Administrative Activities
In the morning of Saturday December 3, 2016, Dr Thach Nguyen met with a small group to parents and the representatives of the first, second, third year students. Dr Thach Nguyen also met with a small group of parents and students of the 4th year. The agenda of the meeting is to update parents and students about the current administrative situation of the TTU School of Medicine, the teaching condition of faculty and the learning environment of students. Dr Thach Nguyen also listened to the concerns of parents about the teaching, learning condition of students. Dr Thach Nguyen really appreciated all the important and very helpful suggestions of parents how to improve the teaching conditions and the learning process of students.
During the day, within the context of a scientific meeting, Dr Thach Nguyen met and talked to His Excellency Michael Michalak, former US ambassador to Vietnam, currently member of the Board of Trustees of TTU and chairman of the American Business Council in the ASEAN. Dr Thach Nguyen also met His Excellency Mary Tarnowka, Consul General of the US in Ho Chi Minh city. Dr Thach Nguyen also met Professor Nguyen Lan Viet, president of the Vietnam Heart Association, Dr Craig Thompson, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Boston Scientific (Minneapolis, MN, USA), Dr Nguyen Minh Tuan, Director-General, Department of Medical Equipment of Construction, Ministry of Health (Hanoi VN), Dr Amit Shanker, Chief Medical Officer, Strategic Medical Affairs, Boston Scientific (Minneapolis, MN USA) Dr Ho Thuong Dung, Vice President of Thong Nhat hospital, Ms Vo Xuan Boi Lam, President and CEO of United Healthcare Inc and many others. The discussions were about cooperation, plan for education and training of students, medical doctors in VN (especially at TTU) and various business projects in healthcare.
In the afternoon of Saturday December 3, 2016, Dr Thach Nguyen met the two vice provosts of TTU, Dr Michael Pham Loc and Tran Duong who updated me about the audit of the Ministry of Education and Training. They discussed about the working procedures between the university and the school of medicine. Dr Thach Nguyen also met other faculty including Dr Nguyen Truong Nam (Education and Training office) , Dr Nguyen Tri Dung (Histology), Dr Tran Van Hung (assistant to the Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine), Drs Pham Thi Van Huyen, Nguyen Thi Tuyet and Dang Thi Bich Thao (clinical instructors). In general, the discussion involved the teaching schedule and assessment of the current teaching and learning condition for the first and second year medical students at the TTU Long An campus and the hospital clerkship of the 3rd and 4th year medical students at Binh Dan, Tam Duc, Thong Nhat, Hung Vuong, Nguyen Tri Phuong, Nhi Dong II and Hoan My hospitals.
In the morning of Friday December 9th, 2016, at 7:00AM, there was a meeting of the faculty of the TTU School of Medicine, at Tam Duc hospital. The meeting was chaired by Professors Pham Nguyen Vinh, Le Quang Nghia and Thach Nguyen. The faculty who were present at the meeting included: Professors Nguyễn Thị Từ Vân (Obstetrics and Gynecology), Vũ Huy Trụ (Pediatrics),Dr Doan van Huyen (assistant Dean), Dr Le Xuan Truong (Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry), Dr. Tran Thi Hong (Parasitology), Drs Nguyen Truong Nam (Education and Training), Trần Văn Hùng, Đoàn Văn Khánh, Phạm Thị Vân Huyền, Nguyễn Thị Tuyết, Trịnh Ái Nhi, Dang Bich Thao, Le Xuan Truong (Biochemistry), Nguyen Hoang Tai My (Clinical Instructor at Tam Duc hospital).The faculty discussed about the current teaching schedule, curriculum, human resources and how to improve the current working and teaching condition so the students can study better. The faculty also discussed about the current administrative situation of TTU, the audit of MOET and the plan for transfer to other medical schools of a small group of students.
A meeting with TTU School of Medicine Faculty at Tam Duc Hospital, hosted by Prof. Phạm Nguyễn Vinh, Prof. Lê Quang Nghĩa and Prof. Thạch Nguyễn.
At the end of the meeting, on behalf of the TTU school of Medicine, parents and students, Dr Thach Nguyen did convey the best wishes for the holidays (Christmas, New Year, Tet) to Professors Pham Nguyen Vinh and Le Quang Nghia and all faculty for their diligent works, teachings and efforts in the development and improvement of the TTU school of medicine.
In the afternoon of Friday December 9th 2016, Dr Thach Nguyen met the 1st year, 2nd year and 3rdmedical students to update the students about the teaching faculty, the hospital rotations and discuss about the current teaching and learning situation. The student voiced concerns about the teaching method (theory versus clinical correlation or relevance), the language (English versus Vietnamese) and the language of the midterm or final exam (English versus Vietnamese). The students also asked questions about the number of hours of lectures in each day.
In the late afternoon, Dr Thach Nguyen interviewed 14 students who showed interest to do clerkship in the US in the spring of 2017.
In the evening, Dr Thach Nguyen had a lovely dinner with Dr Nguyen Truong Nam, his wife and his son, Khang. The dinner was a formal welcome to a new faculty. In the next 6 months, Dr Thach Nguyen will try to invite all the faculty for a formal private dinner, lunch or drink in order to form a special bond, a warm friendship and healthy working relationship.
Academic Activities
In the morning of Saturday December 3, 2016, a small group of TTU medical students (from first to 4thyear) attended an interventional cardiology meeting organized by Boston Scientific. The title of the symposium was VIETNAM Angioplasty Summit. The attendees of this meeting include the majority of Vietnamese interventional cardiologists.
In the morning of Friday December 9th, 2016, a small group of 3rd year TTU medical students went with Dr Thach Nguyen to visit the United Healthcare factory in Thu Duc. This is a factory which manufactures many medical equipment in VN, specifically the angioplasty balloon and stent. The goal of the visit is to assess the methodology, the manufacturing process of the stent and balloon angioplasty. The TTU team was welcomed by Ms Boi Lam, CEO and the engineer team. The TTU was briefed in details about the process of producing the angioplasty balloon and its quality control. Then the TTU team visited the production room from the laser cutting, polishing, coating the stent with reabsorbable polymer (poly-L-lactic acid ) and sirolimus. All the equipment is from Germany and the US. The TTU team and the engineer team had to go through all standard sterile protocols (sterile gown, shoes cover, head cover, face cover, constant flow of air out, laminar flow hood, etc.) The discussion with engineering team revolved around the designs of the stent (open or closed cell design, the thickness of the struts. If the struts are thick, then the stent is stiff and so it is difficult to advance the stent through tortuous arteries. If the struts are thin, then the radial strength is lower. The discussion also involved the results of the stent after being laser cut. Under light microscope, the stent showed uneven edges with many impurities (dust) in its sides. After a chemical polishing process, the edges look much better, smooth. However this is under light microscope. In many studies, the stents were checked with electron microscope and the scientists could see many imperfections of the stent. Another discussion included the business strategies of United Healthcare which is start-up company which tries to have a market share in the medical equipment business. This is a great learning experience for the students.
December 9th to December 10th 2016 Three 4th year medical students of TTU went to Busan Korea to present the data of their research and attended the cardiology meeting organized by Dong A U Medical Center
The team of Tan Tao U at the Joint Coronary Revascularization at Busan, Korea. (from Left to right) Dr Patrick Then (Malaysia), Dr Alan Fong, Dr Thach Nguyen, Tran Trien, Pham Hong Gia Nguyen, Ngo Thi Trang Dai and Mr Anthony Nguyen
Mr Tran Trien, student at TTU School of Medicine presented the topic: New Non-invasive Test Confirms Accurately Intravascular Fluid Status in Patients with HYPOTENSION on top of Severe Morbidities (COPD, Cirrhosis, End-stage renal failure, or on Respirator) during cardiovascular interventional procedure
The three students of TTU School of Medicine: Ngo thi Trang Dai, Pham Hong Gia Nguyen, Tran Trien at the Korean meeting
