Hieu Pham, dentist and co-founder of Atlas Dental, grew up in Portland, Oregon, and attended Portland State University and OHSU. In addition to founding his own private practice with his wife in 2018, Pham is an active member of the community. He serves as a legislator in the Oregon Academy of General Dentistry and volunteers at the Asian Health Clinic along with the rest of his practice. On the side, Pham is also a breakdancer who performs with his dance crew, Moon Patrol.
In this interview, Pham begins by discussing how he has implemented his values into his dental practice and how important it is for him to create the ideal patient-centered experience for his clients. He discusses the difficulties of being a dentist during a global pandemic and the challenges his practice has had to overcome to ensure a safe environment for both staff and patients. Pham then shares details about his childhood growing up in Portland and how his father kept him and his brothers busy learning instruments, playing basketball, going to school, and dancing, which brought him and his brothers closer. He goes on to recount the stories of his parents, who both immigrated to the United States from Vietnam, and their experiences as refugees making lives for themselves in America. Pham then shares his own connections to the Vietnamese community that his parents have passed down to him through food, language, and tradition, and how he hopes to pass down these same experiences to his daughter. He then talks about going to college at PSU, balancing dance with school, and how his dance crew, Moon Patrol, was formed. Pham also discusses how he gives back to the community through his work at OAGD, volunteering at the Asian Health Clinic, and offering free dental days at his practice. At the end of the interview, Pham talks about the differences he has noticed between the younger and older generations of Vietnamese Americans and Asian Americans in general.