Nona Alumni: Liem Dang

In this recurring monthly special, Nonahood News will be featuring those who’ve graduated from Lake Nona High School and will recognize the achievements they’ve made since. Some will have been a part of the first graduating class. Others might have graduated a few years later. Few have stayed in the Lake Nona area, and many have explored the world or are still doing so. Let’s see where life’s journey has taken them so far!

Age: 25

Year Graduated: 2011

Occupation: Student at UF College of Pharmacy Orlando Campus; Pharmacist Intern at ORMC

Current Location: Orlando, FL

Liem Dang was surprised at how he and his family ended up in the Lake Nona area.

“I am not sure how my family stumbled upon Lake Nona. When we moved to Orlando back in 2009, I thought we would live closer to the rest of our family here. We lived in the Lake Nona area for about three to four years before relocating to downtown Orlando.”

Dang had a few aspirational goals to achieve while a student at Lake Nona High.

“My main goal as a student was to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology to become a biomedical engineer and then work in tissue engineering. Secondary to that was to look into investment opportunities and how I can assist my family more.”

As his graduation date neared, Dang had to make a last-minute decision and hope that it was the right one to make.

“I almost started my goal of becoming a biomedical engineer. I was accepted into GA Tech but decided to not attend at the last minute so that I could assist my family more. Looking back, supporting my family was definitely the best decision given that situation. I have not looked into investment opportunities, so you can say that I accomplished one out of the three goals so far.”

Although he didn’t attend the college he had originally planned for, his decision to stay back and help his family paid off. Staying in Florida brought him on a journey he hadn’t planned, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle and it’s led him to where he is today.

“When I decided to stay back to help my family, I pursued a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Central Florida. The idea was to focus primarily in biomedical sciences, take on a few engineering courses along the way, and then apply for a PhD program in biomedical engineering. Things did not pan out the way I expected,” Dang explained. “I was not accepted into any of the programs I interviewed for, and so I went back to looking at what other career paths were available for me with my degree. I thought back to how interesting molecular biotechnology was when I had a course in it, and I remembered how influential my organic chemistry professor, also a practicing pharmacist at the time, was on my education. That’s where the next part of the journey began. I looked into pharmacy a little bit more and found that it aligned with the vision I had when I pursued biomedical engineering: making an impact on people’s lives through science and technology. I took the PCAT, applied to pharmacy programs in the state of Florida, and now I am a third-year pharmacy student at UF COP Orlando Campus.”

Working toward his pharmacy school graduation date, Dang, staying true to his character, has some extraordinary goals and a clear vision of what he’ll be doing in the next five years.

“Ideally, I will be working as a pharmacist for a pharmaceutical company or in the Office of Regulatory Affairs with the Food and Drug Administration. I see myself continuing to give back to the community that helped raise me both personally and professionally by being a mentor or preceptor for pharmacy students,” Dang continued. “My main goal presently is to finish my PharmD degree. Some other goals I have in addition to that are taking care of myself more, relearning my native tongue, and establishing a strong legacy that will allow future pharmacy students to succeed.”

His acceptance into pharmacy school sparked a change within himself, and it’s led to an even better version of Liem Dang.

“The biggest recent milestone in my life is being accepted to and attending pharmacy school. Since my acceptance, I made it my goal to become more involved as a student since, during my undergraduate years, I had absolutely zero involvement. It has been three short years, and I would say I have overwhelmingly succeeded in becoming involved within my pharmacy program. I currently serve as a Student Ambassador for the College of Pharmacy, President of the Industry Pharmacists Organization Orlando Chapter, and Regent/President of the Epsilon Mu Chapter of Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity, Inc.”

Dang credits his new level of participation with wanting a challenge and to watch himself grow out of his normal day-to-day routine to truly be able to help others.

“I desired to become involved to challenge myself and to spark my personal and professional growth. One of the key aspects of leadership that I love so much is being able to empower others to accomplish their goals and seeing them succeed. It is through witnessing their growth that I may wholeheartedly say that I succeeded as a leader,” Dang stated confidently. “Some advice I would like to give to the readers is that ‘failure’ is normal, and it is, in fact, okay to ‘fail.’ The important part is to turn it into a learning opportunity and use it to better yourself and the people around you.”