What attracted me to TMGH then, after scouring the internet for graduate schools of medicine within Japan, were the MTM course’s flexible timetable, its use of English as the medium of instruction, its roster of high caliber faculty, its close collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and other prominent organizations, and my general perception of the school as a nurturing community.
My one year stay in TMGH as an MTM graduate student did not disappoint. I expected the coursework to be challenging and intensive, and it was. In retrospect, I think I enjoyed spring quarter the most, albeit having a hectic schedule. Sessions in tropical medicine, epidemiology and statistics equipped me with the right knowledge and skills to successfully carry out my master’s thesis with the guidance of my supportive research supervisors. Overall, there was a palpable intention to contribute solutions to global health issues within the school atmosphere that could easily rub off on students. Taking this course changed my perspective towards research, inspired me to aim for higher studies, and rekindled my childhood dream of making a difference.
My name is Yen Hai Doan. I come from Vietnam.
Before I came here, I worked at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology which serves for maintaining public health in my country, particularly with respect to various infectious diseases. My job at the time required a high level of working knowledge regarding infectious diseases, particularly those prevalent in tropical, developing countries including Vietnam. That was why I entered the Tropical Medicine Master’s course.
We were given access to a lot of advanced facilities during our studies. The lectures as well as hospital case reports by the professors, doctors and invited speakers were really helpful to widen our knowledge in tropical infectious diseases and related disciplines.
From the knowledge and skills I acquired in the master’s course, I wanted to strive to obtain an even higher and more advanced level of education by enrolling in the PhD course at this school under the supervision of Professor Nakagomi.
After graduation, I worked at Nagasaki University’s School of Medicine as a tenure-track assistant professor. Currently, I work as a researcher at the National Institute of Infectious Disease in Japan. Here, I am involved in research activities relating to gastroenteritis disease in children. The skills, knowledge and research practices I cultivated from the MTM course are extremely helpful. This positive experience in my research career from the MTM and PhD courses at Nagasaki University inspired me to seek a heightened level of involvement in new directions.
This is my first experience conducting a medical study.
I Nagasaki, I learned about the important processes of how to formulate a study. Afterwards, the study itself was carried out in a regional hospital in Afghanistan. I managed to enroll more than 500 children with a diagnosis of pneumonia and now I am analyzing the collected samples and data.
This will be one of the first research studies which will provide useful information for the prevention and treatment of childhood pneumonia in Afghanistan.
I am deeply grateful for the support of my supervisor, Prof. Koya Ariyoshi, Head of the Department of Clinical Medicine at NEKKEN.
For three months in Manila I conducted research relating to tuberculosis at a national infectious disease hospital. Prior to that, when I was still in Nagasaki, I had attended lectures on biostatistics and medical ethics which were core to the clinical research and made my research proposal along with my supervisor.
When I arrived in Manila, I made a presentation about my proposal before all the research collaborators, followed by further discussions with them. This allowed my proposal to be approved by the ethics committee of the hospital where I eventually worked at.
My supervisors and I communicated frequently through TV conference so I could modify and take actions appropriate to the specific situations in the field. By the end of my stay, I was able to collect the necessary data which I analyzed and wrote for my master thesis.
I also joined many clinical sessions in the wards and met outpatients at the hospital. They gave me the invaluable opportunity to see many tropical clinical cases never seen here in Japan and to understand their management.
This “Overseas Clinical Research Program” is an outstanding program which provides both research and clinical experiences in an overseas setting for a short period of time.
