Adieu to my friend,
To the memory of Dr Vĩnh Đại:
We were born in a country at war
We grew up together in a city now afar,
Our weddings were only days apart
Fifty years ago.
Early in life you joined the fight
Against all maladies that marred
Our war-torn country.
Your career spanned half a century
As surgeon, teacher, scholar, humanist,
A soldier for a while, but a gentleman always,
Idealist, courageous, humorous,
(And sometimes awkward in your unmistakable way.)
Your life was a heroic battle that you won,
Not with guns but with all your mind on a different front,
Operating rooms as your perpetual battlefield where
You fought, a general among the best ones we ever had.
People often say “Old soldiers never die”
Like them, you just faded away.
Adieu, my friend since very old days!
- Hồ văn Hiền
OBITUARY
Dr. Robert Vῖnh Đại, beloved husband, father, grandfather, doctor and humanitarian, passed away on March 16, 2022 in Arlington, VA.
Đại was born on August 27th, 1947 in Nha Trang, Vietnam. He was the son of the late Bửu Đài, a veterinarian, and the late Trần Thị Đồng. He was an only child and his father passed away when he was only 7 years old. He was very cute, extremely disciplined and polite as a child, said "Cô May" (Công Tằng Tôn Nữ Tri Túc) who took him to school every day. His family later moved to Saigon in the 1950’s.
Đại and many of his medical school classmates attended the French high school, Lycée Jean Jacques Rousseau, in Saigon from 1958 to 1965. He passed the National French Baccalaureate in 1965 as well as the highly selective national entrance exam into the medical school, where only 200 candidates out of 20,000+ applicants with highest scores were chosen. After a stellar performance in medical school as student, intern, and Resident in surgery from 1965 to 1972, he presented his Thesis under Oath to Hippocrates and graduated from the Medical School of the University of Saigon in 1972. His close circle of friends, which included Drs. Thân Trọng An, Anne Regina Capdeville, Trần Đức Tùng and Đặng Văn Chất, had formed a small study group during the medical school years.
As an outstanding physician-in-training, he passed the yearly rigorous written and oral exam in mid-1972 and certified as an Interne Des Hôpitaux de Saigon (Intern of Hospitals of Saigon) in surgery; this academic level was equivalent to a 3rd year US residency. The prestigious certification was designed to select the best doctors for the Teaching Faculty of The University of Saison School of Medicine. Đại was immediately recruited as an Intern/Resident in surgery by the late Dr. Phạm Biểu Tâm, the former Dean of Surgery, to practice at Bình Dân Hospital in Saigon. At the time, this surgical residency program was sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh and coordinated by Dr. Henry T. Bahnson, the late Professor of Surgery and Chairman at UPMC Presbyterian (formerly Presbyterian-University Hospital) in Pittsburgh, PA. During his medical years, Đại was an exceptionally sharp and brilliant scholar who could master all medical subjects in the blink of an eye. He read medical books like novels and could memorize everything at first glance.
In 1973, he passed his ECFMG (Equivalence Exam of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates) with high scores and was selected as Assistant Professor into the Teaching Faculty of Saigon University School of Medicine where he practiced and taught Surgery to medical students and residents until 1975.
Aside from medicine, Đại loved sports and was an outstanding volleyball player for the Medical School, and with his height and athleticism helped the team win many games. Growing up with his mother living on his father’s meager pension and with limited resources, Đại took a job as a pharmaceutical drug representative to afford medical books to make ends meet during his medical school years. He would run the streets on his Honda scooter from doctor’s to doctor’s offices distributing medical drug samples after class until late while other classmates were studying or playing.
He met the love of his life, Dr. Nguyễn Thị Tuyết Hoa (“Hoa”), who was in a class junior to him in Medical School. It was love at first sight. However, since he was very shy and reserved, he was incapable of making the first step. His close friends, Anne Regina Capdeville, and Thân Trọng An, helped bring them together. They were married in 1972, and their daughter named Vῖnh Huyền Trân was born the following year.
Between 1972-1973, Đại had occasionally assisted Hoa’s father (Dr. Nguyễn Tú Vinh, the sole general surgeon and Director of Bạc Liêu Hospital in a remote province of South Vietnam) in numerous surgical operations, including innumerable wounded war patients, accidental trauma, repair of cleft palate, GI surgeries, amongst others, during multiple visits to Hoa’s hometown.
In a country ravaged by war with incessant fighting between the South and communists of North Vietnam, with bombing occurring in the villages, countryside and downtown on daily basis, sounds of guns and bombs became a familiar part of daily life for all. Đại and his family had to occasionally hide in a bunker and had on a few occurences escaped shooting and bombing incidents during this horrific period. Despite the fact Saigon was heavily bombarded, particularly in its final days before the fall to the communists of North Vietnam, Đại was going to Bình Dân Hospital to perform surgeries and take care of his patients as usual.
One evening a few days before the fall of Saigon in April of 1975, he was suddenly grabbed from the hospital by one of his brother-in-law Nguyễn Hồng Phúc and taken home to care for family. That very night, Đại along with his wife and daughter immediately joined the family of his uncle, the late Phạm Hy Dung, Colonel in the Telecommunications, in a US organized military airlift out of Saigon. They took with them only a small bag of important papers, clothes and powdered baby milk.
our beautiful father
Now refugees of war, Đại and his family landed first at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines where they stayed for three days. The next destination was Guam for ten days; then finally they were transferred to a refugee camp in Fort Chaffee, AR.
Dr. James Patrick, a family practice doctor in Fayetteville, AR and one of Hoa’s father’s friend, who participated in a Volunteer Physician Program for South Vietnam during war time, sponsored Đại and his family out of the refugees’ camp. With Dr. Patrick’s assistance, Dai and his family moved to Pittsburg, PA in July of 1975.
Following Đại’s reconnection with Dr. Bahnson (see above), Đại obtained an Internship and Residency in Surgery program at the Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA. He became Board Certified in General Surgery in 1980. Đại and Hoa voluntarily joined the United States Air Force as Majors, USAF and chose to be stationed in the D.C. area. He was interviewed by Dr. Dino Nonas in July of 1980 and accepted a position as General Surgeon for Malcolm Grow Surgical Clinics and Surgical Center in Andrews Air Force Base, MD, where he worked from 1980 - 1984.
Following his honorable discharge from the USAF, he opened his private practice and became a member of the medical staff at Inova Fairfax Hospital and Virginia Hospital Center working as a General Surgeon and Trauma Surgeon from 1984 - 1993. Dr. Nonas, who had become a member of Kaiser Permanente Group, enticed Đại to join the group, which he did in 1993. He suddenly suffered a stroke in August of 2015, which preceded his planned retirement in January of 2016.
Throughout his long medical career, Đại had proven himself to be a giant in the field of surgery with tremendous skills and a unique talent, combining his broad experiences in surgical techniques from Vietnam with US training practices. He was famous for performing the highest number of parathyroidectomies and thyroidectomies by doing more than 350 cases per year at Inova Fairfax Hospital, as noted by Dr. William Purkert; and also for Whipple’s operations and mastectomies. He was full of life and full of humor in the operating room, making everyone relax and laugh as if turning on a light switch. A problem solver and a perfectionist, he was always calm and contained during each operation. No case was too hard or too complicated for him. A compassionate surgeon, he cared about each of his patients, often waking up at night thinking about what to do for them the next morning. He acquired innumerable loving colleagues and friends. He would always come to the rescue of colleagues in need and helped out with all difficult cases as asked of him without hesitation.
His commitment to the medical community particularly at Inova Fairfax Hospital, was to mentor and train numerous young medical students and surgeons. He demonstrated his passion in the way he taught, helped and encouraged them, always wanting them to excel and to become better physicians and surgeons. He can be found glued to his computer at night searching for medical subjects and the latest articles with which to prepare his next talk or organize journal clubs alongside Dr. Oscar Bronsther.
As a result of this passion, he received many consecutive annual awards for Best Teacher of the Year from the Surgical Department at Inova Fairfax Hospital. After a while, it became too “boring” to see him win annually, so the Hospital decided to name the award after him. Đại was also a born artist who could quickly sketch any subject from the medical to the abstract including architecture, portraiture and nature. He would often illustrate for purpose of instruction and then just as quickly crumple up and discard the work.
To those who knew Đại, he was larger than life, yet humble, honest, full of humor and full of “joie de vivre.” In addition to his passion for medicine, he loved food, fashion, movies, music and … gambling. He enjoyed playing mahjong with friends on the weekends and occasionally joined them for casino trips. As a life-long learner and a fast reader who could finish a book in a day, he was also interested in a broad range of subjects besides medicine including philosophy, history, all kinds of war history, science fiction and non-fiction novels.
He is survived by his mother-in-law, Thiều Thị Nguyễn (CA), wife, Dr. Tuyethoa Vinh, daughter Tran Vinh, son-in-law Jeremie Carvalho and grandson Lucien Vinh Carvalho (CA) who he cherished as a most precious gem until his final moment; and his brothers-in-law Nguyễn Hồng Liệt and wife, Nguyễn Hồng Tão, Nguyễn Hồng Bác and wife, Nguyễn Hồng Phúc and wife, Nguyễn Hồng Nho and wife and Nguyễn Hồng Sơn and wife.
Dr. Dai Vinh was an incredible and exceptional surgeon and an absolute treasure who has left an indelible impression on everyone who had the chance to know him or work with him. He will be deeply missed and always remembered.
- Dr. Tuyethoa Vinh