Reprinted from the Gwinnett Daily Post, May 1, 2004
By Jaime Sarrio
Staff Writer
Lawrenceville—There’s the quiet one, the dramatic one and the peacekeeper.
But for all their personality differences, the Do sisters have remarkably similar aspirations—they all wanted to be pharmacists.
Today, the Vietnamese-born Do sisters—Dao-chi, 34, Quynh-chi, 31 and Betty, 29—will plunge into the medical world as they graduate from Mercer University, all receiving doctorates of pharmacy.
From there, they will move on to work for three competing companies, CVS, Kroger and Walgreens pharmacies, respectively.
After moving to the United States six years ago, the three Lawrenceville residents entered pharmaceutical school at the same time, though with different educational backgrounds.
Dao-chi was a pediatrician in Vietnam and Quynh-chi did her pre-pharmacy work in Vietnam. Betty took classes at Georgia Tech and planned to enter computer science, but then transferred to Georgia Perimeter to complete her pre-pharmacy work.
Since both parents are retired teachers, the two younger Do sisters admit it was Dao-chi’s influence that led them to consider pharmaceutical studies as an option.
“We all like the medical field and like it to help patients,” Dao-chi says. “But maybe it is because I told them so much about pharmacy.”
While in school, the sisters often took the same classes, shared textbooks and rode to school together.
“We’d have group study sessions,” Quynh-chi says. “We’d participate in class every day because it is best to learn by interacting with other students.”
“We’d discuss some of the things we learned in school. It was very helpful,” Dao-chi adds.
Classmates and teachers often got the Do sisters confused—forgetting they were three students who just happen to look alike.
“Some professors would talk to Betty because they thought I was her,” Quynh-chi says.
The sisters say they have separate lives, but admit that graduating together makes the experience all the more special.
And as for the Do Sister’s Pharmacy?
“Maybe,” says Quynh-chi. “We’ve talked about it.”
