You were born in South Vietnam during the war . Could you tell us about your experiences before coming to the United States ? I was born in Saigon in South Vietnam shortly after the Tet Offensive in 1968 . There was a lot of turmoil in the city at that time , and the city was basically on lockdown , with strict curfews that even prevented my mother from going to the hospital when I was born . So , I was born at home , and my grandmother delivered me . It was a traumatic time for people living in Vietnam ; the war had been going on for many years and all the young people had been drafted into the army . In 1975 , as the war ended , things started to calm down but , as communism came to Saigon , our family suffered . My parents were ethnically Chinese and capitalists – my father owned a paper distribution business – and , after the war ended , the communists gave orders for us to report to a re-education camp . These were basically labor camps for people who supported the former government of South Vietnam . The communist government took people away and seized their property ; many of the people sent to these camps never came back .

My parents decided that we were not going to report to the camp , so our family went into hiding . For one year – 1977 to 1978 – we lived in hiding , scattered around the outskirts of Saigon . My brother and I were living in a friend ’ s house , my mom was living in the countryside with my younger brother and sister , and my dad roamed from house to house in the city with his friends . If we had been caught , we would have been arrested and killed .

Is that when your parents decided to emigrate to the United States ? My dad was plotting a way to get

out of Vietnam during that time . We attempted to leave in 1977 by sneaking on a fishing boat , but we were nearly caught . The officials had learned about the plot and confiscated the boat . That was traumatizing to my parents , but my siblings and I were too young to know what was happening . We just knew that we were leaving for a trip at 2:00 a . m . and didn ’ t understand why .

We lost money in the failed attempts to leave , so it was devastating . Still , my parents kept trying and , in November 1978 , we were able to leave with the “ boat people ,” or the wave of refugees who fled the country by boat . By that time , things had changed for Chinese people living in Vietnam . The Vietnamese government actually encouraged us to leave . If you could pay a certain amount of money , you were free to leave . That meant , though , that the officials in charge of the evacuation would try to fit as many people as possible onto these tiny fishing boats .

The boat we left on was a wreck that had been pulled from the bottom of the Mekong River and repaired . At 20 meters long , it was supposed to seat 220 people ; when officials had finished loading the boat , 350 people were on board .

By the time our overloaded boat reached the ocean , the weather turned stormy . We had to jettison all of our belongings and luggage to drop weight . We floated for about seven days before arriving in Malaysia . We lived in a refugee camp there for six months – November 1978 to June 1979 – while we waited for the international community to figure out where to send us . Delegations from different countries would visit to interview refugees and , if they decided you had skill sets they wanted , they would accept you . There were so many people who didn ’ t have those skills and

were left basically stranded in these refugee camps .

Fortunately , in 1979 , President Carter opened the U . S . borders and that ’ s how my immediate family ended up in Boston . My grandmother and aunts and uncles were sponsored by a church group , so they came over separately , but they were just two hours away in Connecticut . We were lucky – they could have ended up in Alaska ! My uncle also had epilepsy , so there was no way that another country would have taken him . That is why I am so passionate about our country and the opportunities that this country gives people – without discrimination .

Do you think your experiences as a refugee played a role in your decision to go into medicine ? I always wanted to go into medicine , and the time in the refugee camp solidified that . It was tragic . Whenever another refugee boat arrived , many people on the boat were sick and needed medical attention , but there were very few doctors and supplies to help them . On one occasion , a boat with about 200 refugees on board arrived at our camp , which was full . The Malaysian government turned them around , bringing in a battleship to pull the refugee boat back out to sea . As they were pulling it , the boat broke apart and sank . Only about 50 people were rescued and brought ashore . All these people , including some young children , needed medical attention . The alarms were going off , and the doctors on the island were running to help , but there were never enough people to help . It was very sad .

I always remembered that , and that was definitely part of my motivation to become a doctor . Later , my grandmother died of colon cancer , so that made going into oncology a fairly easy choice .

Why did you choose stem cell transplantation as your specialty ? I ended up in hematology and stem cell transplantation because my undergraduate advisor at Harvard was William Beck , MD , a remarkable teacher and professor of hematology . I still have all of his textbooks , which he signed for me . He inspired me to learn about leukemia and how stem cells can regenerate the immune system . I thought it was fascinating , and , after working with him for three years , it was clear that I was going into hematology / oncology and stem cell transplantation .

Then , as a medical student , I was able to work in the lab with H . Franklin Bunn , MD . He was a tremendous mentor and – most of all – a very caring and compassionate advisor . He put his students and their careers ahead of everything else .

We don ’ t get to where we are without our teachers and our mentors , and I certainly wouldn ’ t be here without these remarkable people . All I can hope is that I can do the same for a future generation of trainees .

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Vincent Ho , MD , with his wife , Mei ; their son and daughter , William and Jacquelyn ; and his parents at

Jacquelyn ’ s high school graduation .