Nan Han

Nan Han has always dreamed of becoming a doctor, but she couldn’t get there alone.

When she was eight years old, her family fled war in Myanmar, spending the next three years in a refugee camp in Thailand before being resettled in Utica.

Nan joined On Point for College in 2015 while still a student at Proctor High School. On Point helped her navigate the college process and financial aid and provided support for necessities like books and school supplies. She enrolled at Mohawk Valley Community College, earning her associate degree in 2018, and continued to SUNY Polytechnic Institute, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in biology in 2020.

Her next step took her much farther from home. Nan enrolled at the American University of Antigua College of Medicine and completed her medical degree in 2025.

Throughout that journey, On Point remained a source of support as Nan navigated financial aid and the challenges of continuing her education through medical school.

She also experienced firsthand the impact that one graduate can have on another. Nan received a scholarship established by On Point alumni Bikash and Kumari Regmi, former Bhutanese refugees who built careers in healthcare and created the scholarship in 2020 to help refugee students pursue healthcare careers. The scholarship helped Nan continue toward a goal she had carried with her since childhood.

After completing medical school, Nan returned to Utica. While preparing to begin her residency, she began working as a maternal health care manager, helping expectant and new mothers connect with healthcare and community services.

But medicine isn’t the only thing Nan brought home.

Remembering the support that helped make her own education possible, Nan created the Healing Forward Scholarship, an award for students from refugee and underrepresented backgrounds pursuing STEM and healthcare careers. The scholarship carries forward the same kind of support Nan once received from the Regmis.

Among its first recipients was another On Point student, Sabah Haji, who earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering technology from SUNY Polytechnic Institute in May 2026.

For Nan, investing in students like Sabah is an investment in the future of the entire community:

“These will be the very people that will take care of you. These will be the very people that will take care of the next generation.”

The support Nan received helped make her own journey possible. Through Healing Forward, she is doing the same for the next generation.