 Her father, Thomas C. Fox (editor and former publisher of the "National Catholic Reporter"), worked in Vietnam for International Voluntary Services from 1966 to 1968, where he met Catherine's mother, To Kim Hoa, a social worker in Can Tho who married Fox and moved to the United States in 1972.Fox grew up in Roeland Park, Kansas, attended high school at Bishop Miege and graduated from Stanford University, majoring in human biology and studio art.Fox competed at the 1995 Pan American Games and was a member of the gold medal-winning 4×200-meter freestyle relay team.