Meet our Board of Directors:
Tri Dinh, MD is a gynecologic oncologist at the Mayo Clinic Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. He coordinates the trip to Vietnam on an annual basis. He also serves as the webmaster, blogger, secretary, you-name-it, he-does-it for project TVD. Tri has been going annually to Da Nang since 1999, save for the several years during his fellowship training.
Tue Dinh, MD is a plastics and reconstructive surgeon at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. Tue has been going to Vietnam and other SE Asian countries annually since the mid-2000’s. Tue participates in surgery cases with both project TVD and the Children’s Genital Reconstruction Project.
Saifuddin Mama, MD is a pelvic reconstructive surgeon (urogynecologist) at Cooper University Health Care and faculty at Cooper Medical School at Rowan University in New Jersey. Saifuddin has been going to Vietnam annually since the late 2000’s and his surgeries always draw a crowd in the operating room. He is a specialist in pediatric gynecology and patients wait for months for treatment by Saifuddin in Da Nang.
Robin Mama, PhD, LCSW is the Dean of Social Work at Monmouth University in New Jersey. Robin has travelled to Vietnam annually since the late 2000’s. She has set up partnerships and exchange programs between Monmouth’s School of Social Work and sister organizations/schools in Hanoi and Saigon. She has also mobilized her fellow Monmouth faculty members and their students to help the project TVD mission.
J Mark McKinney, MD is an interventional radiologist at Mayo Clinic Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. Mark has been instrumental in getting his fellow radiologists to work with project TVD since his first trip to Da Nang in 2015. He has coordinated the efforts of RAD-Aid to modernize the radiology equipment at Da Nang General Hospital.
Gayle Olson, MD is a maternal-fetal-medicine specialist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. Gayle is an annual presence in Da Nang since her first trip in the late 2000’s. She is well known in Da Nang for her ultrasound expertise and runs daily high-risk obstetrical ultrasound clinic during her work week in Da Nang.
Mimi L. Dinh: After retiring from her award-winning marketing company, Mimi began her next act as a chef where she trained at some of #theworlds50best’s Michelin-starred restaurants. She is passionate about curating thoughtful, global culinary experiences with story-telling to bridge the gap of understanding between different cultures. Mimi has always had a soft spot for children and was on the advisory board of Child Advocates, Inc. for many years in Houston. She is married to Tri and in 2015, created TVD arts & craft program with their daughter Kellie, which has become a highly anticipated annual project by the pediatric patients of Bệnh Viện Sản Phủ Đà Nẳng (Đà Nẵng Women and Children’s Hospital).
Myn Nguyen Demmon is an investor, volunteer, and philanthropist. She received a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. She spent her early professional career at NCR/AT&T as a Senior Business Consultant and Manager in their Western Division. At Charles Schwab and Co, Inc. Myn was a Director of Strategic Planning in Schwab’s Technology Division. Since her retirement, Myn has been committed to contributing in a meaningful way to her community and organizations focusing on education, empowering youths in underserved communities and promoting healthcare research and initiatives. Myn helps to organize the annual Project TVD trips.
MEET OUR AMBASSADOR
Phuong Loan Nguyen, MD is a radiologist at Da Nang Hospital, Vietnam. She also has been the primary contact for the RAD-AID since 2017. In 2017, she was sponsored by Project TVD to do an observership at Mayo Clinic Florida in Jacksonville. Having been the Central Vietnam ambassador of TVD since 2013, Dr. Phuong is instrumental in helping attendees from each mission trip with any professional, personal, or social needs and make the most of our time in in DaNang and HoiAn, Vietnam.
EXAMPLES OF TVD VOLUNTEERS
Ian A. Makey, M.D., is a cardiothoracic surgeon with a specialty interest in general thoracic surgery. His clinical focus includes: performing lung cancer surgery including lung preserving techniques such as sublobar or sleeve resections, treating end-stage lung disease with lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) or lung transplantation, improving symptoms of myasthenia gravis with robotic thymectomy, and inventing medical devices such as improved specimen extraction bags.
Christopher J. McLeod, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D., has two primary research interests, both in the fundamental direction of exploring ventricular arrhythmias. One central theme is investigation of ventricular arrhythmias and their association with sudden cardiac death in adults with congenital heart disease. In addition, Dr. McLeod is involved in several translational science investigations into novel techniques to map and eliminate ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation.
Focus Areas: Sudden cardiac death risk stratification for adults with congenital heart disease; Development of ablation strategies for adults with congenital heart disease; Development of novel ablation tools for ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation targeting; Basic characterization of ventricular repolarization.
Alisa Modena, M.D. is the Medical Director, Ambulatory Operations in Maternal Fetal Medicine at Cooper University Healthcare. She is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist specializing in Maternal-Fetal Medicine. She is also the Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cooper Medical School.
Dr. Safa Sharabi is a plastic surgeon at Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles, California. She specializes in reconstructive procedures of the breast, head and neck, pelvis, genitalia, and lower extremity. She completed an integrated plastic surgery residency program at Baylor College of Medicine, followed by a fellowship in Microsurgery at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. She met and trained with Dr. Tue Dinh during her residency and this will be her second time joining Project TVD in Da Nang. She enjoys teaching residents in the operating room and clinical settings.
Dr. Linda Van Le received her Bachelors of Science from Stanford University and her M.D. from the University of California at San Francisco. She pursued residency at UC San Francisco and Fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Gynecologic Oncology. She has previously served on the UNC Institutional Review Board, UNC School of Medicine Admissions Committee, James Wood/Jefferson Pilot Award Committee, and was Chair of the Full Professors Promotion Committee for the School of Medicine. Dr. Van Le is currently the Leonard Palumbo Distinguished Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the UNC School of Medicine.
Nationally Dr. Van Le has served on the Editorial Board for the journals Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Gynecologic Oncology. She was a board examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology for 18 years, editor for the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology PROLOG series, served as Society for Gynecologic Oncology liaison to American Society of Clinical Oncology, and was Scientific Editor for British Journal of Ob/Gyn. She is currently Associate Editor for Ob/Gyn Survey, and is an Editor for TeLinde’s Operative Gynecology. She has been designated a ” Best Doctors in America” since 2009 and a Castle Connolly America’s “Top Doctor” since 2010.
Dr. Van Le takes care of a broad variety of gynecologic cancers including vulvar, endometrial, ovarian, and cervical cancer as well as precancers such as vulvar and vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia. She offers patients surgical and chemotherapy management and collaborates with radiation oncologists when radiation therapy is recommended. She is Principal Investigator for NRG/Gynecologic Oncology Group and for Pharma sponsored trials and is particularly interested in clinical trials and development of new therapies.
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