The Official Newsletter of the University of Puthisastra (UP)-Vol.31 for 31th Dec 2019 Download
New Year 2020 rapidly approaches with our hopes, dreams and challenges ahead. University of Puthisastra celebrated its fantastic 2019 with an end of the year party which was the perfect opportunity for a get-together, and show the deep appreciation and gratitude from the UP Board for staff who had worked extremely hard during 2019 to create a great future for UP, our students and Cambodia . It certainly was a night to remember. The event first kicked off with a brief review of 2019 and how much we have all achieved. It was satisfying for us knowing our university has expanded dramatically over the last year.
Next came Staff Awards which honored overall high achievers of the year. Our award winners were
- Overall Staff Excellence — BOU KANIKA
- Academic Staff ————— CHHEA SOPHEAROM, YEM VUTHY
- Support Staff—————— CHROENG SEYHA, PAL CHHORLIDA
- Special Awards ————— SAR VANNEY, HOM SOVANNRA
UP is really proud to have such exceptional people in the UP family and perfect representatives of UP. Eventually, lucky draw was drawn to really still up the excitement. Our end of year party was then taken to another level when everyone sang and danced the night away. Further evidence of just how talented our UP staff are. UP staff confirm that we’re not only colleagues but also crucial parts of a big family.
We would like to hear from you ! send your comments, news, testimonies to upvoice@puthisastra.edu.kh
| what’s up on campus | |
| • 1 Jan-2020 | International new year day |
| • 7 Jan-2020 | Victory over genocide day |
Foundation Year Welcomes its New Students for Academic Year 2019-2020
Following the Big Launch (16 December 2019), Foundation Year conducted its Orientation week from 17-20 December 2019. The purpose of this Orientation week is to welcome new students, inform them about the university policies, rules and regulations, Foundation Year curriculum, and university services such as eLearning center. All things necessary to ensuring the students transition from high schools and be ready for university life and feel at home at UP.
Orientation week was a busy week involving students in different programs: Student Orientation, University Preparatory Workshops, English Placement Test, English and Maths Exemption Exam, ID Card Registration and Photography, Treasure Hunt, IT Services for Students, as well as specific Technical
Orientations by the Faculty of Dentistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, and Faculty of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology.
The Student Orientation was managed by Foundation Year with cooperation from faculties (i.e. Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry, English and ICT) and two service offices (i.e. the Learning Center and Registrar Office).
Students also attended University Preparatory Workshops, which were arranged in 6 parallel sessions, each of which lasted 150 minutes. The primary
content of these workshops entailed sharing extra-curricular activities and team-building activities. In these extra-curricular activities, the students engaged in discussions, both whole-class and group, about challenges they would oversee during studies in higher education. The facilitators then shared tips /
strategies to generate and support learning and strengthen motivation.
While the extra-curricular activities focused on students sharing overseen concerns and challenges in university life, the important team building activities included activities where students (who were divided into groups) built bridges from recycled paper and newspapers. Each group was provided with some recycled paper and newspapers, a big roll of transparent tape, a pair of scissors, and a glue stick. They had to build a bridge of their own passion with the provided materials. These bridge building activities were aimed to promote team spirit, learning autonomy, co-operation, hard work, continued motivation, resilience and sustained efforts – all extremely important skills for both learning and everyday life.
The students were also introduced to Treasure Hunt via quizzes in UPOP. The intent of these online quizzes is to:
o provide access to UPOP content on a mobile device via UP Hotspot and the Moodle app;
o teach students how to use online resources including students own accounts
o test access to UPOP via students own user account and login;
o demonstrate understanding of where to access technical help if needed; and
o identify the rules, policies and procedures of the University, the Learning Center, the Registrar’s Office, the Foundation Year Office, and the Information Office.
Quiz takers who got all questions right were randomly selected and five top winning quiz takers were then identified. These outstanding winners are: (1) Kheng Lyhorng, (2) Sea Arewin, (3) Lim Porkey, (4) Sam Virakyuth, and (5) Visith Sokunkachna. They each were given a gift pack which includes one UP T-shirt, one UP mug, and two UP notebooks.
Welcome to our new students – an exciting future awaits.
UPs Faculty of Medicine has appointed a Deputy Dean for Clinical Affairs, Dr. Prom Vireak.
The Faculty of Medicine is very pleased to announce that Dr. Prom Vireak has been appointed Deputy Dean for Clinical Affairs, an essential position to ensure that students have best possible clinical experiences during their hospital clerkships and internships.
Dr. Vireak is a Pediatrician and one of the few Advanced Pediatric Life Support Instructors in Cambodia. He graduated in Medicine from the University of Health Sciences and then joined the Pediatric Residency Program at Angkor Hospital for
Children in Siem Reap. During his training, he had the opportunity to get short-term training in Pediatric Oncology in the United States for three consecutive years. He also successfully completed a one-year training and got a Diploma of Child Health by the University of Sydney/Sydney Children’s Hospital Network.
Before joining UP, Dr. Vireak helped to set up the first Pediatric Oncology program in the country and was in charge of the program at Angkor Hospital for Children until his departure. He was also a speaker in the Pediatric Oncology Conference in Singapore.
Dr. Vireak has published in Blood Advances, an American scientific journal of the prestigious family of the Blood journal, and also looks forward to contributing to research at UP.
UP launched its new 2-year part-time Diploma of Implantology course last week. Under the leadership of Dr Patrick Tseng who heads the Australian team, and Dr Tak Ranuch who heads the Cambodian team, the course began for the 19 dentists who passed the entry exam and interview.
The first week included lectures (both on-site and via skype using UP’s new audiovisual teaching facilities), a hands-on soft tissue surgery exercise on pigs heads, and an introduction to one of the implant systems used in the course (ANKER) by local dentist Dr Sok Chenh Chhean.
Based on a similar course at University of Sydney, this will be perhaps the most challenging of any implant course offered in Cambodia to date, and requires a high level of English proficiency and a considerable amount of self-study. Module 2 of the 4-module course will be in mid 2020. Before then the participants will be starting surgery on some of the 6 fully-documented cases required to complete the course.
UP is seeking patients requiring implants which will be supervised by specialists and provided at low cost.
3rd Pharmaceutical Research Conference:research, research, and research
The mission of many universities, including UP, is to use teaching, research, and public service to solve social problems. To extend the knowledge and
capacity building for research, UP Faculty of Pharmacy recently organized the 3rd Pharmaceutical Research Conference. This two-day conference brought together researchers across Cambodia to share their research within pharmacy field on 6 different themes: (1) Pharmacy Education (2) Pharmacy
Practice (3) Medical Biology (4) Pharmacognosy (5) Public Health, and (6) Ethnopharmacology.
The conference was very successful and Pharmacy would like to thank the speakers, chairs, honor guests, sponsors particularly PPM (Pharma Product Manufacturing), and participants for their contributions to make this conference a success. We are looking forward to having more research papers and posters next year!
By the end of the 3rd Pharmaceutical Research Conference, among 15 oral research presentations and 17 research posters, the evaluation sub-committee of Conference Organizing Committee selected 3 topics for the Best Paper awards and 3 topics for the Best Poster Awards. The awards were officially handed over by Prof. Ian Findlay, President and Vice-Chancellor of University of Puthisastra.
The 1st Best Paper Award was given to topic entitled: Evolution of toothache management in the last 10 years among people living in Treuy Sla Commune, S’ang District, Kandal province.The 2nd Best Paper Award was given to topic entitled: Evolution of toothache management between under the age of 12 and presence among grade 12 students at Rodwell Learning Center, Cambodia.The 3rd Best Paper Award was given to topic entitled: Antibacterial activity and phytochemical screening of methanolic extract of woods of Caesalpinia sappan L. (Sbaeng) native to Cambodia.
The 1st Best Poster Award was given to topic entitled: Ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used by the communities residing in Banteay Srei Distict, Siem Reap province, Cambodia. The 2nd Best Poster Award was given to topic entitled: Phytochemical and Thin Layer Chromatography Analysis of
Methanolic Leaf Extract of Citrus medica L. (Reaksaa) Native to Cambodia. The 3rd Best Poster Award was given to topic entitled: “Prevalence of inappropriate use of Over the Counter (OTC) drugs among people living in Preak Dak commune, Siem Reap, Cambodia”.
The organizing committee would like to appreciate all authors, speakers, poster presenters for their hard working to make this conference a great success.
UP DENTAL STUDENTS EXCEL IN COSMETIC DENTISTRY
Recently a male patient in his 30’s came to the UP Dental clinic complaining of a missing upper left lateral incisor and spacing between the upper front teeth. Composite veneers were placed from maxillary canine to canine by Mr Srean Bunsrong, a year 7 student, under the guidance of UP clinical tutor
Dr Chey Sochenda. Later an implant to replace the missing upper left lateral incisor is planned.
This demonstrates that senior UP dental students can do excellent cosmetic dentistry, including tooth whitening, composite and porcelain veneers,
restoration of fractured incisors, crowns, partial dentures and implants.
UP LAUNCHES CAMBODIA’S FIRST DENTAL CERAMIC LAB
Last week 4 large boxes of dental laboratory equipment donated by the UK NGO DENTEC arrived for our new UP dental ceramic lab. Included are a range of machines needed for making crowns and bridges. UP is the first university to have established a functioning dental ceramic laboratory and the only university to employ fully qualified dental technicians.
Thanks for DENTEC for their valuable donation which will benefit our students as well as UP dental patients.
UP FACULTY OF DENTISTRY APPOINTS SIX STUDENT MENTORS
The UP Faculty of Dentistry recently appointed six outstanding year 7 dental students as Student Mentors. They are Lao Ryna, Choun Lyna, Heng Rithi,
Sy Chanrithy, Srean Bunsrong and Nam Virak. The Mentor program has two main purposes: develop leadership skills among our top students and to
provide “Peer assisted Student Support” for other students.
Mentors will: help support junior students in the Prison Dental Service and Healthy Kids Cambodia school outreach programs; mentoring junior students in the UP Dental Clinic; leading small group seminars for students in need of extra help with their studies; and helping overseas students and lecturers during visits to our Faculty and help lead community programs.
In recognition of the important contribution the mentors are making in these areas, they have been given a special clinical uniform which differentiates them from the other junior students. They will also receive a UP Certificate and recommendation letter on completion of 1 year in the role. We greatly appreciate the extra work these students are doing in addition to their own busy study schedule.
4 UP pharmacy students won 2019’s Kinal Prize Health Research Competition in the second and third place
After a thorough selection process, Kinal Prize found its champions this year! Four out of 11 UP pharmacy students received the 2nd and 3rd place awards.
Leading the UP charge in 2nd place was two best friends from year 5- Sivmey EANG and Vannara CHHE whose research was about “The evolution of
toothache management between under the age of 12 and presence among grade 12 students at Rodwell Learning Center”. In 3rd place was Sreynich LEAN and Pisal LAY, also from year 5, whose research was about “The evolution of headache management and its associated factors among students studying at Royal University of Phnom Penh over the last 3 years.” All eleven UP students were excited to take part of this yearly competition
This year students worked across different faculties and different universities, so this mix taught them a range of teamwork skills and left them a great
friendship after the contest.
As these are final year students at UP pharmacy school, they were asked where they saw themselves in 5 years time. They replied with a smile “we are still us, ourselves, with our same dreams as today – the dream of being change-makers, but now we much more knowledge and experiences and of course our degree. We can be the change we want to see.”
UP student will present a Poster at the Congress of the Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology in Kyoto, Japan
An abstract entitled “The Relationship of Heart Failure with Left Ventricular Motion
Abnormalities in Preah Ket Mealea Hospital of Cambodia, 2017-2018″, submitted by
Mr. Lim Youhok, MD student who has just completed year 8 at UP, has been accepted
for Poster presentation at the forthcoming Congress of the Asian Pacific Society of
Cardiology that will be held in Kyoto, Japan from 12th to 14th March 2020.
The abstract is based on Youhoks dissertation and was supervised by Dr. Leng Nara
and Prof. Saint Saly. This is a great success and honor for the Faculty of Medicine as
it is not easy to get an abstract accepted at this important and prestigious international
conference. Well done, Youhok!
28 pharmacy students joined project Lokun this year
Project Lokun is a biannual medical humanitarian project that serves villagers in Pursat Province, Cambodia. They were founded in 2006 by a group of
students from the National University of Singapore, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. Those students sought to reconnect Cambodian villagers back to their nation’s healthcare system and improve their health-seeking behaviours.
Today, Project Lokun is still managed by students from National University of Singapore (NUS), by working closely in collaboration with medical and
pharmacy students from the University of Puthisastra (UP) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Twice a year, the Singaporean team comprising 22 medical students flies over to Cambodia along with several accompanying doctors. There, they meet up with Cambodian wing as well as a group of volunteers they recruit from their university. Together, they set off to Pursat province, where the villagers they serve are located.
From each year to another, there are more and more students from UP especially from the Faculty of Pharmacy who join this project. This year, 28
pharmacy students participated. They enjoyed a number of benefits from this high-quality-community based service learning, both in their personal and
professional life. For example, they acquired problem-solving skills, improved their ability to work within a team and helped them to plan effectively.
Significance of Leadership in Career and Life By: Oknha Dr. Mengly J. Quach
As part of the Leadership class, the ICT students will organize a special half-day Seminar to be held on Sunday, 12th January from 8am to 12pm, Hall H, under the theme: “Significance of Leadership in Career and Life.”
This Leadership Seminar is open to all students, professionals and to any other interested audience. Our honorable speaker, Oknha Dr. Mengly J. Quach, will cover a large array of leadership skills necessary in the 21st century and beyond – especially for future Leaders and those aiming at Executive level position.
The seminar objectives are to provide tools on how to ensure ideas are translated into positive and concrete impacts across many professional fields. The participants will also get to expose their leadership development plan on how to be equipped with skills and grow as leaders.
UP WELCOMES ACTS FROM SINGAPORE
The Singapore NGO ACTS has been coming to Cambodia for the past 13 years to provide dental care and prevention to deprived communities and schools in and around Phnom Penh and for the last 3 years they have been partnering with UP. The ACTS team this year comprised 8 dentists, 2 hygienists, 25 dental students and 2 auxiliaries from Singapore, led by Dr Ching Chiat Lim. 28 UP dental students joined the Singapore team at 3 locations- Wat Champa and Don Bosco schools at Teuk Thla and Phum Chreh.
During the week the team saw about 1700 adults and children. ACTS also send Dr Ivan Koh (endodontist) to UP to give a very informative lecture to
students in year 4.
One of the highlights of the week was the farewell dinner where the two teams from UP and ACTS received certificates and enjoyed eating and socializing
together. Many friendships were established during the week. Cambodian NGO My Village Health Services Association generously provided some portable dental chairs and equipment for the mission. We look forward to welcoming ACTS again next year.
Project SA’BAI and UP students
Project Sa’bai is one of the most well-established medical initiatives accredited by the National University of Singapore (NUS) Medical Society and working closely with University of Puthisastra (UP).
Our vision is:
1. to improve the health and living standards of the Cambodians
2. to integrate the Cambodians into their own healthcare system
3. to inspire the future doctors of Cambodia to serve the needs of their community.
This year, 12 pharmacy students also joined this project, and they learned numerous skills from soft skills to hard skills. Like project Lokun, the Sabai project appeared a great opportunity for our students to acquire new skills and knowledge while making new friends.
UP third-year nursing students visit Children’s Future International (CFI)
University of Puthisastra (UP) and Children’s Future International (CFI) have collaborated in since the signing of the MOU last year to provide nursing
students with extra curricular nursing experience with able to practice their skills and learning experiences delivering holistic care in a community setting.
On 17-20/December/2019, This is the second activity of 12 BSN-Year3 nursing students participated in a two day workshop, learning about the role of nursing environment and carried out health screening to the younger students and provide basic first aid training to the villagers in the community at Sous Ey
village, Peam Ek commune, Ek Phnom district, Battambang province, Cambodia.
Sivmey’s Year of Success
Sivmey EANG, a year-5, UP pharmacy student, started getting involved in research when she was in year 2. From March 27-30, 2019, her research poster was accepted to be presented in the ‘‘International Conference on the 4th Industrial Revolution and Its Impacts” hosted by the University of Walailak,
Thailand.
From March 01-30, 2019, she was selected to do a one-month internship at Khom Kaen University.
From July 03-05, 2019, she got scholarship to join the 9th Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy (AASP) conference at Ajou University, Republic of Korea. From July 22 to August 04, 2019, she was admitted to join the 6th International Pharmacy Summer School In Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
In early October 2019, she was selected by the CAMT to join a 7-day study tour to Japan. In December 2019, she won Kinal Prize Health Research
Competition in the second place and she also won the best paper award (second place) in the 3rd Pharmaceutical Research Conference organized by University of Puthisastra.
This shows that she is very active in research, and international experiences. We hope that she will be a potential leader in the field of pharmacy!!!
UP Faculty of Pharmacy will support her to realize her dream and wish her all the best!!!!
Vannara’s Year of Success
Vannara CHHE, a year-5, UP pharmacy student, started getting involved in research when she was in year 2. From March 01-30, 2019, she was selected to do a one-month internship at Khom Kaen University. From July 22 to August 04, 2019, she was admitted to join the 6th International Pharmacy Summer School in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. At that time, she was selected to be the most active students the whole course.
In November 2019, she was selected by UNICEF Cambodia to join 2019 Voices of Youth Training Program, and become officially member of THYDA.
In December 2019, she won Kinal Prize Health Research Competition in the second place and she also won the best paper award (second place) in the 3rd Pharmaceutical Research Conference organized by University of Puthisastra. This shows that she is very active in research, and international
experiences. We hope that she will be a potential leader in the field of pharmacy!!! UP Faculty of Pharmacy will support her to realize her dream and wish her the best continuation!!!
