Sum T. Tran, MD
Cosmetic Plastic Surgery
His grandfather Thianh Tien Tran, a well-educated politician and the Prime Minister of Vietnam, was assassinated.
His father, Dinh Tran, facing bloodshed and unrest, chose to flee to the mid-coast city of Hue, to protect and preserve the family.
There, Sum Tien Tran was born, the fourth of seven children. Growing up in the late 1940’s, Sum Tran spoke French, the language of those who colonized Vietnam at the time.
As it has always been in the Tran family, emphasis was placed on education, and despite overshadowing political changes, he and his siblings were able to attend college, and attain professions. Three became engineers, one a lawyer, a sister a teacher, another brother, also a physician.
Completing medical school in Hue, his skills as a surgeon were recognized. As the United States escalated the war in the 1970’s. .Dr. Tran was asked to train in Saigon as the Arthur Barksy Clinic. Physicians from Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York came to teach plastic surgery because of the tragic war casualties and maiming, especially of children.
There, he became proficient in his new skill. As we know from history, the North Vietnamese advanced southward to Saigon. Surrounded by bombs and ravages of war, and now married with two children, he and his wife, Yen, had to make a difficult decision. Do they stay in their land of birth and tradition, or do they leave to protect and preserve their family?
Absolutely aware that the well-educated are not usually allowed to survive in an overthrow, the Tran family decided to flee. “It was the most difficult decision of my life,” he said.
On April 27, 1975 three days before the last American was to leave, the Tran family boarded a military plane and left their homeland. His parents were not able to go, so his brother, Buu, stayed behind to care for them.
Now refugees, the Tran family arrived at Camp Pendleton, and eventually relocated to the San Fernando Flee. Not being licensed to practice medicine, Tran worked as a scrub nurse under Dr. Jerry Nemetz, a plastic surgeon in Encino.
Carrying his education, skills and reputation with him, Tran passed his Boards and obtained his California Medicine license, training at Stanford University.
Ironically, Tran was accepted into the New York Mount Sinai plastic surgery program, where he joined Dr. Arthur Barksy the next three years in honing his skills. He returned to California in 1984, and became a partner with Nemetz. That same year, he opened his practice in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Tran’s skills are extraordinary. As a physician, and having seen trauma in the emergency room where a face is obliterated and a body decimated, I have seen Tran put pieces back together without a hint of injury. His peers and colleagues recognized his talent years ago, with many acclamations and testimonial letters sent to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital praising his skills.
Tran and his wife recently returned from a trip to Vietnam. They are in the process of setting up a free clinic in Hue. Sadly, they had to flee their homeland in order to be able to return.
Tran found his French was left behind completely. “I can barely speak it now,” Tran said.
Fortunately, not left behind were his parents, whom he was able to eventually bring to the United States.
Brought to us from Vietnam was a skilled surgeon, his wife, Yen, and now four children.
One is a physician, another a hospital administrator, a third soon to be pharmacist and the last a budding lawyer. “This country opened their arms to us, and I hope we are able to give something back,” Tran said.
Also brought was the tradition of family, which still spans halfway around the world to their homeland.
Here though, the only bombs bursting in the air they hear are the words of our “Star Spangled Banner.”
Tran’s father had to flee, as Tran himself had to flee.
Now, in their new home land, he and his wife have to flee no more.