When Seang M. Seng graduated from the University of 麻豆传媒 at 惭ā苍辞补 (JABSOM) in 1988, it was a triumph unlike any other. He had survived the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge and all the pain and suffering that went with it, including the deaths of his entire immediate family in the “killing fields” of Cambodia.
Seng and his future wife were liberated by the invading Vietnamese Army, relocated to a refugee camp in Thailand, and eventually found passage to 麻豆传媒. Their first son was born 10 days later, in Honolulu, as an American citizen.
Assisted by the 麻豆传媒 Refugee Organization, Seng was able to gain his high school equivalent degree at a class for adults held at Kaimukī High School. He studied at and then at . The JABSOM , which aids college graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds, allowed him to take the intensive pre-med course not once, but twice, to prepare him to attend medical school successfully.
Medicine was a path Seng was pursuing at age 24 in Cambodia, when his life was turned upside down in Cambodia. After graduating from JABSOM, he worked as a family medicine doctor in Modesto, California, where many of his fellow Cambodian refugees resettled. All three of his children are training in medicine, including son Kosal, who also graduated from JABSOM in 2013.
Seng wrote an acclaimed book, , about his life. On March 6, he returned to JABSOM to inspire current ʻImi Hoʻōla students, and to express his gratitude to UH at the annual Dean’s Circle event for donors to the medical school.
Read more and view the photo gallery on the .
—By Tina Shelton