They call her 'Madame Vietnam'
By Dave Newhart
The Capitol Times
In Vietnam's latest war-- the battle to improve the living
standards and health of its 75 million residents- the UW's Judy
Ladinsky is on the front lines.
After a decade and a half of activism, Ladinsky, an associate
professor of preventive medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
has become one of the most involved outsiders in a Southeast
Asian nation struggling to develop.
"She is the most well-known person from the U.S. in Vietnam,"
said Nguyen Dinh, an official with the Ministry of Science and
Technology.
Fifty-three times since 1980, the 58-year-old Ladinsky- affectionately
known as "Madame Vietnam"- has taken the 20-plus hour
airplane trip to Vietnam.
Her next visit? Next month. As head of the U.S. Committee
for Scientific Cooperation with Vietnam, an academic group, Ladinsky
coordinates 42 projects between American scientists and10 ministries
of the Vietnamese government.
In her efforts, she has been determined-helping to secure
millions of dollars in grants and donations for ambitious research
and humanitarian projects. She has recruited top scientists from
the UW and around the country to donate their time.
The Vietnamese people recognize her importance. Prime Minister
Vo Van Kiet has met with Ladinsky three times, and she has her
own office in Hanoi in the National Institute of Hygiene and
Epidemiology, the Vietnamese version of the National Institutes
of Health.
In every city she visits, one or two hosts accompany her to
nearly every appointment or meal. And as a means of maintaining
a partnership between her group and the Vietnamese government,
the government pays some of her internal travel costs.
"The Ministry of Science and Technology doesn't treat
anybody else like this," Dinh said.
Jim Hall, an official in the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, had kind
words for Ladinsky, despite the fact that the U.S. only ended
an economic embargo against Vietnam in 1994.
"We think the world of Judy and of the committee and
of the work they are doing," Hall said. "It's very
important in helping the relationship between the U.S. and Vietnam."
Deep background: Ladinsky's work transcends that done by many
local residents, UW faculty and area organizations who are continuing
a Madison movement that started during the 1960s: befriending
the one- time enemy of the United States.
But before Ladinsky set her sights on Vietnam, she did a considerable
amount of work closer to home.
She earned a Ph.D in reproductive physiology from the UW in
1968. The Medical School quickly added her to its teaching ranks,
and in 1975 she became an associate professor.
In the 1970s, she put her rural health training to work by
helping set up a health care delivery system in several small
towns in northern Wisconsin, where residents had little access
to care. She later was a founder of Group Health Cooperative.
Before 1980, she had little contact with Vietnam. While she
was on campus during the heart of the protests against the Vietnam
War, she was not an activist. She opposed the U.S. involvement,
but she once clashed with protesters who had placed a large boulder
in the road that was then the access point to the emergency room
at the old University Hospital.
Her work in developing rural health systems drew national
attention, and in 1980 Edward Cooperman, a professor at the University
of Cal State-Fullerton, asked Ladinsky if she would consult with
Vietnamese doctors on upgrading their rural health network.
At the time, Cooperman headed a small group known as the U.S.
Committee for Scientific Cooperation with Vietnam, a committee
that had formed in 1977 strictly as a means for scientists- not
governments- to cooperate. Up until that point, it mainly made
small gestures such as providing books and journals to Vietnamese
scientists.
Although she did not know Cooperman personally, or speak Vietnamese,
Ladinsky agreed to start as a health consultant.
From her first trip in 1980, she was impressed with the Vietnamese.
The resiliency of the people in the face of poverty the country's
general commitment to science and education despite a lack of
resources, and a desire to remain independent were evident from
the start.
"Even though the country was very poor, there was a great
deal of moral support for scientists and education," she
recalled.
The rural health system, unlike in most poor countries, was
also functional.
"One of the things that impressed me was the resposiveness
of the system to the people," she said. "They had health
workers literally within a few feet of the people, but they had
no supplies, no equipment."
In those early visits, she wondered why she, a representative
of a country that had recently warred with the Communists who
now control Vietnam, was so well received.
"I'd ask that and they'd say. 'In your value system you
can't make the distinction between the people and the government.
In our country, we can. We assume if you are here, and coming
back, you want to be here. You are our friend.'[TH]"
But tensions still remained high between Vietnam and the United
States, and between the north and south Vietnamese.
In 1984, Cooperman was murdered. The killer was a 21-year-old
Vietnamese student. Although it was never proven, many believed
Cooperman was assassinated for helping the old enemy
Despite the fears of her family--which includes husband Jack
Ladinsky, UW emeritus sociology professor, and their son and
daughter- Judy agreed to take over the committee.
"I took the attitude, 'I can't be afraid,'[TH]"
she said. "If I was I couldn't get anything done. It was
sort of a fatalistic attitude."
Exchanges continue: Because the Vietnamese- who have strong
basic education system with a 90 percent literacy rate-were so
isolated intellectually, the cooperation Ladinsky fostered was
extremely valuable. The U.S. embargo basically cut the country
off from the outside world until two years ago.
She managed to set up exchanges and secure visas for hundreds
of Vietnamese students and scientists to come to the U.S.- and
arranged for many Americans to go to Vietnam.
"She was the first scientist to bring people together."
Said Dinh. "She helped the Vietnamese and U.S. citizens
understand each other."
What makes Ladinsky's effort even more remarkable is that
for years she worked while the two countries were at each other's
throats. Relations were so cold that the only way for a U.S.
citizen to obtain a visa to travel there was from a third country.
To accomplish even the smallest of tasks, she had to jump
through endless hoops in both countries.
Waking up Vietnam: In some ways, Ladinsky's relentlessness
has served to prod the Vietnamese government into improving the
standard of living for its people. It's not that officials don't
want to improve living conditions, but the pace and protocol
often delay reforms endlessly.
"It's very difficult to set up programs here," said
Dinh.
But Ladinsky has managed to cut through the red tape. She
has succeeded in a society that until recently was closed and
even distrustful of outsiders.
Her ability to win the trust of the Vietnamese stems from
her thorough understanding of their protocol. She knows which
members of the governing People's Committees she must meet with
at each stop, and does so on every trip. During some days, she
drinks more of the strong, bitter Vietnamese tea-drunk religiously
before an important meeting- than water.
"I had wonderful people in Vietnam explain to me why
they do the things the way they do," she explains. "I
may not agree with it, but I try to understand it."
Ditto for the informal gestures and unspoken social rules.
She remembers the names of the wives and children of the dozens
of officials she meets with. She remembers who likes Hershey's
chocalate or powdered ice tea, and brings boxes and boxes of
T-shirts and clothing donated by Madison businesses on each trip.
As Vietnam opens its economy and borders, many more groups
are coming in either to do business or provide humanitarian aid.
Vietnamese officials appreciate that Ladinksy continues to come
back, and follows up on her promises.
The head of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology,
Hoang Nguyen, emphasizes that there are two types of agencies
who come offering "help."
"Several places, they come in to help, and in fact they
would like to exploit," he said in an interview in his Hanoi
office. "They talk and talk and talk-and nothing happens.
But she is very active. She knows well our needs."
Reflecting on her contributions, Ladinsky prefers to talk
in terms of the committee she heads. She cites a few of its accomplishments:
Vietnam has produced vaccines for cholera and hepatitis, has
reduced blindness because of Ladinksy's distribution of vitamin
A, and provided students with the opportunity to get graduate
education.
"We've have had an impact on the standard of living,"
she said. "We've had an impact on the quality of life. We've
been able to bring the Vietnamese scientific community into the
global world. And we've been able to impact on the perception
that Vietnam is a country- not a war."
Published on November 16, 1996
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