UP PHARMACY STUDENTS WIN BIG IN KOREA

UP students were awarded as the best poster awards among over 300 research posters from different schools of pharmacy in Asia, Australia, and USA at the 9th AASP (Asian Association School of Pharmacy) conference in Korea. An incredible achievement considering the international quality of the conference. Huge congratulations to Ms. Un Kunthea, UP Year 5 Pharmaceutical Student, and her team: Luy Titsothearak, Lim Lya, Yun Sopharath, Khun Muyheang, Som Pichchhera, Hing Borey, and Ny Chanseyha; and Ms. Hul Marina, and her team: Lay Lyly, Eng Chansreynith, Bov Kimleng, Srun Sreypov, and Ny Chanseyha! You all really did amazing job!

UP Pharmacy really is on the World Stage.

The 29 UP pharmacy students who attended AASP in Korea came back fully energized with their win as they gained very valuable experience in how to present research to highly qualified, international professionals and scientists. The students also explored diversity in global pharmaceutical education and science, as well as collaborating with other pharmacy professionals and scientists during this major international conference. It was also a great opportunity to network – to meet the research groups/professors with whom they can continue their work from undergraduate level to master degree or doctorate degree.

After the conference, the students went for a sightseeing and tasting Korean food. They had fun trying out the Korean costume too. Another milestone memory of UP pharmacy students.

UP STAFF AND STUDENT RECEIVE SCHOLARSHIPS FROM MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY IN THAILAND

UP year 6 dental student Choun Lina and UP Clinical Trial Coordinator Dr Horn Rithvitou (a recent graduate of UP) have both received 1-month scholarships from Mahidol University for August/September 2019.

Mahidol is the top dental school in Thailand, and UP has an MOU with the university through the International Dental Collaboration of the Mekong River Region (IDCMR) program. Lina will be joining other students from around Southeast Asia, and will be rotating through various departments of the university. Dr Vitou will be spending his month engaged in a collaborative research project involving Silver Diammine Fluoride – a caries-arresting agent that is now being widely used in schools in Cambodia. The scholarship covers airfares, food and accommodation. Congratulations to both for winning these much sought after scholarships.

UP FACULTY OF PHARMACY LAUNCHES ITS FIRST COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND CHARITY PROGRAM IN SIEM REAP

To promote community health, 66 Yr 5 pharmacy students recently conducted community health education, patient counseling, risk factors screening for hypertension and diabetes, medication use review, and ethano-botanical survey in 6 villages of Preah Dak commune, Banteay Srey district, Siem Reap province. Community outreach is now standard practice for internationally famous pharmacy schools across the world and UP is delighted to now integrated into UP Pharmacy’s Curriculum. This provides students with the chance to practice what they have learned at school in the real community settings on patient counseling and education, medicine usage review, and health screening and education.

UP staff and students provided charity to about 400 families in those communities. In addition, staff and students visited Angkor Hospital for Children to see how hospital pharmacy and medical laboratory work.

UP HOSTS WISDOM TOOTH SURGERY COURSE FOR OVERSEAS DENTISTS

Last week UP hosted a 3-day workshop on Wisdom Tooth Surgery in association with the Dental Training Academy (Singapore) Ltd. Ten dentists (mostly from Australia) who had obtained temporary registration with the Cambodian Dental Council attended the course, which included one day of lectures and SIM lab practical, and two days of wisdom tooth surgery on volunteer patients, mostly UP students. The UP dental team worked very hard to make this a success. The workshop went very well and income earned will be used to improve our clinical facilities for our students. Further courses are planned for the future, and the dental clinic is collecting names of students (and other people) who would like to have their wisdom teeth removed for free.

LABORATORY SCIENCES VISIT WALAILAK UNIVERSITY IN THAILAND

UP delegates led by Mr. OUK Soksereivotanak, Director of Laboratory Sciences and included Mr. SENG Thako, Laboratory Sciences staff, and two Pharmaceutical students, visited Walailak University and joined the National and International Conference on Biomedical Sciences and Medical Technology in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.

UP joined the pre-conference with International key speakers and invited speakers of the conference at Walailak University. This meeting built research and academic collaboration, and facilitated student and staff exchange between our two universities. After the meeting, UP delegates and international speakers were accompanied by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jitbanjong Tangpong, Dean of School, Allied Health Sciences along with her academic staff, to visit medical laboratory practice classes and smart classroom, at Walialak University Sciences Park (WUSP).

The main conference was held on 20th and 21st June, 2019 at the Grand Fortune Hotel in Nakhon Si Thammrath, Thailand where UP presented two research posters. This was a great opportunity for UP’s staff and students to meet and have fruitful discussions with many researchers from USA, Japan, Bangladesh and Thailand.

UP DENTAL STUDENTS VISIT JAPAN

Three senior UP Dental Students are currently on an exchange program to Japan, sponsored by the Denriche Asia company. Denriche Asia is a long-standing partner of the UP Faculty of Dentistry. Several times a year it sends visiting lecturers to UP from Japan, and helps support our school through two main projects: (1) provides support for poor patients to get free treatment by our students at the UP Dental Clinic, and (2) provides 3 scholarships each year to send outstanding students on a 1-week exchange program to Japan.

The students spend the week visiting top Dental Clinics and dental labs, and join a dental expo and visit a Japanese dental school.

Ms Ai Yamazaki, COE of Denriche Asia, personally arranges the program and accompanies the students throughout the week. There is also time for sightseeing and cultural activities. We are very grateful to Denriche for this exchange opportunity. More than half of our UP dental students now have the opportunity to travel abroad to attend a conference or take part in a student exchange program in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, US and Japan. Discussions are underway to introduce 2 new exchange programs to Australia in the near future.

UP AND BUMRONGRAD INTERNATIONAL HOSPITAL CONDUCT WORKSHOP STATE OF THE ART ROBOTIC SPINE SURGERY

Bumrongrad International Hospital (Bangkok) is one of the best facilities in the world for spinal surgery. So UP invited Dr. Withawin Kesornsak, Spine Specialist Doctor, Neurology Center, Bumrongrad International Hospital (Bangkok) to give UP students and staff a very exciting workshop on State of the Art Robotic Spine Surgery.

We also invited Dr. Iv Vicheth, Neurosurgeon at Preah Kossamak Hospital to share his experiences in Spine Surgery in Cambodia. Neurology and Neurosurgery are very important skills for doctors to learn in Cambodia so this workshop provided skills for UP students and staff to become Doctors in Cambodia.

SPECIAL LECTURE BY DR TITH HONG YOEU, DIRECTOR OF THE ROOMCHANG DENTAL HOSPITAL

Dr Tith Hong Yoeu is widely acknowledged to be Cambodia’s foremost dentist, and is the owner of the famous Roomchang Dental Hospital. A leader in dentistry in Cambodia for the past two decades, Dr Tith has a Masters degree in Implantology from Germany, and has been at the forefront of developing international standard dental care in Cambodia.

Dr Tith Hong Yoeu is widely acknowledged to be Cambodia’s foremost dentist, and is the owner of the famous Roomchang Dental Hospital. A leader in dentistry in Cambodia for the past two decades, Dr Tith has a Masters degree in Implantology from Germany, and has been at the forefront of developing international standard dental care in Cambodia.

Dr Tith Hong Yoeu is widely acknowledged to be Cambodia’s foremost dentist, and is the owner of the famous Roomchang Dental Hospital. A leader in dentistry in Cambodia for the past two decades, Dr Tith has a Masters degree in Implantology from Germany, and has been at the forefront of developing international standard dental care in Cambodia.

There they have had the opportunity to see how an international standard dental clinic operates. Our students get great benefit from these experiences which will help them become highly competent practitioners in the future.

HEROES COME IN ALL TYPES AND SIZES – UP GIVES BLOOD

The ultimate goal of a developing country when it comes to donating blood is reaching the 100% donation mark, Cambodia is moving towards it, albeit slowly. UP conducted a blood drive on the 10th of July to add to the efforts towards filling up the national blood bank. The students were front and center leading the efforts. Foundation Year teamed up with UP Students Affairs and the National Blood Transfusion Center (NBTC) to collect 81 units of blood in just 6.5 hours.

That’s more than 12 donations every hour and every unit saves 3 lives. That’s 243 lives UP has saved. If we all join hands and keep up the positive contribution there is no way there will be lives lost because we were wanting for blood. Let’s never forget, we are always somebody’s type.

What can one say?

1. Bringing our science teaching to international standards – how can it be taught better and more effectively
Foundation years are increasingly used world-wide to develop undergraduate skills to the same level in a consistent manner for a range of faculties or disciplines. This method is beneficial for students in providing them with exposure to various disciplines which in the long run improves interdisciplinary skill sets. So, when I first saw that UP had implemented this approach, I was eager to know more. UP has embedded intense English teaching along with a number of ministry requirements into the Foundation Year. Although this adds a layer of complexity, it provides a solid grounding needed for the disciplines in year 2 and beyond but also health-based English language skills which are so critical for success in our 21st Century. UP is to be heartedly congratulated on this holistic approach.

There are two main challenges though: demands on the students’ time with a very busy timetable and available human resource. However, these demands can be streamlined easily by adopting innovative teaching methodologies that include but are not limited to effective technology use. I gave a short leadership seminar on “how to implement teaching technologies in the classroom”, followed by one-on-one interviews with key members of staff to show the power of modern learning approaches such as “flipping” the classroom.

I worked closely with the Director of Foundation Year, Director of Learning and Teaching and Heads of Departments to devised a short implementation plan and blueprint to streamline the content, remove obvious overlaps, and redesign pedagogically sound courses that are scaffolded in both horizontal and vertical directions – very exciting for staff and students alike.

2. Supporting UPs dedicated Learning and Teaching dept to bring modern 21st Century technologies to Cambodia.
The review process was very demanding in the short time frame I was have been at UP, but I am very strongly encouraged by the skills, commitment and enthusiasm of the UP to modernize L&T practice. There is a real commitment to bring Cambodian education into the 21st Century.

I will be able to provide future guidance and continue in the review process from abroad and have already arranged regular Skype meetings with Richard, Sundas, and Lynne to help facilitate a collaborative effort in designing assessment, implementation of a 21st Century curriculum, and most importantly, to develop cross-fertilization of skill sets between RMIT and UP.

3. Developing research collaborations between UP and a leading Australian university, especially in the field of
environmental cleanup. There opportunities for research between UP and RMIT.
a) Plastics in the environment – Cambodia is still learning the impact of plastics. I met with some excellent researchers who want to understand the fates of plastics and clean-up of their locations. This will be an ongoing discussion with both UP and RMIT.

b) Examining the prospects of new ways to combat caries: synthesis of new topical caries agents for dentistry.

c) Learning and Teaching Scholarly activity –I would also envisage some joint publications and grant applications on L&T and pedagogy design for Cambodia – what works and what does not, what are the challenges and what is the future?

YEAR 2 DENTAL STUDENTS ENJOY FACE PAINTING IN ANATOMY CLASS

UP is always looking for ways to make learning more fun and engaging for students. Engaged students learn more. UPs orthodontist Dr Hemanth Sharma provided lessons to Yr 2 dental students where they drew various muscles on each other’s faces. This is not only a great way for students to learn, but also a lot of fun. Later Dr Hemanth will be asking students to map out the nerve supply to the head and neck region. The Faculty of Dentistry appreciates that its lecturers are trying modern ways of teaching which can improve learning for the students.