Humans of VinUni | Professor Michelle Hermiston – The Architect of Hope and the miracle called Vietnam

In a remote corner of rural Iowa, where the prairie stretches endlessly and a television flickers to life only twice a week, a young girl grew up among the silence of soil and the unnamed stirrings of distant dreams. There were no role models to follow, no family members who had ever stepped foot in college. But there was one thing she knew with clarity: to go farther than Iowa. To touch the world.

Today, more than thirty years later, VinUniversity is honored to welcome Professor Michelle Hermiston, a distinguished professor in pediatric hematology-oncology in the United States, former Director of the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and now the Vice Dean of the College of Health Sciences at VinUni. More than a scholar or a clinician, she is the visionary who laid the foundations for a national pediatric cancer network in Vietnam- a journey braided with science, compassion, and a profound belief in what she calls “Vietnam Magic.”

FROM FARM FIELDS TO CELL CULTURES

Michelle’s childhood began in the cool mist of early mornings, often beside her father – a farmer – as he tended to animals before sunrise. “I was never enamored with mud or machinery,” she recalls, “but I was fascinated by living bodies – the way systems inside them moved, communicated, healed. Science had me under its spell from a very young age.”

When she entered university in 1984, she worked part-time in a hospital as a phlebotomist – drawing blood in every ward, meeting patients from every walk of life. “I began to realize that I felt most at home with children. I belonged in pediatrics.”

And then, one evening, destiny arrived disguised as a date. “My boyfriend- now my husband of thirty-seven years – had to run a DNA gel electrophoresis experiment. I tagged along to the lab. It was the first time I had seen molecular biology in action. I hadn’t known such a world even existed. But in that moment, something clicked. I thought, This is it. I want to do this. I want to do research.”

That revelation would set her on a lifelong path. Michelle went on to earn a Ph.D. in Biomedical sciences and Developmental biology at Washington University, and later, a pediatric residency and fellowship at UCSF – one of the most respected medical institutions in the country. She joined the UCSF faculty in 2002.

But for Michelle Hermiston, excellence in medicine was never the finish line. It was merely a point of departure.

THEY CALL HER THE ARCHITECT OF HOPE. SHE CALLS IT VIETNAM MAGIC

In 2015, while serving as Director of Graduate Medical Education at UCSF, Michelle received an email from a Vietnamese-American resident. He asked to meet and to invite her to Vietnam to speak with local physicians about hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a rare and devastating condition with disproportionate prevalence among Southeast Asian children.

She said yes immediately, driven by curiosity, and by an enduring wish to bring advanced medicine to places where it is most needed. That first visit would spark a lasting commitment. Instead of simply offering expertise, Michelle began building Vietnam’s first national pediatric oncology training program – ultimately approved by the Ministry of Health. Yet, unlike many “twinning” initiatives, in which a developed hospital partners with a single institution abroad, Michelle advocated for something more ambitious: a truly nationwide collaborative model.

“If you only uplift one hospital,” she explained, “you risk reinforcing inequity. I wanted every child, no matter where they live, to have access to the same standard of care.”

From Ho Chi Minh City to Danang, Hue, and Hanoi, the network grew. And with each visit, Michelle witnessed something astonishing. “In the U.S., getting a new idea into the healthcare system might take years. In Vietnam, I’d return just months later – and the idea had already become reality. Not just implemented, but often improved beyond what I imagined. It was this capacity for agile, empathetic innovation that inspired her to call it “The Vietnam Miracle.”

A VINUNI INFUSED WITH VIETNAM MAGIC

It was during her collaboration with Vinmec on academic research into CAR-T cell therapy that Michelle first took notice of VinUniversity. What impressed her most was not just the infrastructure, but the unmistakable sense of purpose – the clarity of its academic vision, and the depth of its commitment to a research-centered future.

Now as Vice Dean of Health Research in the College of Health Sciences, Professor Hermiston is helping to architect the foundation for clinical research, mentoring students, designing cutting-edge training programs, and – perhaps most importantly- nurturing in young minds the capacity to dream scientifically.

“There is no greater calling,” she says, “than to educate the people who will go on to change the world.” And, “I am not alone here. Everyone is moving in the same direction, where science, humanism, and innovation evolve together. That synergy is extraordinary.”

From lecture halls to molecular biology labs, from research symposia to quiet mentoring sessions, Michelle Hermiston is building something profound: an open intellectual ecosystem where students are not only learners but potential changemakers. A place where Vietnam may yet become a regional nexus for medical discovery.

Some individuals are born to heal. Others are called to build ecosystems in which thousands can heal together. Professor Michelle Hermiston is one of the latter.