Teaching, Service & Giving PHO-WARD

Dr. Victoria Pho has served as a volunteer Clinical Pharmacy Faculty from Texas A&M College of Pharmacy since 2016, mentoring students at San José Clinic through immersive IPPE and APPE ambulatory care rotations. In 2025, Dr. Pho logged in 1,284.35 hours of volunteer work!

Over the years, her intern cohorts have proudly named themselves PHO‑NOMENAL, PHO‑TASTIC, PHO’s PHARMERS, and PHO‑NATICS—team names thoughtfully created by the students themselves to reflect their shared passion, teamwork, and commitment to patient‑centered care.

Dr. Pho has intentionally designed the student experience at San José Clinic to resemble a mini‑residency, preparing students for residency training and careers in hospital, community, consultant, or independent pharmacy practice. She tailors each rotation to students’ strengths, growth areas, passions, and professional interests.

In addition to emphasizing strong foundational and clinical pharmacy skills, Dr. Pho places significant value on critical thinking and essential “soft skills” that are often overlooked—such as active listening, empathy, effective communication, accountability, and follow‑through. She also stresses the importance of building meaningful rapport with patients and providers to foster trust and create win‑win relationships and applying the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Pharmacy Students and Interns.

 Beyond teaching, Dr. Pho strive to lead by example and is intentional about planting the seeds of giving, empowering students to pay it PHO‑WARD—a phrase coined by a former intern team. During Pharmacy Week, through her non-profit Living & Giving Foundation, she donated to our pharmacy a much-needed refrigerator valued at $1,500, provided an additional $500 toward medical and pharmacy needs for patients in needs and for the past 8 years together with her husband, Dr. Khoa D. Nguyen, have fundraise more than $125,000 in endowment, scholarships and giving goals for the Texas A&M College of Pharmacy Mai Nguyen Endowment and Texas A&M Foundation Endowed Opportunity Award Scholarship.

This culture of mentorship, generosity, and service is reflected in P.H.O. R.E.A.L.E.R.S., a philosophy created and named by her intern teams to represent the values they experienced through lived learning, mentorship and growth under her guidance: Patient. Health. Outcomes. Respect. Empathy. Accuracy. Leadership. Education. Responsibility. Service.

We are truly blessed to be a place of learning for students and a place of teaching for dedicated providers like Dr. Pho, whose heart for service continues to impact learners, patients, and communities PHO‑WARD.