Two Vietnamese researchers have been honored in the Asian Scientist 100, an annual listing of the Asia-Pacific region’s excellent researchers, academics and innovators.
According to Viet Nam News, the list is published by the Singapore-based Asian Scientist Magazine and is in its fourth year. To qualify, individuals must have won a national or international prize in 2018 for their scientific research or leadership and pass a competitive selection process.
This year, Dr. Nguyen Thi Hiep and Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Liem entered the list for their signification contributions to the medical and healthcare fields.
Hiep is the dean of the Biomedical Engineering Department at the International University under Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City. She developed a smart nanoparticle wound-dressing gel to kill bacteria and accelerate tissue regeneration, the news source shares. The gel, when used as a first aid kit to quickly stop bleeding, can help people in rural, remote and isolated areas far away from hospitals. This can reduce the risk of massive hemorrhaging. For this invention, Hiep was honored with L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science International Rising Talent award in 2018.
Dr. Nguyen Thanh Liem, meanwhile, is the former director of the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital in Hanoi. After leaving the facility, he accepted an offer from Vingroup to become the director of Vinmec International General Hospital to pursue his passion for scientific research. He eventually took the helm at the Vinmec Research Institute of Stem Cell and Gene Technology. Liem performed Vietnam’s first kidney, liver and bone marrow transplants and Asia’s first laparoscopic surgery on a child. According to Nhan Dan, he has invented nine new endoscopic techniques.
Leading the Vinmec Research Institute of Stem Cell and Gene Technology, he is considered a pioneer in stem cell research, and was the first person in Vietnam to apply stem cell therapies for diseases such as cerebral palsy and autism. Liem also lead a Kinh Vietnamese genome project whose results were recently published. In 2018, Liem became the first Vietnamese to win the Nikkei Asia Prize for Science and Technology.
So far seven Vietnamese researchers have been listed in the Asian Scientist 100.
[Top image via The Asian Scientist]
