Long An February 12, 2018
Dear Faculty, Staff, Parents of students, and Students,
As acting Provost of Tan Tao University (TTU) and Dean of the School of Medicine (TTU-SOM), I would like to send all of you my warmest greetings for the new year 2018. As we are at the beginning of the Spring semester, I would like to report on the activities of 2017 in this letter, and the plan for the next 12-24 months in the next letter.
3rd Commencement Ceremony Last year, TTU finished successfully the Spring and Fall 2017 semesters. In October, we celebrated its 3rd Commencement Ceremony with graduates from the School of Business, Humanities and Languages, and Engineering and Biotechnology. Vice Provost Tran Duong, Huynh Ho, Professor Cao Tien Dung from the School of Engineering, Professor Nguyen Dinh Truong from the School of Biotechnology, and Professor Dang Thanh Nhon of the School of Humanities and Languages were present.
All senior faculty from the School of Medicine (SOM) were in attendance: Professor Le Quang Nghia, Chair of the Department of Surgery, Professor Pham Nguyen Vinh, Chairman of the Department of Medicine, Professor Nguyen Thi Tu Van, Chairperson of the Department of Obstetrics, Professor Le Van Cuong, Chair of the Department of Anatomy, Professor Nguyen Hoang Vu, Chair of the Department of Anatomy of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ho Chi Minh City, and Professor Le Xuan Truong, Chair of the Biochemistry Department.
From the US, we have faculty from the Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond Virginia, the University of Arizona, the University of Maryland, Baltimore Maryland, St. Mary Medical Center, Hobart, Indiana, and Eisenhower Medical Center, Palm Springs, California. Outside the US, there were faculty from the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, Rovigo General Hospital, Rovigo, Italy, and the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, Singapore.
ACTIVITIES of the School of Medicine in 2017 Clerkship, sub-internship and the USMLE exam During the year, I had many meetings with all clinical instructors of the SOM working at the hospitals. We reviewed the schedules of rotation, the attendance of students, the assignment of bedside teaching, the quality of teaching, and the feedback from faculty and students. The topics of discussion included the plan for training of the 6th year medical students (sub-intern) (2018-2019), the internship program in 2019-2020 and the plan for TTU graduates to sit on the USMLE exam.
Meetings and Abstracts Presentations
In 2017, the medical students attended the SCAI meeting in New Orleans (4/2017), the Tam Duc Cardiovascular Symposium (10/2017) and the 3rd Interventional cardiology meeting in Can Tho (11/2017). The students presented abstracts at the Great Wall International Conference on Cardiology in Beijing (10/2017) and the Joint Coronary Revascularization meeting in Busan, Korea (12/2017).
US and Korean Clerkship In May 2017, 4 students spent one month at Yonsei University medical center for medical and pediatrics clerkship. In June 2017, 12 TTU students were enrolled in the anatomy course at Indiana University, and 20 students spent 2 months at St Mary Medical Center, Hobart IN and Methodist Hospital, Merrillville IN for clerkship. One student spent one month at Christ Hospital, Oak Lawn IL for clinical electrophysiology and one student was at the University of Maryland for Emergency Medicine. Four students from Yonsei came to TTU for clerkship. Forty American students came to TTU for 2 weeks charity medical mission while learning family medicine alongside TTU medical students. Other groups of US students came to visit via the Student Exchange program.
Research
In October 2017, Drs. Hector Cabrera and Derek Hausenloy from the National University of Singapore (NUS) to meet Drs. Khanh Doan and Thao Nguyen to discuss the research plan at TTU. They visited the research laboratories located at the Tan Tao hospital. The NUS team planned to work closely with TTU in order to improve their research program. Dr Khanh Doan just received a 50,000 USD grant for his research from Nafosted. Congratulations Khanh, you made us proud.
Activities of the Schools of Business and Humanities and Languages The School of Business (SBE) had quite a few activities in 2017. Besides the usual academic activities, the SBE had one summer course with faculty from Pennsylvania. One student went to the US for a summer clerkship. The School of Humanities and Language organized the Education Camp HCMC with the TESOL HCMC Association, and Horizon TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).
A major event staged by the SBE was to organize multiple talks of Mr. Marty McVey, a successful businessman specializing in investment and oil sales in Houston, Texas. Mr. McVey gave a talk to high school students on how to select a career and how to be successful in business and investment. His talk at the Ben Thanh auditorium was well attended and appreciated by an energetic young crowd of high school and college students.
Activities of the Administration
TTU successfully worked with the inspection team of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) so TTU could focus on improving the quality of teaching. Also, TTU submitted all the papers and solved all the questions about the diploma. TTU successfully submitted all the papers required for the Quality Assurance program, a project administered by MOET. It was a busy year for the administration and a lot of work was done. The papers related to the budget of TTU 2018 are now at a large accounting firm in Dallas. As in 2017, I asked this accounting firm to tabulate and present the budget of TTU in an American style of management.
Extra-curricullar Activities with Other High Schools The TTU recruitment team successfully went to more than 40 high schools in the Mekong delta to teach the skills needed by young people in the 21st century. The recruitment team also successfully organized the preliminary stage of the High School Competition selecting the best pre-med students. On January 26, 2018, more than 50 high school students presented their topics ranging from anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, artificial intelligence, and telemedicine. In this semi-final competition, 10 students were selected to do research in major laboratories in Vietnam, Singapore, Korea, and the US. During the first week of February, 2 students, Nguyen Hoang Quynh Anh, with her brother as chaperone, and Phan Nam Bao Chau, with her 2 sisters as chaperones, spent a great time learning at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Two other students, Ms Trần Ngọc Bảo Trân and Ms Nguyễn Quỳnh Giang had their Korean visa issued and plan to arrive in Busan at the end of the month and study with Prof Kim Moo-Hyun on antiplatelet therapy and testing. One student, Phan Ngoc Lan Huong with her junior advisor, Le Hoang Duc Toan, is planning to visit the stent production factory in Thu Duc; her subject for presentation would be engineering and clinical factor in the design of a coronary stent.
One student, Mr Đỗ Nguyễn Nhật Quang will be interviewed by the US consulate for the US visa at the beginning of March. Quang and his junior advisor Phạm Minh Trí are planning to arrive in the US in early March for research and study at the Indiana University’s anatomy laboratories. If the visa is granted, the trip will include the visit at Indiana University, the University of Chicago Physics lab, and a trip to Orlando for the American College of Cardiology annual scientific meeting and a side trip to Disney World. The topic of research of Quang would be about the blood flow in the coronary arteries and the genesis of atherosclerotic plaques.
In summary, 2017 was a busy year for TTUfaculty, staff, and students. However, with the determination of all executives, faculty, staff, students, and parents, coupled with the new American style of management, 2017 was a successful year. As a result, on behalf of the leadership team, I would like to thank all faculty, staff, parents, and students who made 2017 a great and successful year. I hope everybody will enjoy the Tet holidays and spend quality time with family and loved ones.
With my warmest personal regards,
Thach Nguyen MD FACC FSCAI
