SCHOLARS

TIGON ABALOS
U.S. Army | UCLA | Doctor of Dentistry
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“Where we come from starts our life’s path but it is the
experiences we willingly choose to make that define us.”
Like many others who graduated high school with limited means, Tigon - a refugee
who emigrated from Vietnam to the United States in 1995 - enlisted in the Army
National Guard in 2000 to initially pay for college education. But as America quickly
entered the war, Tigon made the fateful decision to delay her education and request
a transfer into the active-duty Army. That choice has since shaped and defined her
more than she ever imagined.
While deployed to Afghanistan in 2005, Tigon found her life’s calling while
volunteering on humanitarian aid missions to the refugee camps outside Kabul. There
she saw a desperate need for medical professionals, especially dentists. With this
new perspective, she traded her combat boots for a textbook and backpack to return
to college. Today, while studying at the UCLA School of Dentistry, she is passionate
about helping underserved geographic areas and underrepresented minority
populations. She believes that with her combined insight as a veteran and minority,
she can be a more empathetic and compassionate healthcare provider in local
communities.
In addition to her studies, she recently co-founded the Operation Bruin Smiles pilot
program at UCLA to subsidize dental care for veterans and foster youths. She has
also volunteered at the West Los Angeles VA Hospital where she assisted the dentists
with oral surgery for the veterans in the facility. More recently, her life came full-circle
on a humanitarian mission to her native Vietnam, where she provided free dental care
to impoverished villages in the countryside.
After graduation, Tigon plans to pursue a VA hospital residency, and then a career as a
dentist in the VA hospital system while continuing her service in the Reserves.
Class of 2015