Professors of Medicine from Vietnam Obtain Experience as Job Shadows from Researchers of the Faculty of Medicine of UT
25-27 February, the managerial staffs of two Vietnamese schools of medicine visit the University of Tartu. Together with Estonians they participate in a seminar discussing the possibilities of cooperation. Thereafter, 29 Vietnamese will shadow researchers of the Faculty of Medicine of UT with the purpose of experiencing the practical part of studies in Estonia and using the knowledge gained here to improve the quality of studies in Vietnam.
„The medicine of Vietnam is somewhat similar of the one of Estonia at the time of regaining our independence. We had researchers who did a lot of work but in several areas but there was no systematic medical research that would meet international requirements. The research system in Estonia has been built very progressively and successfully. We have been free and independent for over 20 years and obtained valuable experience. This is the experience worth sharing with our Vietnamese colleagues, because that’s what they need. When it comes to cooperation, it isn’t always about “what’s in it for us”. Sometimes it can be about sharing the skills and knowledge we have with others,” Sulev Kõks, a Professor of Physiological Genomics of the University of Tartu says.
The purpose of the project “Improvement on Health Care Resource in Danang” is to promote cooperation in research between the faculties of medicine of Estonian, Vietnamese, Swedish, Norwegian and Polish universities. The possibilities of cooperation in the future and the current status of the project shall be discussed at a seminar held in the framework of the project. At the seminar possibilities in cooperation in ten fields of medical research, including pharmacology, orthopaedics and radiology, etc., shall be considered.
After the project seminar, 29 Vietnamese lecturers and teachers shall shadow researchers of the Faculty of Medicine of UT and doctors of Tartu University Hospital. The purpose of the job shadowing which lasts for up to three months shall be to participate in the studies and medical practice in Estonia and to improve the teaching of medicine in Vietnam as a result.
“Vietnam is a large country, and problems of medical science have way more influence there. They have a lot of biomaterial to research, including on diseases that are rare around here,” Kõks says. According to Kõks, the cooperation with Vietnam gives researchers of UT a possibility to provide a lot of added value. “The medicine of Vietnam needs help to catch up, and researchers of Tartu and other Nordic Countries have a lot to offer and teach,” Kõks explains.
The visit contains a meeting with the Rector Professor Volli Kalm and visits to Tartu University Hospital, the Genome Centre and the Biomedicum, etc.
The managerial staffs of the National College for Medical and Technical Studies II and the Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy and professors of the University of Oslo, Jönköping University, the Medical University of Gdansk visit the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tartu in the framework of the project “Improvement on Health Care Resource in Danang” funded by SIDA of Sweden. The research cooperation between the University of Tartu and the Vietnamese schools of medicine is supported by the Ministry of Education and Research in the framework of the science internationalisation programme.
Read more from ERR.
Additional information: Sulev Kõks, a Professor of Physiological Genomics of UT, phone: 737 4335, e-mail: sulev [dot] koks [ät] ut [dot] ee.