Huong Nguyen, PhD, MSW, MA

Huong Nguyen, PhD, MSW, MA is a Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and instructor at the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing. Prior to joining the University of Minnesota, Dr. Nguyen was social work faculty at the University of South Carolina, where she was also the Global Carolina Regional Director for Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

Born and raised in Vietnam, Dr. Nguyen had diverse training in economics and mass communication before receiving her PhD in social work from the University of Chicago (2010). As the first person in post-war Vietnam with a doctoral degree in social work, Dr. Nguyen is an authoritative source in the emerging field of social work in Vietnam. Her research focuses on understanding the root causes of mental disorders and how to effectively treat them. For the last 10 years, she has been conducting extensive research at Buddhist temples in Vietnam, Thailand, and other countries, training rigorously with Buddhist masters. She aims to ultimately develop a therapy to treat mental health problems by bridging Western and Eastern wisdom. Dr. Nguyen is currently a principal investigator in a research project funded by the National Institutes of Health aiming at testing an intervention to reduce burden and stress for Vietnamese family caregivers of elderly people with Alzheimer’s disease.

In addition to being a scholar, Dr. Nguyen is an award-winning best-selling author of nine fictional and non-fictional books. She uses her creative works to raise public awareness about social problems and social justice. She has been awarded the Motivating Woman Award, Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Vietnamese Social Work by the Vietnamese Government, and other recognitions from the United States and Vietnam.

PhD, University of Chicago
Major: Social Work

MA, University of Chicago
Major: Social Work

MA, University of Nebraska - Omaha
Major: Communications

BA, Hanoi Foreign Trade University
Major: Foreign Trade Economics

Nguyen, H. (2024). Living brightly: A guide to live an authentic life with true happiness. Vietnamese Writers’ Association Press.

Nguyen, H. (2021, under pen-name Phan Viet). The heart of void. Vietnamese Writers’ Association Press.

Nguyen, H. (2017, under pen-name Phan Viet). Unhappiness is an asset (Volume 3: Coming Home). Vietnamese Writers’ Association Press.

Nguyen, H. (2016, under pen-name Phan Viet). America, America and latest short stories. Vietnamese Writers’ Association Press.

Nguyen, H. (2014, under pen-name Phan Viet). Unhappiness is an asset (Volume 2: Across America). Tre Publishing House.

Nguyen, H., & Phong Diep (2014, under pen-name Phan Viet). The rubric cube (Collection of short stories). Tre Publishing House.

Nguyen, H. (2013, under pen-name Phan Viet): Unhappiness is an asset (Volume 1: Alone in Europe). Tre Publishing House.

Khuat, T. H., Le, B. D., & Nguyen, H. (2010) (In Vietnamese and English). “Easy to joke about but hard to talk about: Sexuality in contemporary Vietnam”. Tri Thuc Publishing House.

Nguyen, H. (2009, under pen-name Phan Viet). Nuoc My, nuoc My (America, America). Tre Publishing House.

Nguyen, H., Hoang, T. T., Hinton, L., Pham, T., Nguyen, T. A., Nguyen, H. T., Nguyen, N. B., Harvey, D., & Hinton, L. (2025). Testing the efficacy of a culturally adapted family dementia caregiver intervention (REACH VN): Results from a cluster randomized controlled trial in Northern Vietnam. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 33(5), 535-545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2024.10.011 

Tran, H., Nguyen, T. A., Pham, T., Mantyh, W., Nguyen, H., Dao, N. V., Han, H. Q., Bao, P. Q., & Tung, B. T. (2024). Apolipoprotein E in lipid metabolism and Alzheimer's disease. Vietnam Journal of Physiology, 28(2), 98-107.

Vu, H. T. T., Nguyen, T. A., Nguyen, T. T. H., Pham, T., Nguyen, H., Tran, D., Bui, Q. T., Nguyen, A. H., Ha, N. T., & Nguyen, T. H. (2024). A national program to advance dementia research in Vietnam. BMC Health Services Research, 24(1), 156. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-10608-w 

Nguyen, H. (2023). What is a true Buddhist social worker? International Journal of Buddhist Social Work, 2, 78-91.

Nguyen, H., Hinton, L., Nguyen, T., & Pham, D. (2021). "It's extremely hard but it's not a burden": A qualitative study of family caregiving for people living with dementia in Vietnam. PLOS ONE, 16(11), Article e0259788. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259788 

Nguyen, T., Levkoff, S., & Nguyen, H. (2021). "He is just getting old, you know": The role of cultural and health beliefs in shaping the help-seeking process of family members caring for persons with dementia in Vietnam. Ethnicity & Health, 27(7), 1630–1651. https://doi.org/10.1080/13557858.2021.1922612 

Nguyen, H. (2020). An overview of health social work in the world and recommendations for Vietnam. Journal of Health and Development Studies, 4(1), 8-13.

Nguyen, H., & Hinton, L. (2020). Applying Buddhism to enhance the skills and well-being of interventionists in a clinical trial to support family caregivers of persons living with Alzheimer's disease in Vietnam. Social Work Journal of the National University of Mongolia, 2020 (Special Issue: Integration of Diversity and Culturally Sensitive Practices in Social Work), 34-40.

Nguyen, T. A., Pham, T., Dang, T. H., Nguyen, A. T., Pham, L. T., Crotty, M., Kurrle, S., Bui, Q. T., Nguyen, H., & Roughead, E. (2019). Towards the development of Vietnam National Dementia Plan: The first step of action. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 39(2), 137-141. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajag.12755 

Nguyen, H. (2018). Preserving multiple identities in an interconnected world through non-attachment to identities: A self case study of a Buddhist social work. The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Universities, (Special Edition on Vesak Celebrations Conference), 311-325.

Award: Advancing Alzheimer's family caregiving interventions and research capacity in Vietnam
Co-Principal Investigator: Nguyen, Huong
Sponsoring Organization: National Institutes of Health
Award Dates: 2019 - 2025

Award: Advancing Alzheimer's family caregiving interventions and research capacity in Vietnam
Principal Investigator: Nguyen, Huong Thi Ngoc
Sponsoring Organization: University of California, Davis
Award Dates: 2021 - 2024

Award: Advancing Alzheimer's family caregiving interventions and research capacity in Vietnam
Principal Investigator: Nguyen, Huong Thi Ngoc
Sponsoring Organization: University of California, Davis
Award Dates: 2021 - 2022