Listen to Van and Graham here : Hi from Van and Graham

Pictured from left to right : Professor Richard Boyd (Cartherics CSO), Van Thi To, Professor Graham Jenkin (Cartherics Education Officer).

Van Thi To, a newly enrolled PhD Student with Cartherics, has received the prestigious inaugural Vingroup Science and Technology Scholarship Program. Vingroup is one of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerates in Asia with a market capitalization value of around US $16 billion. Their interests include real estate, retail and healthcare.

The Chairman of Vingroup, Pham Nhat Vuong, is committed to education as a catalyst for change in Vietnam. To this end, Vingroup has developed programs to harness the potential of the next generation of leaders in Vietnam. This includes the establishment of the not-for-profit subsidiaries VinSchool and VinUni, alog with VinMec, the largest healthcare provider in Vietnam with eight hospitals nationwide.

From 2019 to 2030, Vingroup will offer 1,100 fully funded scholarships for master’s and doctoral study programs — up to 100 full scholarships per year.  They will enable talented young Vietnamese to study key areas at universities in countries with leading science and technology credentials.

The scheme ensures that the scholarship recipients can optimise their intellectual capability in an overseas university environment while staying connected with the Vietnamese settings.

In 2018/9 Professor Graham Jenkin, Cartherics Education Officer, established a research and clinical translation collaboration with Professor Nguyen Thanh Liem, Director of VinMec’s Stem Cell and Gene Technology Centre at VinMec International Hospital in Hanoi. The Centre has interests in Car-T based Immunotherapy and use of Umbilical Cord Blood therapies for Cerebral Palsy and Autism.

Vingroup subsequently developed a Memorandum of Understanding with Monash University to establish cooperation in the field of training, scientific research and to facilitate student exchange. Van Thi To is the inaugural beneficiary of this initiative and commenced her collaboration with Cartherics in November 2019.