HomepageBiologyFrom CoSA to the ICU: Tu Pham (’14) cares for COVID19 patients at Montefiore Medical Center in NYC

From CoSA to the ICU: Tu Pham (’14) cares for COVID19 patients at Montefiore Medical Center in NYC

Tu Pham is an anesthesiologist at the frontlines of the COVID19 pandemic.

While at Ursinus, Tu Pham majored in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He presented his research at CoSA and participated in the Summer Fellows program in the lab of Dr. Rebecca Roberts. After graduation in 2014, he went on to Drexel University College of Medicine where he shadowed physicians from different specialties. “I always gravitated towards anesthesiology,” Tu said, “I knew I wanted to work with my hands, and I found physiology and pharmacology very interesting.”

In 2018 he was matched into anesthesiology at Montefiore Medical Center in NYC. He explained that “as an anesthesiologist, we specialize in perioperative care, developing anesthetic plans, and the administration of anesthetics. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine.” His days now involve critical care for COVID19 patients. He shared that “In the Bronx, we are at the frontlines of this pandemic, intubating patients and caring for them in the ICU. Our hospitals had to convert many ordinary hospital wards into ICU’s. Our PACU’s and OR’s are now intensive care units housing intubated COVID19 patients. I wouldn’t be in this position to care for these patients if it wasn’t for the experiences I’ve gained at Ursinus, the connections I made through the pre-med committee, and through the mentorship of my advisors”.

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