France T. Nguyen M.P.H. ’99, M.A. ’05

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With two master degrees in public health and Asian American studies from UCLA, France Thuy Nguyen expects to receive her doctorate in social welfare in the summer of 2008. As a Fulbright scholar, she conducted dissertation fieldwork in Vietnam, 2006-07, working with the country’s National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases to examine issues related to food security, nutrition and HIV/AIDS among HIV-infected injecting drug-users. She received a National Security Education Program fellowship in 2002 to conduct a qualitative research on HIV vaccines and high-risk groups in Vietnam. Nguyen’s other international projects include an anti-tobacco project in Chile for the Pan American Health Organization, an HIV/AIDS study in Mexico for the Fogarty Minority International Research Traineeship and an HIV/AIDS project in Russia and Moldova.

She has volunteered her time to numerous projects related to public welfare, including working as a moderator and organizer for the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting on international health opportunities for students and women leaders. She has worked with Homeless Health Care Los Angeles and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Her work experience also includes being in involved with developing the curricula and organizing educational workshops for a breast cancer program with UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s American Indian and Alaska Native Research Program, as well as coordinating advocacy activities for the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council.

In 1999, Nguyen received the Pat Brown/ARCO Fellowship, for which she worked in California Assembly Speaker district office on public policy issues and community health activities. She received a student grant from the UCLA School of Public Health’s Community Health Promotion Program for her work on osteoporosis prevention.

Nguyen’s publications and presentations include contributions to issues of HIV/AIDS research, public knowledge of health issues and social determinants of health. She has delivered presentations domestically and internationally at conferences including the International AIDS Conference; American Public Health Association Annual Meeting; New Investigators Conference, sponsored by the UCLA Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services; and Society for Social Work and Research Conference.