On 17th January the OUCRU Unit in Hanoi were delighted to welcome Mattias Larsson as the latest member of the team. Mattias was trained in medicine at Uppsala University and defended his PhD thesis ‘Antibiotic use and resistance: Assessing and improving utilization and provision of antibiotics and other drugs in Vietnam’ in 2003 at the Karolinska Institute. Mattias has worked as a physician at the infectious disease department of Karolinska University Hospital, with a special focus on HIV medicine. He has been working in Vietnam since 1997, initially with an EU funded project “Towards Good Pharmacy Practice in Thailand and Vietnam” as well as SIDA funded antibiotic resistance studies. From 2002 to 2006 Mattias was joint national coordinator for the INCO-DC EU funded project ‘Towards controlling antimicrobial use and resistance in low-income countries - an intervention study in Latin America’ implemented in Peru, Bolivia and Italy. He has developed and taught on global health courses in India, Tanzania, Cuba and Vietnam. His present research includes a randomized controlled trial to assess the effect of peer support on virological treatment failure rates among 640 HIV patients in Quang Ninh Province, and community based antibiotic use and resistance studies. Mattias joins OUCRU as Senior Clinical Scientist and will lead the clinical aspects of the research and training program of OUCRU Hanoi.

Duong Duy An in the TB research group has been awarded a highly competitive ISID small grant to continue her work on fluoroquinolone resistance in mycobacterium tuberculosis. The Small Grants Program is designed to fund pilot research projects by young investigators in developing countries. www.isid.org
Duy An recently completed her Msc in genetics at the University of Science in Ho Chi Minh City and has been a researcher in the TB group for 3 years.

The Mountain Medicine Society of Nepal (MMSN) is a  society of medical doctors, students and allied health professionals interested and involved in mountain medicine, high altitude physiology and related maladies. We are a non-governmental organization working to understand and explore the science behind altitude related illnesses and utilizing this knowledge in making our mountains safer. Our regular activities include: journal clubs to discuss research papers in the field; organizing national and international seminars and workshops; health camps for pilgrims; research on altitude related illnesses; publication of newsletters and books; and programs to create awareness among trekkers, pilgrims and porters going to high altitude.

In addition to our works on altitude medicine, we also function as an intellectual scientific community dedicated to promote research and scientific thinking within and outside Nepal. Eight years since inception, we have created a reputation in promoting medical research and evidence based practice. Most of the participants in our journal clubs and other activities are young medical professionals. In a country that emphasizes on rote learning, we believe over the years we have enabled our members to think on their own in critically appraising biomedical articles and scientific reports. The Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam and in particular Professor Jeremy Farrar has helped us tremendously in our research endeavors.

MMSN NEWSLETTER.pdf

Peter Horby

The new Laboratories provide state-of-the-art diagnostic and research capabilities that will improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of major infectious diseases that continue to exert a heavy toll in Vietnam and elsewhere. The Laboratories are the latest development in the partnership between NHTD, the Wellcome Trust and the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) in Vietnam and herald a new level of commitment of the partners towards tackling national and global health issues.

The opening ceremony was attended by His Excellency the Minister of Health, Mr Nguyen Quoc Trieu, His Excellency UK Ambassador Mark Kent, the Director of NHTD, Dr Nguyen Van Kinh and the Director of the Unit in Hanoi, Dr Peter Horby.

"We are delighted to welcome His Royal Highness to open our Clinical and Research Laboratories," says Dr Kinh. "Teams of Vietnamese and international researchers are leading the fight against some of the most serious health issues facing our country and the neighbouring region. We look forward to the opportunity to showcase our new facilities and the outstanding research being conducted by our scientists."

HRH The Duke of York visited the laboratories in his capacity as the UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, where he met with Vietnamese researchers working in areas such as antibiotic resistance, pneumonia and Dengue fever.

"These new facilities have provided an important opportunity to build research capacity within Vietnam so that Vietnamese and international researchers working on Vietnamese priorities can conduct research in an internationally competitive environment", says Dr Peter Horby, Director of OUCRU-Hanoi.

The new NHTD-OUCRU Laboratories are jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Li Ka Shing Foundation, and the South-East Asia Infectious Disease Clinical Research Network. They are a further extension of the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme in Vietnam which was established 1991.