Aside from a focus on English excellence, UP has been very active globally in establishing MOUs with many world class institutions all over the world to bring international lecturers to share their international expertise and best-practice health with UP students as well as providing many opportunities to send promising undergraduates for attachments and internships overseas. UP believes that if you want to be the best then you have to learn from the best. In addition to having secured over 100 MOUs since its inception, UP’s academic faculties also enjoy international recognition as members of international and regional associations such as the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and the South East Asia Association of Dental Education (SEAADE).

The net effect from this network of affiliations is the assurance that all the courses offered at UP meet not only local industry needs and are also in tune with international standards and best practices. This in turn ensures that the high quality of UP graduates makes them more valuable to potential employers when compared to their peers, and ensures that UP graduates are very well placed for higher salaries and careers in world class organizations.

“UP has been working closely with many key players in the healthcare and information communications technology industries across the globe to design of our courses so that graduates are very well prepared to address the needs of their respective industries on the World Stage.” said Prof Ian Findlay, President and Vice-Chancellor.
UP believes that the greatest gift is health and the best way to improve health is to improve the quality of health professionals. If you would like to support this vision of top class health education, UP would like to invite potential partners to contact them at info@puthisastra.edu.kh

UP STUDENT BECOMES PRESIDENT OF ASIA PACIFIC DENTAL STUDENTS ASSOCIATION

On 13 June the Asia Pacific Dental Students Association (Cambodia Division) hosted an election for the International President (elect) and the President of the Local Organizing Committee for the international APDSA congress to be held in Siem Reap in 2020. The elections were overseen by the Dean of University of Puthisastra (Adj Prof. Callum Durward), Vice Dean of International University (Dr.Kor Hoksim), Founder of CDSA (Prof. Hong Someth from UHS), Co-founder of CDSA, Dr. Sok Chenh Chhean, and APDSA alumni, Drs Lim Pofong, Vudh Sereykosarak, and Vorn Chanchivoan. Also present were the 10 board members of APDSA Cambodia.
The 3 candidates for the positions were from 3 different universities. Ms.Lao Ryna, a 6th year dental student from UP was elected International President of APDSA for 2020, and Mr.Sun Heng from the University of Health Sciences was elected to be the president of LOC of 2020.
In 2020, Cambodia will be the host of the Annual Congress of APDSA, and University of Puthisatra will be the main hosting institution, with support from the four other universities with dental schools in Cambodia. There will be many famous local and international speakers, hands-on sessions, a dental quiz, a scientific research competition, and a young dentist forum. Beside from the academy part, APDSA Cambodia will also organize tours for our Asia Pacific dental students so that they can share the Khmer culture and experience the friendliness of our Cambodia people.

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PUTHISASTRA MEETS WITH THE DIRECTOR OF THE SUNRISE JAPAN HOSPITAL

Prof. Sandro Vento, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dr. An Srim, Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs, met on 31st May 2019 with Dr. Yoshifumi Hayashi, Clinical Director of the Sunrise Japan Hospital in Phnom Penh and Ms. Mihoko Nakayama, Vice General Manager and Chief of the Marketing Department. Prof. Vento and Dr. Srim also visited the various departments of the hospital.
It was decided that UP and Sunrise Japan Hospital will explore the possibility to sign an MoU in order to let UP medical students do internships at the hospital and to allow doctors working at, or visiting the Sunrise Japan Hospital, to deliver lectures at UP.

Pharmaceutical Students Are Going to Join the 6th International Pharmacy Summer School(IPSS) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

When summer time has come, our students excitedly think about IPSS! IPSS is one of the biggest Summer Schools in Indonesia. This annual event organized is usually by the Association of Pharmacy Student (HIMFA) in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. This year IPSS will bring about “Indonesian Herbs Medicine: Potential Ingredients as Healthy Cosmetics” from July 22 to August 04, 2019 at University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta.

Having heard many inspiring stories that their seniors brought along after this program, EANG Sivmey, VA Sereynich, ENG Kimheak, NOUN Vorleak, and CHHE Vannara, year 4 students, really look forward to having this good experience as well. These five students are not only classmates at the UP pharmacy school, but they also share the same mindset. They want to broaden their horizons. They never wanted to limit themselves to what they know and to what they know how to do best. They want to think far beyond Cambodia, learn new things about other cultures and traditions. In short, they want to be a global citizen who don’t judge other cultures, but celebrates our differences. So, having an opportunity to join IPSS, they feel like living their dream. And this is just the beginning of their amazing adult lives!

Our students from different batches have joined this program for three years in a row so far. Ung Huykhim and Un Sovorleak were the first UP pharmaceutical students who took part in this program and later followed by Hing Borey, Sambath Chanteany, and Chean Kosal Voleak! All of them found this summer school fantastic! We have done a lot of work to boost internationalization and enhance not just the number of students going on exchange, but also enhance the value and the quality that students get out of their time abroad. It’s about ensuring that our curriculum is internationally relevant as well. UP Unlocks Potential!!!

New uniform for Dentistry students

UP dental students are looking smart in their new “scrubs” following a uniform change recently. The matching blue uniforms were selected to replace the old white coats since they can be worn both in the clinic, as well as for when students are doing field work.

Clinic manager Dr Horn Sereybot commented ” The uniforms make the students look professional, and give them greater confidence”.

Nursing now Launched in Cambodia

UP Nursing and Midwifery was represented when nurses and midwives came together nationally last week to celebrate the launching of Nursing Now Campaign in Cambodia. Nursing Now is a growing global movement that will run to the end of 2020 – the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth –to raise the profile of nurses worldwide.

HE Professor Thy Kruy outlined the development of nursing in Cambodia over the last decade and the significant impact this has had on healthcare and health outcomes. In her key note address, Professor Judith Shamian, ICN President Emerita, talked about the economic as well as social good sense it made for governments to invest in their nursing workforce. Countries around the world face huge challenges providing health care to their people because of scarce resources, the rising burden of chronic diseases like diabetes, and the impact of emerging factors such as climate change and migration. Nurses hold the key to success for everyone to achieve their right to health and health care –to achieve universal health care- and will be a key part of the solution to today’s health challenges.

As part of the Nursing Now campaign, the Nightingale Challenge asks for every health employer to provide leadership and development training for a group of young nurses and midwives during 2020, to come together to develop the next generation of young nurses and midwives as leaders, practitioners and advocates in health.

UP DENTAL CLINIC STAFF ATTEND CAD/CAM COURSE IN TAIWAN

Recently Dr Horn Sereybot (UP Dental Clinic Manager) and Dr Po Malen (UP Clinical Tutor) attended a 5 day continuing education course on Digital Dentistry at Yang Ming National University (YMNU) in Taiwan. Digital Dentistry is an exciting new international trend which dentists of the future will need to engage with. The focus of the course was on how crowns and bridges can be designed and constructed accurately and efficiently by using intra-oral scanners and a CAD/CAM technology (using a special robotic machine connected to a computer which mills the crowns from blocks of ceramic material). Crowns can be made in hours – compared with the traditional technique which takes days.

Dr Sereybot and Dr Malen will be able to pass on this new information to our senior dental students who will need to use this technology in the future. There were 20 participants from 10 different universities in South East Asia. The event was part of an ongoing collaboration between University of Puthisastra and Yang Ming National University. In the future more activities are planned between students and staff from both universities.

SEE YOU SOON IN LUBLIN!

‘I’m going to Lublin, the 9th largest city in Poland and the second largest city of Lesser Poland, for an exchange program called “Health+” for 6 weeks’, La Darasour, year-2 pharmaceutical student told with excitement after being recruited to join this exchange program.

This health project supports SDG number 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. In addition, the main objective of this project is to promote the awareness of substance abuse and mental health care within teenagers and children. Health+ will take place in schools, kindergartens, NGOs, Orphanages, hospital, health care and other institutions and will be delivered by volunteers from different nationalities and backgrounds.

Sour said, ‘I will stay and work in one place for three weeks and after that I will go to another. I am really looking forward to that amazing experience.’ She continued, ‘ I am so keen with all of the programs in each week’:
– Week 1: Cultural experience. Presentations about your country, about biggest health issues, about health problems in Poland (discussions).
– Week 2: Mental health care. Spaces about mental illnesses, how these must be treated and what is the data behind it in Poland.
– Week 3: Sustainable Development Goals. What are SDGs, how can we promote them, focus on SDG number 3.
– Week 4: Knowing myself and my health. Learning spaces to develop self-awareness, about health care.
– Week 5: Substance abuse prevention campaign Creating an awareness campaign to be present in different public.
– Week 6: Planning my life project. Review and feedback the activities done during the project, set specific actions to do at home to improve healthcare.

We are so proud of her! Sour is a young talented student who keeps challenging herself with new experience and knowledge! We wish her a brilliant journey and we can’t wait to see her stories once she is back home in September! We hope that what she learns will be shared with other UP Pharmaceutical Students.

Prison visit by president Ian and the UP Dental Team

UP dental students visit one of the three main Phnom Penh Prisons one day every week year-round to provide basic dental services. UP President Professor Ian Findlay accompanied by Dean Prof. Callum Durward from the Faculty of Dentistry made a surprise visit last week to observe the project first hand. The UP team received a warm welcome from the Prison Director and our partners from One-2-One Cambodia. One-2-One has an MOU with the Department of Prisons to provide this service.

On arrival early in the morning, the students quickly set up 6 portable dental chairs, a generator, dental instruments and materials, fans and sterilizing equipment. Supervising dentist Dr Limheng soon had the chairs filled with patients, most of whom had toothache and required dental extractions. A few had teeth which could be saved and one of our senior female students set about filling teeth using one of three portable dental units.

The Prison Dental Service has been running for 10 years, and UP is proud to support such a worthwhile project, which not only brings urgently needed dental treatment to the approximately 10,000 prisoners in Phnom Penh’s overcrowded prisons, but also provides an excellent opportunity for UP students to develop their skills in clinical dentistry. The project demonstrates in very practical terms one of UP’s missions which is to “help others”.

up joined the 2nd Technical Vocational Education and Training Fair (TVET)

The University of Puthisastra (UP) participated in the 2nd TVET Fair at the Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center in Phnom Penh from 15th to 16th June 2019, to showcase its course offerings in Health Sciences and Technology. Recognized as one of the 10 Most Admirable Medical Schools in Southeast Asia for 2019 by The Knowledge Review, an online international education magazine, and one of the highest ranking university in Cambodia by UniRank; UP intends to share its many high quality offerings to High school students looking for a career in health sciences and Information & Communications Technology during the TVET fair.

High school students visiting UP’s booths during TVET will get interact with the current undergraduates as well as the teaching Faculty members to find out more about the majors available, career possibilities, and to try some experiments related to the degree courses offered at UP.

UP provides top quality education to undergraduates, over 70% of UP’s teaching staff has a Doctoral degree, and more than one third of the academic staff are foreigners who come with international expertise – very important to provide graduates with international job opportunities.

In addition to quality teaching, UP has many other qualities to help undergraduates such as free fast Wi-Fi, canteen, Student Clubs, and an online library that allows easy access around the clock for undergraduates doing research. As an internationally focused university, UP also provides intensive English tuition – no need to study (and pay) elsewhere.

IMPLANT TRAINING FROM CHIANGMAI UNIVERSITY (CMU)

Two dental academics from Chiang Mai University (CMU) recently visited UP to demonstrate placement of a new brand of implant which they have helped to develop. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pathawee Khongkhunthian, Director of Center of Excellence for Dental Implantology, Faculty of Dentistry, Chiang Mai University was accompanied by Dr. Sam Lyly, a Cambodian PhD candidate in implantology at CMU. UP has an MOU with CMU specifically to develop the area of implantology. Dr Lyly will come again in the near future to train our staff and students on the placement of mini-implants for patients who have no lower teeth. The implants make dentures much easier to wear, and the technique is safe and relatively simple. CMU has done a lot of research in this area. The implant treatment provided at UP is of a high standard and is overseen by Dr Tak Ranuch, specialist in periodontics. The University of Puthisastra is happy to support our senior dental students to learn and practice implantology.

UP Launched Research Journal Club

In collaboration with the all the Faculties and the Department of Research, a weekly Journal Club & Research Presentations has just started. It was great to have Dr Sarath from Medicine present his research on ‘Medical Professionalism’. His presentation generated lots of questions from staff and students in the audience.

The Journal Club & Research Presentations is a chance for staff and students to share their research or journal article critique with other people in a supportive and encouraging environment. It is a great chance to find out what staff and students are doing in other Faculties and talk about research. It is also a good opportunity to practice skills in presenting and answering questions from an audience especially if staff/students are presenting at a conference.

When and where? Every Wednesday from 4 -4.45 pm in H Hall and is open to all staff and students at UP.

UP Dental Students Participate in the Cambodian Health and Nutrition Monitoring Study

For the past two years UP dental students, under the direction of Dr Bethy Turton (UP Fellow) and Dr Chher Tepirou (Chief Dental Officer for Cambodia at MOH) have participated in the important longitudinal Cambodian Health and Nutrition Monitoring Study (“My Health”) involving about 4,000 mothers and their preschool children. The study is in part supported by UNICEF. Twelve year 6 and 7 UP dental students joined other team members from IU and the MOH (lead by Dr Hou Sokuntheary) for 9 days in Kratie to collect the data. The study, which has an oral health component, is also being conducted in Phnom Penh and Ratanakiri. In Kratie, 1959 children were examined and 1142 mothers were interviewed, to record dietary, growth and development, and oral health information, as well as assessment of how oral health has affected their lives using the Oral-Health-Related Quality-of-Life index. Fluoride varnish was applied to the teeth of 1609 children.

Initial findings showed a high level of tooth decay starting before 2 years of age, a high sugar diet, and a lack of oral hygiene among many young children. Risk factors to dental caries have been identified. Links between poor oral health and other developmental and general health problems are being explored. One paper with data from the study has already been published, and more publications are underway. The findings of the study will inform the future development of public health interventions which could lead to improvements in child oral health in Cambodia.