That is what Vo Minh Viet has to tell himself before one of the first achievement in his journey of becoming a doctor, the Bachelor of General Medicine.
Despite being a student, he achieved a variety of glorious success such as co-authoring two books including “Management of Complex Cardiovascular Problems” and “Current Pharmaceutical Design” published by Bentham Science Publishers. He further boosted his deed with two articles published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology while yet finished his studies at the university.
He also earned the opportunity to give a presentation at the 26th annual scientific conference GWICC organised in Beijing. In addition, he was amongst a few elite students sent to St. Mary Medical Center to participate in a clerkship program in the US for the very first time, took part in the Dissection Course led by Prof. Talarico and the Resuscitation Course by Dr. Quincy Tran.
A hardy journey with full of hearty fun
Viet deserves the reputation of learning nuts of Le Hong Phong High School to have won the first prize for the subject of Biology in the Ho Chi Minh City Contest of Excellence in 2012. He then won on the gold medal in Biology for the Ho Chi Minh 2013 Olympic.
In spite of all that head start, Viet said that the journey to becoming a doctor is still full of rough turns. Beside the usual pressure of assignment as students of other faculties, his pressure also comes from hospital duties, and days with morning clinical classes at the hospital and afternoon classes at the university as well as sleepless nights working around the clock on various reports.
“It’s super busy yet with lots of fun in the days that we shared with each other on classes and nights at hospitals. I’ll never forget that part of my student life,” Viet recalls.
He recounted that during their shifts in the hospital, they often were very busy. In some precious time, they may take turns to sleep on the chairs or right on the floor with a bag under their head in place of a pillow. Though it was hard, but never a lack of joy.
A teacher, and an enabler
So far, Viet said, Tan Tao University played a big role in every achievement he got. He learned the approach and mindset that researchers doing scientific work must have. It’s the key to success in science, especially the science of health.
The most special of all are the people at Tan Tao University. Tan Tao could never have been special whatsoever without special figures like that of Prof. Thach Nguyen. He is the trailblazer to lead excellent students like Viet through numerous opportunities to learn and expose themselves to the international such as giving research presentations in prestigious scientific conferences, and joining in international medical courses and programs in the US.
The liberal arts education philosophy that lies in the core of all teaching activities of Tan Tao University will not teach students to become anyone else other than themselves. TTU with the teachers here however, will do their best to enable the true potential of each and every individual student to shine with their own light. Viet said that he learned the skills to learn, to think and solve problems critically all very much thanks to Prof. Thach.
“He is extremely passionate. He would always try not to force, but to enable all of us to do science with a right attitude. I believe that my journey would’ve been much rougher, full of turn and churn if I didn’t have a chance to converge with him.” Said Viet.
Talking about the future, Viet said he wants to focus on preparing for the USMLE (US Medical Licensing Examination, a three-step compulsory certificate acquisition for foreigners before they can practice medicine in the country). With all of his edges and brilliant experience, let us all wish Viet all the best in the upcoming USMLE and everything else on his way ahead.
