For the City Times

STEVENS POINT — A local physician will share his personal journey from refugee to family practitioner as part of a presentation by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s Hmong and South East Asian American Club (HaSEAAC).

Dr. Xa Xiong will present “The Impossible Dream: Memoirs of a Refugee Boy” at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 18, in the Room 333 of the Communication Arts Center, 1101 Reserve St., Stevens Point. He also will offer a question and answer session. The event is free and open to the public.

Reflecting his autobiography of the same name, Xiong will share how he chased his dreams from immigration to the United States in 1980 to becoming a family physician with Ascension Medical Group in Stevens Point, a chiropractor and founder of the Dr. Xa Xiong Foundation: A Quest for Education. With his foundation, Xiong hopes to inspire and empower people to achieve in their individual health, leadership, income, family and education (iLIFE).

Xiong was named the 2016 Wisconsin Family Physician of the Year by the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians, received the Journey of Hope Award from the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families in 2011 and was listed as one of the five most accomplished Hmong Americans in the book “The Hmong: Coming to America” by Kaarin Alisa in 2007.

He previously served as a family physician in Manitowoc and was a medical resident in Appleton. He holds degrees from Concordia University, Los Angeles College of Chiropractic and Spartan Health Sciences University School of Medicine.

HaSEAAC promotes awareness and understanding of the Hmong and Southeast Asian culture to UW-Stevens Point and the local community through personal experience, knowledge and/or historical understanding. For more information, email [email protected].