(soft music)

- It's hard to talk about
race in Minnesota in general,

because I think we feel
like we can and we should

treat everyone the same way.

And I think that is
rooted in a healthy way,

but if we treat
everyone the same way,

we assume everyone's the same.

Being Vietnamese-American,
being a refugee,

when I started doing
work in medicine,

I gravitated to
particularly those who

are immigrants and refugees.

As the population changed,
and as the needs changed,

I changed with the population.

And so then my equity work
had been more around those

who were dealing with
opioid use disorder.

We have a lot of
individuals come here

that happen to be Indigenous,

and I was not doing a
great service at first,

because I didn't understand
what their life was like

outside of clinic, so I
knew I had to take time

and practice to ask questions,

to learn more about just
individuals and community,

beyond just addiction.

And I learned the good
stuff, the bad stuff,

and the everything in between.

And then also working with
a researching assistant,

Koushik Paul, over
the last three years,

he and I started
doing interviews

with the Native
American community

to understand how we
can better serve them

around opioid use
disorder, particularly

in primary care clinics,

and make it more
culturally-centered,

or family-centered.

And all these connections
that we built over time

in this shared space has
given me a place of joy

where I am working
with communities

that deserve help, should
be elevated and celebrated,

but they have been also
people who are so accepting,

and allow me to learn
and make mistakes

along the way, too.