Three groups and five individuals outstandingly received the 2021 Engaged Achievement and Engaged Scholar awards from the Vietnam Network of Engaged Scholars (VNES) in the framework of the National Conference on Community Engagement in Higher Education on January 14th. Among them, MD Huynh Le Thai Bao, a lecturer at the DTU Faculty of Medicine, was one of the five recipients of a 2021 Engaged Scholar award.
The Vietnam Network of Engaged Scholars (VNES) is a network of scholars, lecturers, researchers, leaders, and university employees, related to Service Learning/Community-Engaged Learning (SL/CEL), a community learning model for educational institutions, coordinated by Vietnam Campus Engage and the Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) with sponsorship from Irish Aid.
The VNES took the initiative of awarding the 2021 Engaged Achievement and Engaged Scholar awards with a great lot of criteria: engagement activities tied to learning; community partnerships; positive impact on local, national, or global society or community; positive impact on transformation among participating university students; sustainability; school support; meaning; and relevance.
MD Thai Bao is honored with the award
The VNES decided to honor the following individuals and groups:
• Five lecturers or groups of lecturers received 2021 Engaged Scholar awards:
? MD Huynh Le Thai Bao, DTU Faculty of Medicine: Online Medical Ecosystem,
? Dinh Tuan Anh, Lac Hong University Faculty of Electrical & Electronic Engineering: Converting wheelchairs from manual to electric,
? Dr Nguyen Van Nhieu Em, Can Tho University: Assessment of current status of activities of Kien Hoa soursop cooperative, Vinh Quoi, Nga Nam, Soc Trang,
? Assoc.Prof. Dr Truong Thi Bich Phuong, Assoc.Prof. Dr Tran Thi Thu Ha et al., Nong Lam University & University of Sciences of Hue University: Developing methods to grow and process (ferment) Hue ginger,
? Dr Pham Van Luan, Nguyen Thi Muoi Em, Ben Tre College: To school with preschool children while living with COVID-19.
• Three groups received 2021 Engaged Achievements awards:
? Department of Psychology and Center for Psychological Research & Counseling, Hoa Sen University: series of events “Together through the pandemic”,
? Center for Community Development, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City,
? Community-Engaged Learning Center, Danang Architecture University (CELC-DAU).
Highly appreciative of the “Online Medicine Ecosystem” project and his devotion and activism in education and scientific research, the VNES decided to honor MD Thai Bao’s dedication with a 2021 Engaged Scholar award. “This prize is awarded by a very prestigious organization with many activities in Vietnam,” MD Thai Bao said when he received the renowned award. “The selection criteria for the award are very strict and stringent to choose the most worthy groups and individuals. With a 2021 Engaged Scholar project, I have received support and help from colleagues, 300 medical doctors and students nationwide, to build and work together. The DTU Board of Provosts and the lecturers of the Faculty of Medicine have provided support and solved problems when I met with difficulties during implementation. Applying SL/CEL to traditional education won’t be easy without an open environment like the one at DTU. The courses on flipped classrooms, active classrooms, and TBL and CBL pedagogy methods I could take have also been very useful for the completion of this project.”
MD Huynh Le Thai Bao has worked as a lecturer of the DTU Faculty of Medicine for three years. Besides performing his duties for the Faculty well, MD Thai Bao has a good research record with 18 publications in journals like Vaccines (Q1 in Scopus), the Journal of Vietnamese Cardiology, the Vietnam Journal of Diabetes & Endocrinology in both Vietnamese and English, the Hue Central Hospital Journal of Clinical Medicine, and the DTU Journal of Science. He also co-authored the Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of Covid-19 (promulgated as 4689/QD-BYT of the Ministry of Health).
2021 Engaged Scholar certificate
MD Thai Bao also inspires and helps many students, hoping that future doctors be capable and dedicated already when still in the DTU classrooms. In 2021, MD Thai Bao successfully guided several groups and individuals towards the highest honors of the Vietnam Student Association, such as the national “Student Group of Five Merits” title for class K26YDK3, the national “Student of Five Merits” title for student Tran Dac Dien, Danang city-level “Student of Five Merits” titles for six students, and school-level “Student of Five Merits” titles for a great many students.
With his lot of hard work, MD Thai Bao is furthermore honored to have received a full VinGroup Innovation Fund (VinIF) PhD scholarship. “Having worked hard at DTU for the last two years, I now meet the conditions for a PhD course,” MD Thai Bao says. “Due to my passion for lecturing and research and my desire to go further in endocrinology and diabetes, I selected to pursue my PhD at the University of Medicine & Pharmacy of Hue University, which is a comprehensive partner of DTU’s. Doing a PhD when not yet having done a Master’s is difficult and challenging, and I’ll have to work even harder to keep up with the program.”
Throughout its development, the “Online Medicine Ecosystem” project received many big prizes:
? 2021 Engaged Scholar award from VCE, CSDS Vietnam, and Irish Aid,
? 2021 Vietnam Social Innovation Challenge (VSIC) champion in Hanoi: first and largest social venture competition for students across the country,
? Youth Drivers for Change 2021 first prize: part of the Youth Drivers for Change project organized by the CSDS with funding from Irish Aid,
? second prize and Favorite Project award at the Innovation Contest for Non-Profit Projects organized by Thua Thien - Hue province,
? best project and most influential project at 2021 Venus Techfest Awards,
Central Vietnam Youth Union certificate of merit number 230QD/KT-TWH for outstanding achievements in the 2021 Youth Volunteer Movement.
MD Thai Bao receives second prize at the Thua Thien-Hue province Innovation Contest
The project currently shows impressive numbers:
? Mobile phone app (for iOS, Android, or any other operating system): the foundation of the system, providing the user with online courses of 1,200 lessons, multiple-choice tests, a series of webinars, CME syntheses, and events related to medicine.
? The website ykhoa.org contains over 3,600 medical articles.
? The Dien dan Y khoa group, with 26,000 members, the Kenh Y khoa page, with 25,000 followers, and other Facebook-based projects.
? Webinars (online seminars on medicine): doctors share their medical experience and knowledge with hundreds or even thousands of students at once through Zoom; seven episodes have been broadcast so far with 20,000 views.
? The Kenh Y khoa channel on YouTube has 3,600 followers and provides videos produced by the group themselves and the community.
? The “Online Medicine Ecosystem” community currently counts 26,000 members: scientists, experts, doctors, and medical students from all over the country.
? Of note, app and website have been searched for 6.6 million times through Google and accessed 2.5 million times, with over 1,800 regular users.
? The YouTube channel, with over 200 videos produced by the team or submitted by partners and the community, has garnered 117,000 views, 12,800 hours of viewing time, and 3,900 subscriptions. The Dien dan Y khoa group has 18 official authors and 23,000 members, with a total of 1.5 million interactions on Facebook.
The VNES recognizes achievements and will share information on these achievements throughout its network and with the general public to boost the development of SL/CEL at universities and to encourage the development of university–community partnerships.
(Media Center)