred to a prison camp where he was kept captive for almost two years. After two years of back breaking labor, Khanh took the opportunity to escape and ran for his life. He found a bus driver who agreed to take him back to Vietnam where he was reunited with his family. After that, he tried to escape 10 more times and finally made it in 1980.
By then Khanh was married with a child on the way and ended up in Canada. The first thing Khanh did was enroll in college when he got there. Khanh got a job as a night shift janitor at a local hospital and studied for engineering classes as he worked.
Eventually he earned his degree and moved his family to Richmond, VA and encouraged his children to study hard. His own example of hard work and diligence paid off and today, he and his wife are parents to five doctors.
To read more of his amazing journey, click here: https://news.vcu.edu/article/A_family_legacy_Inspired_by_their_parents_five_siblings_choose
