For Saylee “Timmy” Phongsamphanh, RN, the journey to becoming a health care professional began when he was nine months old and had the first of four heart surgeries.
The Doctor of Nursing Practice student in the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing grew up with tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart condition involving four malformations occurring together.
“I had a long scar down my chest to remind me daily that I was different. For years I was insecure and didn’t know how to say how I got it,” Phongsamphanh shared during the pinning ceremony for his Graduate Entry Pathway class, describing how isolated he felt before his family let him play contact sports.
“I watched neighborhood friends hop into a red minivan for wrestling practice as I stayed behind waiting for them to come home and play outside.”
Phongsamphanh started training as an electrician but found it wasn’t fulfilling. He ended up studying biology at Rhode Island College, where he also competed on the wrestling team. While in college, he worked as an EMT and ran a roofing company with his uncle. Now he is in the Family Nurse Practitioner Track at UMass Chan Medical School.
Phongsamphanh, who is currently a psychiatric nurse at Fuller Hospital in Attleboro, said he wants to specialize in pediatric cardiology to take care of patients like himself.
“I feel like this is definitely my calling,” he said. “As a family nurse practitioner, I’m able to take care of patients from infancy all the way to adulthood, so I can follow patients with congenital heart defects throughout their whole lives.”
Outside of work and the classroom, Phongsamphanh is co-president of the Graduate Student Nursing Organization, where he supports initiatives that amplify student voices and improve nursing education. As a first-generation college graduate from a refugee family, he is passionate about helping people who are underrepresented.
Phongsamphanh also loves to surf and recently took up judo.
“It’s my way of expressing freedom—to push my body to its limit,” he said. “It’s incredible how my health care team was able to get me to that state of mind.”
The Student Spotlight series features UMass Chan Medical School students in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing and T.H. Chan School of Medicine. For more information about UMass Chan Medical School and how to apply, visit the Prospective Students page.
