International Community Feature: Long Lê

For our next International Community Feature, we’re delighted to spotlight Long Lê, a first-year DMD student at the Tufts School of Dental Medicine.  

As a native of Vietnam, Long was born in Ho Chi Minh City and spent much of her childhood there as well as on the coast in Da Nang. Her time in the US began during her undergraduate studies at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston where she pursued a degree in dental hygiene. From there, she went on to earn an MS in Biomedical Sciences at the Tufts School of Medicine. When considering her next steps, Long remembered loving her experience shadowing in dental offices while at MCPHS. She also felt inspired by the various professions within her own family that all involved working with their hands – cooking, tailoring, jewelry-making. Dentistry struck her as a fulfilling career helping people at the cross-roads of art and health sciences, so she decided to enroll at TUSDM.  

Long is very grateful for how welcoming and helpful everyone at Tufts has been, especially as she transitioned to the intense pace of the DMD curriculum this semester. She is consistently struck by how passionate, supportive, and hard-working the faculty and students are. And she has grown to have a close relationship with the I-Center staff as she’s navigated the immigration landscape. Though primarily based on the Boston Health Sciences Campus, she also appreciates having the Medford campus nearby where she can enjoy a change of scenery from time to time. Exploring the restaurants in Chinatown (and taking advantage of a student discount at some!) is one of her favorite things to do –   she recommends Pho Pasteur and Broken Rice for authentic Vietnamese cuisine.  

Now living in a coastal town here, Long loves to take walks by the ocean which is a reminder of her childhood in Vietnam – even though it’s on the other side of the world, she takes comfort remembering that it’s all one ocean that connects us! Other ways she has managed to keep homesickness at bay is talking with her family every day, learning to cook some of her mom’s recipes, and spending time in Dorchester where there’s a large Vietnamese community and occasional cultural festivals.  

When asked to describe her international student experience in one word, Long chooses meaningful. The other international students she has encountered through her three academic programs in the US have come from such diverse backgrounds and each had a unique path that led them here. But she notes that one thing they all share is a tremendous capacity for resilience. The tenacity and perseverance she has witnessed in her peers is inspirational and expanding her connection to other cultures has been a wonderful learning experience for her outside of the classroom. Two pieces of advice she would like to pass on to her fellow students are 1) don’t be afraid to ask questions and get help early on – you never know what connections and opportunities might come as a result! 2) If at all possible, get a campus job – it will open up a new way to be involved and stay connected to Tufts.  

–by Julia Keith 

(photo credit: Long Lê)