The Official Newsletter of the University of Puthisastra (UP)-Vol.94 August 2022 Download

UP to celebrate Graduation Ceremony 2022!

University of Puthisastra (UP) will celebrate its Graduation Ceremony at the OCIC Convention Center in Phnom Penh on 17th August 2022 with the Guest of Honor being Samdech Akkak Moha Sena Padei Dekcho HUN SEN, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Save the date and congratulations to all recent UP graduates! Get yourself ready for the celebration!

University of Puthisastra became the only University in Cambodia who received AWS Academy Educator Nomination

AWS Educate is Amazon’s global initiative to provide students and educators with the resources needed to greatly accelerate cloud-related learning endeavors and to help power the entrepreneurs, workforce, and researchers of tomorrow.

Mr. Ren Phary from UP’s ICT Department focused on Curriculum development on future cloud computing and alignment between Universities and companies.

AWS is modern cloud computing technology which provides a student learning platform such as lab practical on hand and students will receive a voucher 50% discount for examination.

3 Short course in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and Data Science are now available at UP!

Who can apply? You have a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Communication and Technology or related skills and you are interested in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and Data Science. It is recommended to have a good level of English for this program.

Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc2V0fhwPG0WLtAea9o9h_VVZlxteaJP1uTzU7y4hq0TDTQKg/viewform?fbclid=IwAR2QSyyE0hTrFDQ1gDRpq4l-rIuxfz1XfPtXC_6ZkYIjf714cV9QcLFAYZM

UP’s conducts a “Study Tour at Koh Kong Referral Hospital and Charity Project at Hun Sen Dey Krahorm Primary School”

UP’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Biotechnology, together with the Associate Degree in Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) and Bachelor of Science Research (BSR) students organized and successfully conducted a “Study Tour at Koh Kong Referral Hospital and Charity Project at Hun Sen Dey Krahorm Primary School”.

The main purpose of the study tour and charity project was:
1. For students to observe and experience medical laboratory quality management flow-patterns in Koh Kong Referral Hospital
2. To promote creativity of Medical Laboratory Technology and Science Research students and develop team working skill
3. To educate primary school students on public health matters at Hun Sen Dey Krahorm Primary School

With UP’s support, we distributed educational materials to over 320 children, along with many other gifts to Hun Sen Dey Krahorm Primary School. All primary school students were also educated by our MLT and BSR students about public health matters
including hand washing.

After the charity event, the students continued their study tour to Koh Kong Referral Hospital, which included surveying and learning more about significant topics related to their program learning outcomes such as laboratory safety and waste management, hematology, biochemistry, immuno-serology, microbiology, parasitology, as well as hospital structures.

It should be noted that this project was supported and sponsored by:
1. University of Puthisastra
2. VS Medical Laboratory
3. VMIX Imports Exports Co., Ltd
4. 88 Bicycle Shop
5. DYNAMIC PHARMA Company
6. Biotrust Diagnotic Laboratory
7. Ke Kimthea Import and Export Co., Ltd
The staff and students of the Faculty of Science and Biotechnology, University of Puthisastra and all children at Hun Sen Dey Krahorm Primary School would like to thank all the sponsors who supported this study tour project and charitable event.

22 volunteer MD students from years 4 and 5, together with dental students, visited the Special Education School in Takhmao City, Kandal Province. The main activity of this mission was to provide a general checkup for children with special needs, especially for those with mental disability or with Down’s syndrome.

UP MD students calculated the body mass index of the children, took vital signs, made a thorough physical examination and examined the level of understanding of the children. The Faculty of Medicine believes that it is important for the MD students to get to know children with special needs and interact with them.

UP HOSTS INSTALLATION CEREMONY OF THE ROTARACT CLUB OF PHNOM PENH CENTRAL

Rotaract Club of Phnom Penh Central celebrated its 2022-2023 Installation Ceremony on 30th July 2022 at the University of Puthisastra.

Many Rotarians and Rotaractors from around Phnom Penh attended, and were joined by Prof Ian Findlay (President of UP) and Assistant Prof Soeun Sopharith (Deputy Dean of Dentistry). Ms Eang Sokun, a UP dental student, was elected to be President and lead the club in 2022-2023. The ceremony followed the protocols of the International Rotary Club, and was a very enjoyable event.

Several Rotaract members who have contributed a lot in several service projects received awards. Past President Horm Sotheareak received an award from Chapter President Dr Chray Mengkheng for his great job leading the club during the past year. UP dental students Muyleng, Reaksmey, Techhong and Yok Yl also received awards. UP supports the excellent collaboration between ourselves, and the Rotaract and Rotary Clubs of Phnom Penh Central.

Together we believe we can do great things!

UP’s Medical Laboratory Technology Students Starts Internship in 2022

On August 08, 2022, Medical Laboratory Technology students of the Laboratory Science Department, University of Puthisastra began their internship in the Medical Laboratory of Institut Pasteur du Cambodge and Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope located in Phnom Penh, which is led by the staff of The Department of Laboratory Sciences. The internship will last for three months (Full Time Shift) which started from August 8, 2022 to October 29, 2022.

Monitoring Nursing Student Internships at Partnered Hospitals in August

At the beginning of August, the Clinical Instructors of the Faculty of Nursing visited nursing students, both Associate Degree programme and Bachelors, who are doing internships at different hospitals such as the National Pediatric Hospital, the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital, CMMC Jeremiah’s Hope Clinic Cambodia, Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope and Center of Hope Friendship Clinics, which are partners of the University of Puthisastra in Phnom Penh.

The objective of this visit was to encourage, support, and advise students in order to help them understand the significance of using a nursing care plan and apply it to patients during their internship in the hospitals.

We would like to thank our partner hospitals for taking care of our students and arranging for us to meet with students smoothly. We will continue to work together to develop human resources across the health sector.

Pharmacy Community Outreach

Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Puthisastra, under the direction of Dr. Chea Sin, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and a member of the Steering Committee of the Volunteer Youth Movement of the Union of Youth Federation of Cambodia (UYFC-HEYC) for the Private Higher Education Institutions, led 91 pharmacy students to conduct community outreach and research in Takeo province.

This community outreach was also sponsored and supported by the University of Puthisastra, the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia, SOMA Group, authorities at all levels of Takeo, pharmaceutical companies, pharmaceutical enterprises, philanthropists and 7th generation pharmacy students of the University of Puthisastra helping make the whole process go smoothly.

The objectives of this community outreach are:
1. To conduct Medication Use for community.
2. To conduct risk factor screening for high blood pressure and diabetes mellitus and to educate community to change their lifestyle and diet (Health Education).
3. To educate general public about health care (Health Education)
4. To conduct charity program for students and teachers at primary school (Charity)

FACULTY OF DENTISTRY WELCOMES MR JEAN LE GOFF

The UP Faculty of Dentistry is pleased to welcome to our team Mr Jean le Goff, a clinical dental technician. Mr Jean grew up in France, but lived in NZ for 18 years before coming to Cambodia. He has had an excellent education in dental technology both in France and NZ, and is qualified as a “clinical dental technician”, meaning that he can carry out both the clinical and laboratory steps of complete and partial denture making. He is also a very experienced ceramist.

Mr Jean had his own dental laboratory in NZ for many years, but was seeking new challenges and experiences in life, which has brought him to Cambodia. Mr Jean follows in the footsteps of Mr Andrew Sinclair from the UK, who we hope will one day return to join our team. We are certain Mr Jean will be a great help to our dental students and dentists both in the clinic and the laboratory. He is looking forward to sharing his extensive knowledge and experience with everyone.

AMK willing to cooperate with our partnership program with ICT students

AMK MFI is one of the leading Microfinance Institutions in Cambodia providing one-stop-shop financial solutions such as digital banking, agents, leasing. We are glad to have AMK as our future partnership to route ICT student gateway on internship program, IT job offer and future corporate event to engage.

AMK will provide free relevant instructions and training to the Student-Trainee, consistent with its policies, procedures, rules, and regulations. It shall treat the Student-Trainee in a professional

UP DENTAL STUDENTS SUCCESSFULLY DEFEND THESIS

Last week, UP students Mr Han Pitou, Mrs Ly Sonita and Mr Un Sokha defended their thesis entitled: Anterior Maxillary Proportion Among Cambodian University Students. The thesis was supervised by Dr Soy Rasy, Specialist in Restorative Dentistry at UP, and was co-supervised by Prof Callum Durward. The examiners were three of our part-time prosthodontists, Dr Soeurn Visal, Dr Nol Rithy and Dr Chao Sivkay.

The Anterior Dental Proportion is something that had never been studied in Cambodia previously. The aim of the study was to investigate whether the width proportions of the maxillary anterior teeth as measured in a photographic image in a sample of Cambodian university students, conformed to the widely accepted “Golden Proportion” and “RED proportion” – which are commonly used overseas as desirable esthetic ideals.

The study found that based on the results for this group of young Cambodian adults, the Golden Proportion and the RED proportion may not be suitable esthetic ideals for the Cambodian population. Attractive Cambodian anterior teeth appear somewhat shorter and wider than those from other populations eg Europeans. Cambodia should therefore develop its own anterior tooth proportion norm to guide dental esthetic treatment for Cambodian people. The researchers suggested that further studies on a larger and more varied group of adults are needed to confirm their findings.

Year 6 Dental Students Attend Preah Ang Doung Hospital for General Anesthesia Observation

One of the subjects senior dental students need to study is General Anesthesia and Sedation, which is taught by Prof So Saphy. To make the course more meaningful, the Faculty of Dentistry arranged for small groups of students to observe general anesthesia being carried out at Preah Ang Doung hospital last month. Some of the students were also able to assist the anesthetist during the operation, and all were able to ask questions about the anesthetic process. The students were divided into 5 groups and attended the hospital on five consecutive Thursdays. Before entering the operating room students had to change into green scrubs, put on theatre shoes, and clean their hands. Before the patient entered the operating room the nurse questioned the patient about their health condition, confirmed the proposed procedure, and checked that they given informed written consent. The general anesthetic procedures observed involved a combination of both intravenous and gaseous anesthesia.

The students also got to observe the process from beginning to end, as well as a variety of surgical procedures. Following the operation, the students observed the patient recovery process which involved bringing the patient back to consciousness and transferring them to the recovery room.

Even though students spent only a relatively short time at the hospital, they were able to see firsthand what they had previously only learnt in their theory classes. They are looking forward to having more opportunities in the future to learn more about general anesthesia and surgery in hospitals.

Faculty of Medicine Booth at UP Discovery Festival

The Faculty of Medicine Booth displayed various manikins during the Discovery Festival at UP Campus to highlight the opportunity for medical students enrolled at UP to have state-of-the-art Simulation Training. The manikins included, among others, anatomy manikins, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and choking manikins, lumbar puncture manikins, airway and breathing manikins.

MD year-5 students demonstrated the practical use of each manikin to grade-12 visiting students from different high schools. The visitors were allowed to put their hands on the manikins under supervision and showed great interest to practice, especially on the cardiopulmonary resuscitation and choking manikins.

We hope that, after their national high school exams, grade-12 students will choose UP and Medicine in particular, for their university studies.

RUBBER DAM USE IN UP DENTAL HOSPITAL

UP is perhaps the only dental school in Cambodia to promote the regular use of rubber dam for its students and dentists.

Recently in the Endodontics class of Dr Chum Chenda, year 4 student Mr Hout Techhong was asked to make a poster describing the advantages of using rubber dam.

Below you can see his poster. At UP the use of rubber dam is compulsory for all root canal treatment, and routinely used for most restorative treatment.

We are teaching our students these techniques
because we want them to practice high quality dentistry. If you visit our clinic you will see many patients with rubber dam on.

The faculty of Pharmacy’s staff attended the 10th international conference of the Asian Association of school of pharmacy (AASP)

The 10th Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy (AASP) conference will serve as a platform for academicians,
researchers, and postgraduate students around the world to share their latest research findings in pharmacy-related areas such as 4th IR and the pharmacy profession, drug discovery, and development, pharmaceutical industry, and pharmacy education. According the year, this scientific conference has been held in different countries.

Ms. Srey Pich is currently a full-time lecturer in the faculty of pharmacy, she was invited to attend the 10th Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy (AASP) conference, which was held in Malaysia as a virtual conference. She was accepted as the poster presenter of her research entitled “Different Extraction Solvents Effect Total Phenolic Content, Total Flavonoid Content and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power of Justicia gendarussa Burm.f.” through UV Micro-Plate Reader. Justicia gendarussa Burm. f. (family Acanthaceae), it is native to Cambodia. J gendarussa is one of the important medicinal plants being used in Khmer traditional medicine. In addition, her study showed that J gendarussa in different extraction solvents possesses a different content of phenolics, flavonoids, and antioxidant activities for further research and development as pharmaceutical and natural products.This conference was held on 29-31, July 2022, this is a great opportunity to publish the research achievements of faculty of Pharmacy, University of Puthisastra.

Faculty of Pharmacy launch 2 sessions of CPD trainings in the Early August 2022

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) webinar is a continuing professional development which is a training program approved by the Pharmacy Council of Cambodia (PCC) with the topics on up-to-date knowledge and skills necessary for the best practices of all Cambodian pharmacists. So far, we have trained more than 2000 pharmacists across Cambodia through six rounds of trainings. And now we continue to conduct three rounds more, which consists of 12 trainings, from August to September 2022. During the trainings, we have invited delegates from Pharmacy Council of Cambodia, and Dr.Chea Sin, Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy, UP to be our speakers. More than this, there were nearly two hundred participansts who are pharmacists from across Cambodia . The purpose of these three rainings is to share knowledge and experiences to Cambodian pharmacists to prepare them to be successful in the career as a manager. Moreover, they were also able to assume their roles as pharmacists to work with other healthcare professionals as a good manager.For this great opportunity, we called for the sponsorship from the external partners and companies. We consider this moment as a great opportunity to promote your company to our participants, who will be your target customers, since all the pharmacists are running their own businesses in different sectors in Cambodia. Your generous sponsorship will contribute the development of pharmacy profession.

You may wish to contact Mr. SO Visessakseth (Hp: 087 54 55 15, Email: svisessakseth@puthisastra.edu.kh) and
Mr. Eang Phanith (Hp: 098 448 619, Email: ephanith@puthisastra.edu.kh) if you need more information.

One-Day Implant Course at UP

Recently UP hosted a course entitled “Implant surgery and prosthesis management in the esthetic zone” with 20 participants. The lecturer was Dr. Nol Rithy who has Masters degrees in Prosthodontics (Thailand) and Implantology (Germany).

The course included both theory and practical. The hands-on part focused on the aesthetic aspects of implant restoration. The course ran very smoothly and participants were happy with what they learned. Dr. Nol Rithy hopes to run other courses at UP again in the future. He is also a valued lecturer for our undergraduate students.

THIS WON’T HURT A BIT!” Dental students practice giving local anesthesia on each other

The end of the semester 2 is approaching, and Year 4 dental students have almost finished their pre-clinical training to be ready to start treating patients next semester. One of the courses they have been studying this semester is “local anesthesia”. The practical part of this course was recently carried out in the clinic. It involved students giving each other FOUR types of injection. Although nervous, all the students completed the procedure successfully. The students have also been practicing health screening, history taking, caries risk assessment, examination, treatment planning, radiography, scaling, polishing and rubber dam placement on each other, under the supervision of our tutors. Come next semester the students will be ready to start treating “real patients”. In addition to all the practice they are getting on each other, to ensure that students are competent, they also have to pass a cavity preparation test and an OSCE exam at the end of the semester.

10 UP pharmacy students join the 2022 OSC

The Online Summer Course (OSC) was a three-week-long online program which was hosted by Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in Indonesia, from July 11-29, 2022. In order to join OSC, every student was required to submit some documents
including a CV, a motivation letter, a student ID, and a passport-size photo. Luckily, all UP students who applied for the course were accepted as participants.

2022 OSC focused on both asynchronous and synchronous learning. In the first week of OSC, students had worked on things such as joining a virtual meeting for course briefing; doing a pre-test; learning independently about basic knowledge on cosmetics, regulation, formulation and technology, business and marketing; and designing a poster to show off a cosmetic formulation in Cambodia. In the second week, there were 11 speakers from 11 Indonesia institutions and 15 international institutions that are experts in the fields of cosmetics from all around the world come to share their knowledge and experiences. Students had learned about nano cosmetics, suncare formulation, traditional cosmetics, packaging, marketing strategies, registration and regulation, safety testing, cosmetics innovation, and many more interesting topics. In addition, students were required to discuss with their team members about their cosmetics startup business models. In the last week of this course, students had an opportunity to visit Indonesia’s top cosmetics industry and companies such as PT Paragon Technology and Innovation, Martha Tilaar Group, and Touch Me virtually. One UP student was selected to do a presentation of his cosmetic product poster and two UP students were shortlisted for the final group project presentation on the last day of the course. Amazingly, they are awarded as Favorite Group Poster and Best Group Project.

Thanks was given to Dr Chea Sin, Dean of Faculty of Puthisastra for sharing information about this wonderful course and encouraged our students to apply for it. Thanks to Visessakseth SO, M. Pharm, Head of Pharmacognosy for supporting students to prepare to submit the applications. Last but not least, Thanks University of Puthisastra for always supporting UP students to join international programs.

The following are expressions by UP students about the 2022 OSC.
“It’s such an eye-opening online course for students to learn about the development of cosmetics. I have learnt a lot from speakers and fellow participants from various backgrounds, we learn about technology that is involved in cosmetic production, the process of product registration, the mechanism of cosmetic ingredients that work on skin type, the flow of cosmetic production and also career for pharmacists in the cosmetic industry. Also, I have acquired basic knowledge on how to start-up business in the cosmetic field. This has intrigued and inspired me to develop my interest even more about cosmetics. Unexpectedly, me and my team were well-corporative for the group project, we didn’t expect we had been selected as the best poster and group presentation. It was very fun and enjoyable to learn new thing, engage with new people and I do hope I could get a chance to join the next exchange program course physically organized by UGM in the future” – LAY Pirou “

I was surprised and extremely happy that my group poster had been awarded as Best Group Project. Throughout the course, I felt a warm welcome from all committees and the learning system was well organized. I have got a lot of experiences and gained more knowledge relating to cosmetics. This course inspired me to formulate and develop more cosmetics. In the future, I want to start up a cosmetic brand of my own. ” – SETTHY Nika

“With the knowledge I have gained from this OSC, I believe that I will be able to make more contributions to my university as well as my country.” – CHHOMTO Nyta

“I do appreciate this knowledge. I will share my experiences and skills with my classmates and my juniors.” – DHEP Saryratana

“This online summer course has given me an invaluable experience and I have gained a lot of knowledge regarding cosmetics from the basic knowledge of cosmetics, innovation of cosmetics, and recent technology used in cosmetics. I hope I have an opportunity to join the next UGM’s summer course again in Indonesia.” – PEN Keopanha

“It was the best online course I have ever taken. It has opened my eyes to the cosmetic industry. I got very useful information and knowledge beyond my expectation.” – ENG Poliny

“I am MA SREYLEAK. I am a third year pharmacy student at University of Puthisastra. I am glad that I got accepted as one of the participants in this OSC. The committee made me feel at home. Moreover, I can explore cultures from different countries while working as a group with some participants. My knowledge has been improved after participating in this course. I am confident that I will be able to make more contributions to my university as well as my country.” – MA Sreyleak

“My name is Rotha Molingly. I’m a third year pharmacy student at University of Puthisastra. This OSC has taught me about cosmetic formulation, regulations on cosmetics, technology development, marketing, and business strategy. My overall knowledge about cosmetics has been improved and I’m proud of that. Furthermore, I had a chance to exchange knowledge and experience with overseas students.” – ROTHA Molingly

“The study process was comfortable. It taught me how to study and focus on the development of cosmetics in order to start up my own business in the cosmetics sector. It also included the global wellness economy, natural, traditional product cosmetics, and technology development. I now know more about cosmetic ingredient development, how many kinds of cosmetics, formulations for skin care products, and how to choose suitable packaging. Moreover, I could reach out to new friends from other countries. We worked as a group, enjoyed ourselves together, and shared knowledge with each other. I believe that the knowledge I gained from this course will help me stand out in cosmetic chemistry.” – LAT Noreaksathya

“The Online Summer Course on the development of cosmetics allowed me to exchange knowledge with other participants from various countries. I gained a lot of new knowledge from this course. In Particular, I have got to know more about the cosmetics sector. I will join this course again next summer and share the knowledge that I got from this course with my juniors.” – OUDOM Narin