State of Development of Biomedical Engineering in Vietnam

Under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation, from January 3rd, 2004 to January 15th, 2004 Professor Vo Van Toi led a delegation of Biomedical Engineering professors from American universities to visit different Vietnamese universities to assess the state of development and the needs of Biomedical Engineering in Vietnam. Documents generated from this trip are displayed below.

· Announcement for the trip

· Activities during the trip (photos and others)

· Final report to the NSF

· Letter of Intent to Collaborate signed by the delegation members and submitted to Mr. Raymond Burghardt, US Ambassador in Vietnam

· In the press

1. In English

2. In Vietnamese

· Articles issued from the visit

1. “Biomedical Engineering in Vietnam Today” by Vo Van Toi, Dudley Childress, Robert Jaeger, David Kaplan, Murray H. Loew, Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic and John G. Webster. In Engineering, Medicine and Biology Magazine, volume 24, Issue 3, May/June 2005 pages 7-11, 17

2. “Đề Nghị Một Số Biện Pháp Để Phát Triển Hợp Tác Trong Lĩnh Vực Giáo Dục Và Đào Tạo Công Nghệ Y Sinh Học Giữa Việt Nam Và Hoa Kỳ

(Recommendations for the collaboration in research and education in Biomedical Engineering between Vietnam and the United States of America)” (in Vietnamese) by Vo Van Toi. In Tạp Chí Hoạt Động Khoa Học của bộ Khoa Học và Công Nghệ số 8.2004 (543) Năm thứ 46 trang 49-51.

Abstract: Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, a U.S. delegation lead by Professor Vo Van Toi, Tufts University, visited several Vietnamese biomedical engineering educational and research institutions in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho. The objective of the visit was to assess the needs in Vietnam and recommend steps that would enhance the development of biomedical engineering programs in Vietnam, and cooperation with U.S. scientific communities. The delegation found that biomedical engineering research, education, and industry have been steadily growing in Vietnam. Overall, Vietnam possesses a great potential for international collaborative research, and urgently needs educators and supplies. This report gives recommendations regarding the development of work force, infrastructure, relationship education-research-entrepreneurship as well as relationship university-hospitals-industry.

3. “Đi Tìm Một Mô Hình Giúp Phát Triển Nền Giáo Dục và Nghiên Cứu Trong Ngành Kỹ Thuật Y Sinh tại Việt Nam (On the quest of an appropriate model for the development of the education and research in Biomedical Engineering in Vietnam) (in Vietnamese) by Vo Van Toi. In Tạp Chí Hoạt Động Khoa Học của Bộ Khoa Học và Công Nghệ số 9.2004 (544) Năm thứ 46 trang50-51.

Abstract: Vietnam urgently needs top-notch educators in Engineering. To be a great educator one must do advanced scientific research. To be able to do advanced scientific research one must already have had experience in this type of research as well as have been in an environment that has appropriate infrastructure, teamwork, encouragement and reward systems. Furthermore, successful Engineering must be in tandem with Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship requires knowledge in management, how to bring scientific results into commercially viable products and how to generate revenues. We propose a model, which creates a new generation of engineering educators whose mission is to promulgate the link among Education, Research and Entrepreneurship. This model can be applied to any emerging field in Sciences and Engineering and to any university. This proposal focuses on a pilot model to create a Virtual Department of Biomedical Engineering of a Vietnamese university within Tufts University. Tufts University will play the surrogate role. This Department will be implemented back in Vietnam when the members graduate from the program at Tufts. For Vietnam the benefits of this project are clear – mainly, a new generation of highly educated biomedical engineers to move the field forward in Vietnam. For the US, this project will allow researchers to recruit talented and influential scholars, attract young American researchers including those of Vietnamese extraction, and to open new markets for the medical device industry.

As a follow up of the NSF grant Professor Vo Van Toi has organized two international conferences on the Development of Biomedical Engineering in Vietnam. The first one was at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology from July 27 to July 29, 2005 http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~vanvo/VN/BME. The second one is at Hanoi University of Technology from July 25 to 27, 2007.