Sputtering on a small fishing boat in the vast South China Sea with dwindling food and water, a young Binh An Phan, his family, and a group of Vietnamese refugees clung only to hope as the engine completely gave out.
They drifted for the next three days, unsure of what was to come of them and their boat in treacherous waters patrolled by pirates.
Then, in a moment Phan, MD, will never forget, a tanker – bound for the Philippines – came over the horizon and literally lifted his family to safety.
“Looking back, I realize it’s not a miracle,” he said. “It’s due to the sacrifice of my parents, their dedication, their commitment to supporting us and providing a better life for us.”
That moment was the catalyst for his family’s move to America and a path that eventually led Phan to UC San Francisco.
All the successes of my life have really been due to the support of others.”
Now, the professor of medicine in the UCSF School of Medicine couldn’t be more grateful for the support network that helped get him here.
“All the successes of my life have really been due to the support of others,” Phan told those in attendance at Cole Hall Auditorium. “All the achievements, all the millstones, all the dreams that I’ve been fortunate enough to realize have really been due to the community of people in my life that have supported me.”
The harrowing tale was one of many powerful moments during Phan’s 2025 Last Lecture, the latest in the annual series featuring a UCSF faculty member nominated and selected by students to answer one question: “If you had but one lecture to give, what would you say?”
Escaping communism
The start of Phan’s journey to UCSF can be traced back to the Vietnam War.
His father, Tuan Phan, was a doctor by training but, like many, was forced into the conflict.
After serving as a medic for a South Vietnamese infantry unit, he was labeled an enemy of the state after the war ended. When he was sent off to a forced labor prison, Phan’s family was left to fend for itself. His mother, Huong Vo, had no choice but to guide the family through an unstable situation that included a lack of consistent housing and meaningful education for her two young sons.
Once his father was released, it was clear escaping Vietnam was their only option.
That choice led them to those fateful days in the South China Sea.
“Reflecting on it now, I can only imagine how the stress at that time had a profound effect on my family,” Phan said.
The family eventually settled in Michigan. As immigrants in the U.S., Phan’s parents were unable to pursue their careers from Vietnam. Low-paying jobs in factories and farms, and government assistance for things like health care, kept the family afloat. “We didn’t have any money,” Phan recalled. “We didn’t know the language. We didn’t understand the culture.”
It was that experience that helped inform Phan’s passion for supporting and caring for the underserved later in life – a lasting hunger for lifting up those with limited resources.
“I see my family in my patients,” Phan, a cardiologist with a practice at Zuckerburg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, said. “I see the anxiety, the fears, the uncertainly in their eyes that, undoubtedly, my parents felt too, trying to survive.”
Phan with his father, Tuan Phan, mother, Houng Vo, and brother, shortly before the family escaped Vietnam. Image provided by Binh An Phan
Phan with his mother, Houng Vo, and brother, while his father was imprisoned after the Vietnam War. Image provided by Binh An Phan
Close encounter
As a medical student, it was truly love at first sight for Phan and the heart.
Mesmerized by how the organ pumped blood around the body, how the valves opened and closed, and how blood moved from chamber to chamber, Phan realized early in his education that he wanted to be a cardiologist.
“To me, it was so elegant and beautiful,” he said. “It was so fascinating.”
Later, its impact on the body hit close to home when his mom was diagnosed with a severe heart condition called mitral regurgitation, in which the blood leaks backwards into the lungs. Years later, she had open heart surgery – a procedure that ultimately happened because Phan helped detect the issue to start.
“I remember going home as a first-year medical student and listening to my mom’s heart with my brand new stethoscope,” he said. “I hadn’t even taken it out of the box yet.”
For Phan, that’s the moment when medicine became real.
“Standing by my mother’s side and standing by her side at my medical school graduation, I learned what it meant to be a doctor,” he added.
‘Lift as we climb’
As a motivating teacher with an eye for uplifting students, Phan has helped many in his own support network find their place in the world.
That includes Nirosh Mataraarachchi, a first-generation Sri Lankan-American and fourth-year medical student at UCSF who just matched at UCLA for internal medicine.
Let us lift as we climb. Let us make sure that no one is traveling in their journey alone.”
With Phan’s backing, Mataraarachchi founded Cardiac Camp.
The free, hands-on learning experience for low-income or educationally-disadvantaged students helps participants learn about the cardiovascular system and the wider implications of cardiovascular disease.
Essentially, it’s the next generation learning about Phan’s favorite organ.
He’s also guided like-minded students to launch the Vietnamese American Medical Student Association (VAMSA), helping to create a community of health care professionals committed to improving access and delivery to the Vietnamese population. “It’s been an incredible honor working with our students,” Phan said.
Mataraarachchi and many VAMSA members were among those who smiled in the audience as Phan highlighted their stories, a trait Phan has carried with him ever since those lonely days in a wayward fishing boat drifting at sea.
“Let us go on to support each other,” he said. “Let us lift as we climb. Let us make sure that no one is traveling in their journey alone. Only as part of a greater community can we truly be successful.”
Last Lecture Series
The Sumner and Hermine Marshall Endowed Last Lecture is the result of an endowment created by the couple’s sons in their memory. The program is hosted annually by the UCSF Graduate and Professional Student Association. Recent speakers have included D’Anne Duncan, PhD, Peter Chin-Hong, MD, Kai Kennedy, DPT, and Rupa Lalchandani Tuan, PhD.
View past lectures