Board of Directors
Thien Nhien Luong, MPH serves as President. She co-founded the Friends of Hue Foundation (FHF), served on the Board of Directors from 1999-2013 and as the Executive Director from 2008-2013. She co-founded Design Capital Asia in 2013 to focus on integrated development approaches across fields and sectors including social entrepreneurship development. She has supported many NGOs over a decade. She has been Principle Researcher behind Healthy Initiatives through Peer Education (HIPE) that offers health education led by school-age peer health educators in 77 schools and 33 high risk communities in central Vietnam. Luong holds a B.A. degree in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from UCSB and M.P.H specializing in Epidemiology, HIV/AIDS, and International Health from UCLA’s School of Public Health. She has had over 15 years of experience in Public Health, Health Promotion, Disease Control and Prevention, Program Management, Planning, Research and Evaluation, Community Development, Capacity Building, Emergency Preparedness, and International Health consulting. She worked for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department for close to 10 years and had held various positions there including Chief Epidemiologist and Sr. Health Care Program Manager.
Gigi Nelson serves as Secretary. In addition, Ms. Nelson serves on the Board of Advisors for the Aspire Change Foundation, a nonprofit organization, and PESA, a grassroots Public Benefit Company and first Social-change Media company focused on global climate change. From 2003 until 2021, she founded and served as President of Synergy Solutions, Incorporated, a U.S. government contracting firm specializing in program and project management; safeguards and security; cybersecurity; and environmental, safety, health, and training services. Prior to Synergy, she was the Pollution Prevention and Environmental Management System Coordinator, Hazardous Response Team Safety Officer, and member of the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team at the NASA Ames Research Center as well as a certified quality examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige-based Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (TNCPE). Ms. Nelson previously served on the Board of Directors for the Energy, Technology, and Environmental Business Association (ETEBA-TN) and East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC). She also served on the Oak Ridge Service Unit leadership team for the Girl Scouts Council of the Southern Appalachia and volunteered as a Troop Administrator and Girl Mentor for 10 years. Ms. Nelson has an M.A. in Environmental Sustainability and a B.S. in Resource Management.
Phuong-Lien Ngo-Nguyen, RN, MSN serves as Treasurer. She was born and raised in South Vietnam and has been in the US since 1970. She earned her BSN from Incarnate World College and MSN from University of Phoenix. She has worked in hospitals for over 35 years as a Registered Nurse in ICU and also IV therapy/Interventional Cardiology/House Supervisor. She has been a lecturer at San Diego State University for 10 years and is currently at California State San Marcos, School of Nursing. Besides her work, she is passionate about helping others. She has participated in medical/educational mission trips to Vietnam. In the United States, Lien has volunteered for Fresh Start and has been active in Vietnamese communities. She also teams up with ConnectMed International – Surgical assistance to the program at the Hospital de California in Tijuana helping indigent children with deformities. Since 2012, Lien has taken Nursing students to Vietnam for international, educational and cultural learning experiences, in collaboration with Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Nursing to help both US and VN nursing students improve cultural awareness and sensitivity. She is actively involved with other charity organizations in scholarship programs to nursing students from poor families with high academic standing.
In 2023, VANGO Network is honored to welcome Ngoc Nguyen to the VANGO Network Board of Directors. Ngoc Nguyen was born in Vietnam, fled Vietnam in early 1980, and settled in Australia at the end of 1980. Ngoc earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a master’s degree in Business and Information Technology in Australia. Ngoc worked for The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), RMIT University, and the Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, Australia. In 1998, Ngoc moved to the USA and worked for Qualcomm, a semiconductor company in San Diego. Ngoc left Qualcomm in 2008 to work as a freelance consultant. Inspired by her mother’s devotion to impoverished people since childhood, at 12, Ngoc started her charity work with the Red Cross Girl Scout group for disaster relief efforts. After 1975, she supported the orphans, disabled, and mentally ill people at Kim Long Orphanage in Hue (run by the nuns of Kim Long convent) until she left Viet Nam (1980). On her first trip back to VietNam in 1989, Ngoc was again struck by the impact of her mother’s work for misfortune in rural villages in Central Vietnam. And in the years since, joined by her friends, Ngoc has worked to continue similar charitable efforts and formed The Compassion Flower. In the last 33 years, Ngoc has devoted her life to humanitarian work to serve needy people and human trafficking survivors in Southeast Asia, mainly in Vietnam. In 2018 Ngoc obtained a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration at Walden University, USA. Ngoc is now the Director of The Compassion Flower, an American Non-Profit organization.
Cathy Lam co-founded Our1World in 2005, is an advocate of environmental sustainability. She was actively involved with the Soymilk Nutritional Supplement program in Central Vietnam from 2005-2007. Our1World projects include Solar Energy Appliances SEA including Photovoltaic Solar Ceiling Fans, Bep Lo Xanh Rocket Stove to reduce deforestation while aiming at reducing indoor air pollution health risks, Tràm Gió Melaleuca Habitat Restoration with native species. Our1world partners with several organizations for training youth in a PSA Public Service Announcements media video project – Making Healthy Choices, Building Healthy Communities. Cathy holds workshops annually in Vietnam with the VANGO Network to teach Nutrition and Healthy Living with an emphasis on the environment and marine conservation to students and early childhood educators. She was a former board member of the Newport Bay Conservancy, advocating on watershed issues, plastic pollution, preservation and restoration of natural habitat. She is on the advisory board for Project Vietnam Foundation, La Mirada HS Solar and Green Tech Academy in engaging youth in leadership in environment sustainability. Cathy holds a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California in Irvine.
Vi Tuong Nguyen is IT Director, Wafer Manufacturing at Western Digital Corporation; graduated from UC Santa Cruz majoring in Computer Information Science. Vi has volunteered with many grass-root organizations since 1984, focusing on community building, organizational growth and youths. From 1993 to 2004, she joined the Aid to Children Without Parents (ACWP) and has served some 3,000 refugee children and children without parents annually through various capacities including Editor, Financial/Program Director, and Executive Director. From 2005 to 2008, she has joined the Board of Directors of Pacific Links Foundation to work with the VANGO Network initiative and to assist the ADAPT project with its financial requirements, and has since served as VANGO Network Board Member.
Advisory
VANGO Network is grateful for the past leaderships & contributions of Quynh Kieu, Thu-Le Doan and Anh Tran, and who are now continue to serve as Advisory Board Members.
Quynh Kieu, MD is President & Founder of Project Vietnam Foundation, and is a pediatrician and lifelong advocate for children. She has held various leadership positions at the Orange County Medical Association, California Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics AAP. Quynh and Chan Kieu founded Project Vietnam in 1996 as an international project of the AAP. It has brought thousands of volunteers through 2 medical mission trips annually to serve rural areas–32 provinces to date, providing surgical repairs for children with facial deformities and eye defects, primary care services at remote clinics and schools, and medical training for healthcare personnel. The flagship project is the Newborn Care Initiative which has updated national guidelines for Newborn Health and brought a Neonatal Resuscitation Training to 85% of the provinces in Vietnam. Project Vietnam Foundation has received copyrights from the AAP for multiple training programs in Neonatal care, Disaster management, and the Pediatric First Aid for caregivers. PVNF is the lead organization for the Health Education Initiative of VANGO Network.
Thu-Le Doan immigrated to America in 1968. She co-founded and is a trustor of the Vietnamese
American Scholarship Fund (VASF) since 1988 and the Center for the Encouragement of Self-
Reliance (CESR) since 1997. Currently, she collaborates with local NGO and communities in
Thua Thien Hue to provides financial support to the poor and the disadvantaged in Vietnam.
She provides more than 1000 children each year with survival swimming skills that could save
their life, water safety education to help them make good choices around water – especially when
unsupervised, and basic safe rescue skills.
She works in partnership with local authorities and department of education to identify schools
that need either to renovate or to build the new restroom facilities. She financially supports 2
restroom facilities each year. Focusing on sustainability of livelihood in agricultural sector in
Hue areas, she also provides micro loan to 100 families each year. Loans are small but sufficient
for the borrowers the opportunity to purchase their own tools, equipment, supplies, live stocks or
other necessary means of production and embark on income-generating ventures which will
allow them to escape poverty. She also provides 1000 warm jackets annually to children in need
in Thua Thien Hue, Vietnam during the winter. The jackets are made by the small local tailor
shop. Thu-Le Doan holds a Bachelor degree in Sociology from Rutgers University.
Anh Kim Tran co-founded Pacific Links Foundation and is currently the Early Childhood Education Consultant for Mầm Non Lá Xanh/GreenLeaf Learning Center in HCMC. Previously, Ánh was a Program Specialist for Asian Services at BANANAS Resource Center in Oakland, California. With her extensive experience in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECCE) training in the US, she spearheads the ECCE training programs conducted by the Pacific Links Foundation for early childhood educators throughout Vietnam, through collaboration with provincial education offices and teacher training colleges. Since 2010, Ánh has participated with the VANGO Network to provide HEI PedFACTS Training from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for teachers in Vietnam. She authors “Nuôi dạy trẻ vui mạnh: A Parenting Guide” for Vietnamese American parents, published by ICAN in May 2007. She is Co-Founder of Viet Nam Health, Education & Literature Projects (VNHELP) and served on its Board of Directors 1991-2001. Ánh also served on the Board of Directors of Asian Health Services in California.