A life reborn, a story now told
When Aun Em was growing up in Cambodia, she was told that if you look down, you can only see a few feet, but if you look up, the view is infinite. Em, who is Harvard Medical School’s (HMS) IT help desk coordinator, has lived by the code of always looking forward. This has guided both her life and her career at Harvard. “You only look into the past to create a solution for the future,” she said. Few of her Harvard colleagues were aware of her own past. They know her as an engaging, efficient technology specialist, the active co-chair of the local Joint Committee on the Status of Women (JCSW), a single mother of a 17-year-old daughter, and a passionate advocate of helping other women. But in December she was asked to share her personal story with Harvard staff and faculty, and her illustrated lecture about survival under the ruthless Khmer...