An Pham was born in Vietnam and raised there until the age of nine.
When she first moved to the United States with her family, they lived in California but eventually they moved to Minnesota and have been living in Burnsville since An was in Middle School.
An has an Associate of Arts degree from Normandale Community College. She was initially planning to major in Chemistry because she enjoyed the laboratory work, but she had always had an interest in health care. She heard about Medical Laboratory Sciences, and specifically the UMN program, from alumnus Phuoc Thai, as well as from some friends from church who graduated from the program. The information shared by Phuoc caught her interest, especially the core areas of specialization and the variety of career paths that are available with an MLS degree.
An describes herself as an introvert and likes the idea of not having much patient contact or talking to other people while working independently and still contributing to patient care. Her mindset has changed since joining the program and participating in the laboratory courses with a cohort of students. An found that she really likes the hands-on work in the teaching laboratory and has gained a lot of confidence around others. She now talks to everyone in the program and is comfortable asking questions.
Before receiving the Pathways Scholarship, An was working as a pharmacy technician at CVS. On top of her studies and work, she also was a part of the Minnesota Army National Guard. “The Pathways Scholarship supported me financially. I was able to focus most of my time on my studies."
An is currently working in the Blood Bank at the Fairview site in Minneapolis. This was one of her clinical sites.
Here are the specific qualifying guidelines for University of Minnesota MLS students to receive funding from The MLS Pathways Scholarship, and descriptions of the many other scholarships that students in the MLS program can apply to receive.