1994 story: Culture shock helps straight-A Hale student

By the time Vinh Pham finally settled in the Seattle area with his family in 1987, at age 12, he was fluent in three languages and about to learn his fourth, English.

Pham credits that near-constant culture shock for his academic success at Nathan Hale High School, where he'll graduate with a perfect 4.0 GPA this month.

"I've had to adapt to various kinds of environments, and I think that helps me deal with any kind of academic challenge set before me," says Pham, an 18-year-old North Seattle resident.

Pham has a particular affinity for math and science. As a freshman, he co-founded an astronomy club that now has 15 members — an achievement of which he is especially proud.

The group shares information on computers and telescopes, goes on field trips and arranges for speakers.

Pham also has been on the track team, in the honors society, captain of the Knowledge Bowl team and part of a group involved in a wetlands-reclamation project.

He also was selected as an intern at the Seattle Aquarium last summer and works with homeless children, recently helping organize a picnic for children at First Place school.

His genetics teacher, Ed Hopfner, says he has taught many advanced students in his career, but Pham stands out because of his genuine enthusiasm for learning, his desire to help others and his humbleness.

"He pursues everything he does with a strong desire to constantly learn, satisfy a keen curiosity and do an excellent job," Hopfner says.

Pham was born in what used to be called Saigon.

As the Vietnamese government began its crackdown on upper-class families, his 13 brothers and sisters were parceled out to other family members overseas.

Pham and his parents were the last family members to leave Vietnam in 1983, when they emigrated to West Germany.

In 1987 the family moved to the Seattle area and began trying to reunite.

"I would not consider myself privileged with my background, but I think there is a duty for everyone to help others," he says.

"Sometimes if you just give someone else a helping hand, eventually someone else will give you a hand when you need it."

Pham plans to enroll at the University of Washington or Seattle University and study genetics.

— Jolayne Houtz

2004 story: Doctorate in genetics and a wide-open future

Vinh Pham is today exactly where he hoped he'd be 10 years after graduation: hunched over a microscope in a lab, using the tools of genetics to probe the foundation of living things.

"It's kind of boring, isn't it?" he said.

His interest in genetics pervades his résumé. He worked as an intern at Immunex while at Nathan Hale High School, and he stayed while getting a bachelor's degree in molecular biology at the University of Washington. After graduating this month from the University of California, Davis' microbiology doctoral program, he hopes to continue working in, well, genetics.

His huge family — 13 brothers and sisters — immigrated from Vietnam during a government crackdown, forcing Pham to learn English as his fourth language.

His life, said Pham, 28, is now less exotic and mostly spent in the lab. He travels some, hikes and swims, and keeps two Newfoundlands. He is not married. He's funny, joking he soon could be rich and famous.

He is excited about microorganisms and their uses for what he jokingly calls his "tree-hugger" environmentalism, such as cleaning up messy military bases. He also wants to use his science to help people, and says he has plenty of options.

"I ask everyone, 'What should I do with my life?' " he said. "I'll take any good idea I can get."

— Jonathan Martin