NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING IN VIETNAM
Goals
Thanks
to the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation (NSF), from January 3rd
to 15th, 2004, a U.S. delegation will visit three universities in Vietnam:
the Hanoi University of
Technology, Ho Chi Minh City
University of Technology and Can
Tho University. All three universities currently have a strong interest in
Biomedical Engineering and are very motivated to collaborate with U.S. counterparts to focus and enhance their
activities. The U.S. delegation will consist of eight university
professors, scientists and experts in Biomedical Engineering from six American
universities and the National Institutes of Health. Independent observers will also accompany the
delegation during the visit. The goal of the delegation is to assess the
general and specific needs in the field of Biomedical Engineering in Vietnam by meeting with Vietnamese faculty and government
officials, and conducting site visits to key departments, laboratories and
local industries. Participants will also look into specific possibilities for
the establishment of future collaborative efforts between researchers and
educators from the two countries. The information gathered by the delegation
will provide knowledge of the state of development of Biomedical Engineering in
Vietnam. The
delegation will then report to NSF regarding priority steps leading to the
development of appropriate Biomedical Engineering research in Vietnam and cooperation between the U.S. and Vietnamese scientific communities.
Biomedical Engineering
Biomedical
Engineering is a multidisciplinary domain, which links life sciences to
disciplines such as engineering, physics and mathematics. It involves the
application of state-of-the-art technology in the creation of methodologies and
devices for human welfare and for a better understanding of human biological
processes. It includes the study of
medical instrumentation, biosensors, medical informatics, biomechanics,
rehabilitation engineering, medical optics, clinical engineering and
biotechnology, and requires expertise in different areas of applied and basic
sciences.
Interest
in Biomedical Engineering activities has grown considerably in Vietnam in recent years.
Although at the present time Vietnam does not have advanced technology and extensive
know-how, its researchers are of high quality and possess a firm willingness to
refocus on emerging technologies that provide appropriate programmatic structure
and opportunities. The traditions, environment and conditions within the
country after a prolonged war offer various unique research opportunities. The Vietnamese government and policymakers at
universities are aware of the importance of the Biomedical Engineering
field. They are putting great effort
toward developing this field and actively looking for international support and
collaborations, particularly from the U.S.
It is well established that
Biomedical Engineering has experienced the most rapid growth in the U.S. in recent years, and that further expansion is
expected. An international collaboration in research and education with Vietnam would be mutually beneficial for researchers and
educators in both countries. Vietnam is a dynamic country ready to integrate diverse
technologies in the health sciences and to adopt international research and
educational systems. Due to the prolonged war, Vietnam offers unexplored and unique research topics, which
may offer an unrivaled experience to U.S. researchers and educators. On the other hand, expert
help from the U.S. can make a critical difference for the development of Biomedical
Engineering in Vietnam, the identification of areas that are of the highest
interest and recruiting young scientists that have the highest potential to
work in the field.
Current status in Vietnam
·
After a long and devastating war, Vietnam is left with countless numbers of people with
disabilities. The war continues to increase its toll not only on children and adults
(for example, due to landmines), but also extends to future generations (for
example, due to chemical warfare residuals causing birth defects or genetic
diseases). In general, it has been suggested that the education system in Vietnam is deficient in many areas, particularly in the
applied sciences. However the system
still produces high caliber physicists and high quality students in mathematics
and sciences; Vietnamese students consistently win first prizes at the Annual
International Math and Sciences Olympiad (1).
·
Until recently Hanoi University of Technology
was the only institution in Vietnam with a formal undergraduate biomedical curriculum. With
a faculty of five they enroll approximately 50 students annually selected from
the brightest candidates. The Ho Chi Minh
City University of Technology is in the process of establishing a
Biomedical Engineering Department. In all three cities Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Can Tho, there are well established
schools of medicine. Development of new public and private educational
establishments has been planned (2).
·
In research, some
Vietnamese scientists are on the cutting edge in their specialized fields.
Within the Ho Chi Minh
City University of Technology, a small group of researchers in the
Physics Department has been active in developing applications of the Laser in
medical therapy. Another group in the
Electrical Engineering Department is investigating objective and science-based
ways to assess the results obtained from traditional Vietnamese medicine. At Hanoi University of Technology,
the Department of Applied Quantum Electronics and Biomedical Electronics is
active in the research of molecular electronic dynamics of materials and
biomedical systems. The National Center for Natural Science and Technology (NCST) in Hanoi houses the Institute of
Biotechnology where investigators concentrate on research in the
development and utilization of tropical genetic resources including microorganisms,
plants and animals. The Can Tho
University is well known for its research in rice genetics. The
tissue culture laboratories of Dalat University supply strains to flower, fruit tree, and vegetable growers
nationwide (3).
·
In industry, the
Vietnamese people are ingenious and resourceful: characteristics that have
allowed them to reach their current level in spite of poor working conditions.
Regional industry varies from isolated inventors or handicraft artists (who
develop innovative pieces of equipment to satisfy local demands), secluded
machine shops in the hospital or university (which replicate missing parts that
are either too costly or not readily available), to more organized industries
that represent foreign medical companies (4).
Hanoi
University
of Technology
Meeting Plan
The
visits are planned for two days at each location and will consist of three parts: presentations, a visit to the site to
assess the current activities, and a round table discussion. In the
presentations, local authorities will present their current research and
educational situation at their institutions.
The U.S delegation will then visit local academic laboratories to gain a
first-hand understanding of the working conditions, and the potential and needs
in Vietnam. Round-table discussions
will focus on a needs assessment for Vietnam and the effectiveness of U.S. research and education
models as they fit with the conditions and environment in Vietnam. Participants will strive
to converge their assessments, prioritize the work to be done, recommend the
approaches to be taken for short, mid and long-term objectives and identify the most useful methods of
implementation. Discussions will eventually narrow to pilot models suitable for
Vietnam now and in the foreseeable future and extend to
groundwork for further collaborations. The local Vietnamese-English interpreters
will be assigned to assist the delegation during the visits and discussions.
There
are multiple reasons for organizing the visit at different places. The research
and education programs and working conditions in Vietnam are very different from one place to the others.
Following the visits, a final report will be prepared for the National Science
Foundation and papers will be submitted for publication in a professional
journal such as the IEEE EMBS, and other Vietnamese journals and newspapers. We will also elaborate a distilled expert
report, one version for Vietnamese policy makers and the other version for
potential American support foundations. These documents will also be made
available through this web site.
Tentative Itinerary
Day
1: Saturday Jan 3, 2004: Arrive to Hanoi
Day 2: Sunday January 4,
2004: Free day
Day 3: Monday January 5,
2004: Meeting at US Embassy
in Hanoi
Day 4: Tuesday January 6,
2004: Hanoi University of
Technology: Joint meetings with Biomedical Engineering groups of Hanoi
University of Technology, and of National Centre for Natural Sciences and
Technology. Visit their laboratories, and possible local industries.
Day 5: Wednesday January
7, 2004: Hanoi University of
Technology: Joint meetings with Biomedical Engineering groups of Hanoi
University of Technology, and of National Centre for Natural Sciences and
Technology. Visit their laboratories, and possible local industries.
Day 6: Thursday January
8, 2004: Fly to Ho-Chi-Minh City
Day 7: Friday January 9,
2004: Ho-Chi-Minh City of
Technology: Meetings and visit its Biomedical laboratories, and possible other
institutions and local industries.
Day 8: Saturday January
10, 2004: Ho-Chi-Minh City of
Technology: Meetings and visit its Biomedical laboratories, and possible other
institutions and local industries.
Day 9: Sunday January
11, 2004: Trip to Can Tho
Day 10: Monday January
12, 2004: Can Tho University:
Meetings and visit its Biomedical laboratories, and possible other institutions
and local industries.
Day 11: Tuesday January
13, 2004: Can Tho University:
Meetings and visit its Biomedical laboratories, and possible other institutions
and local industries.
Day 12: Wednesday January
14, 2004: Trip to Ho-Chi-Minh City. Debriefing at the U.S. consulate general at Ho-Chi-Minh City.
Day 13: Thursday January
15, 2004: Depart from Ho-Chi-Minh City
US Delegation
1. Dudley Childress, Ph.D., Northwestern University,
Chicago, IL. Currently, Professor Childress is the Director of
several programs including Northwestern University Prosthetics Research
Laboratory (NUPRL), Northwestern University Rehabilitation Engineering Program
(NUREP), Prosthetics and Orthotics Education Program. His research and development activities are
concentrated in the areas of biomechanics, human walking, artificial limbs,
ambulation aids, and rehabilitation engineering. This involves the design and
development of modern technological systems for amputees and other disabled
people and a scientific approach to analysis and description of human movement
and physical disability.
3. David Kaplan, Ph.D., Tufts
University, Department of
Biomedical Engineering and Department
of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Medford, MA. Currently Professor
Kaplan is Chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Director of
the Tufts University
Bioengineering Center. He has
published over 250 papers and edited six books in areas of biopolymer
engineering, biomaterials and tissue engineering. He serves on the editorial boards of three
journals, is an Associate Editor for Biomacromolecules, and has served
on numerous government and university advisory panels and committees. His research program is currently supported
by the NSF, NIH, USDA, NASA, DoD and industry.
4. Murray H.
Loew, Ph.D., George Washington University, Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Washington, DC. Professor Loew is currently Co-Director of the
Institute for Medical Imaging and Image Analysis. He was a Program Director of
Robotics and Machine Intelligence at the National Science Foundation, Washington, D. C., Division of Information, Robotics, and
Intelligent Systems. He was organizer of the U.S.-China Joint Workshop on
Multimodality Medical Image Registration at IEEE EMBS 20th Ann. Intl. Conf.
1998 in Hong Kong. He has been involved in many other biomedical
engineering conferences as an organizer or chair. They included the Image
Processing conference at SPIE Medical Imaging, IEEE Symposiums on
Computer-Based Medical Systems, and BioMedical Visualization. His research interest includes Medical
imaging and Computer-Aided Diagnosis.
5.
Gordana
Vunjak-Novakovic, Ph.D., Dr.
Vunjak-Novakovic is currently a Principal Research Scientist at Harvard - MIT Division of
Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts and a Professor at Belgrade University (Yugoslavia). She is a Fellow of the American Institute for
Medical and Biological Engineering, the lead of research teams working on
tissue engineering and biological research in space, and a science lead of the
design and testing of cell culture system for the International Space Station.
She is the author or co-author of over 150 publications. She served as a
convener, chairman, discussion leader and invited speaker of numerous
conferences, review panels and advisory committees and scientific advisory
boards for the Biomedical Engineering. Her research and teaching at MIT include
Tissue Engineering, Biomaterials, Bioreactors, Quantitative Physiology and
Transport Phenomena in Living Systems.
6.
Van Toi Vo, Ph.D., Tufts University, Department of Biomedical Engineering,
Medford, Massachusetts. Professor Vo founded the Tufts University Biomedical
Engineering Program about ten years ago.
He has been instrumental in building the Department of Biomedical Engineering
at Tufts University and the Eye Research Institute in Switzerland. He co-founded the Vietnamese North American
University Professor Network: a mechanism designed to
promote interaction among university professors of Vietnamese extraction in the
U.S. and Canada. Professor Vo has been involved in several
educational activities with Hanoi University of Technology, Ho Chi Minh City
University of Technology and Can Tho University. His research areas include
design and applications of medical instrumentation, human vision and
ophthalmology, and applications of information technology in healthcare.
7. John G. Webster, Ph.D., University of
Wisconsin, Biomedical Engineering
Department, Madison, Wisconsin.
Professor Webster is a worldwide known educator and researcher in the
Biomedical Engineering field. He is a Fellow of several professional societies
including the Instrument Society of America, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, American Institute of Medical and
Biological Engineering, and Institute of Physics. He has been involved for several years in the NIH Surgery and
Bioengineering Study Section and as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions
on Biomedical Engineering. He is a
recipient of several research and education awards. He has spent some time
professionally in Asia including China, Indonesia and Singapore to develop medical instrumentation courses and labs.
He is the author or co-author of numerous publications including books and
textbooks in Biomedical Engineering. His research interests include Medical
Instrumentation and Sensors.
The
Assistant to the U.S. delegation is Ms. Clarissa Ceruti, Ph.D., MBA. Currently Ms. Ceruti is
an Associate Director of the Bioengineering
Center at Tufts University.
The
three independent observers are:
1. Mr. Kien Pham, MBA, Executive Director of the Vietnam Education Foundation, Washington DC.
2. Professor
Bruce Ehrenberg, MD, Associate Professor in Neurology, Tufts University, and Chair of the Medical Advisor Board of the Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Foundation
. His areas of research are epilepsy and sleep disorders.
3. Professor Michele Sammaritano, MD, Biomedical
Engineering Department, Tufts University. She is a specialist in epilepsy and sleep disorders.
Her research includes electrophysiological relationships between sleep and
epilepsy.
Contact Address
Professor Vo Van Toi
Tufts University
Biomedical Engineering
Department
4
Colby Street
Medford, MA 02155
E-mail: van.vo@tufts.edu
Tel: (617) 627 5191
Fax: (617) 627 3231
Website: www.tufts.edu/~vvo
Update: 10/9/04