Undergraduate Program: Medical Science and Technology (MST)

 

I.         Executive Summary

            At present, biomedical technologists are highly and urgently requested in all public health care facilities in Vietnam. Therefore, the Medical Science and Technology (MST) Bachelor Program at USTH will fill the human resource demand in terms of highly qualified biomedical scientists and technologists. The advanced MST program consists of two educational orientations: “Biomedical Sciences” and “Biomedical Engineering”.  Graduates will be technologists, experts and product developers in the biomedical field, who are able to research and develop optimal biomedical science solutions in detecting and treating diseases or integrating knowledge of biological principles, biomedical engineering, biomedical electronics, regenerative medicine, computer science and artificial intelligence for research - development of rehabilitation products, biomedical instruments and devices to support the diagnosis, treatment, care, improvement, and protection of human health. The training program following the standard European system (LMD) will last 3 academic years, including 6 semesters, 180 ECTS and 4-6 months of internship in clinical/research laboratories.

II.        Educational orientations

II.1. Biomedical Sciences

A/ Educational Contents and Objectives

Biomedical science (BMS) is to understand the fundamental process of life, to study of the human body, its structure and function in human health and diseases, and to apply this knowledge to many aspects of medicine. The goal of this training program is to provide students with knowledge on mechanisms and factors associated with human diseases towards diagnosis, detection and treatment of those diseases. The focus will be on understanding of human health, from molecular to organismal systems: how cells, organs and systems function in the human body in healthy and diseased states. The BMS educational orientation mainly deals with the facts, theories and models describing biological and clinical phenomena. Core course clusters include cell biology, immunology, hematology, biochemistry, physiology, molecular biology, medical microbiology, cancer biology, stem cells, molecular markers and molecular medicine. The knowledge will equip students to work in areas that contribute to the development of new therapies and approaches aimed at improving human health.

B/ Outcomes and skills: Students following the biomedical sciences are expected to

• Integrate the knowledge base of various key subjects to understanding the pathogenesis and origins of disease processes, how they affect the normal structure and functions of the human body, why and how health is maintained;
• Have a basic understanding of the investigation, diagnosis, prevention, approaches to treatment and monitoring of disease, as well as developing products being made possible by biomedical research;
• Explain biomedical sciences phenomena at a variety of levels (from molecule to cell to organ and system function) in the human body in health and disease;
• Have practical techniques and professional skills relevant to the biomedical sciences;
• Aware of the current laboratory methods available for the investigation, detection and treatment of specific diseases as well as integrate the knowledge and understanding of various therapeutic strategies for the development and evaluation of new methods applicable to diseased states;
• Have ethical and professional responsibilities in technical situations;
• Work successfully as a member of a professional team and function effectively as responsible professionals in biomedical sciences

The levels of learning outcomes are evaluated as the following:

• Level 1: Describe - Aware
• Level 2: Understand - Explain
• Level 3: Apply - Analyze
• Level 4: Design, Develop, Create and Evaluate

C/ Career opportunities: after graduation, students have the opportunity to work for research and development of biomedical products in health-related industries (medical biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, drug development) as well as work in clinical, biomedical, genetics and forensic laboratories, biomedical research institutes/universities; business, be specialists in public health services; consultants in biomedical policy-making organizations, managers/consultants in biomedical companies, NGO or intellectual law companies in the biomedical field; or pursue graduate study programs in biomedical sciences.

 

II.2. Biomedical Engineering

A/ Educational Contents and Objectives

Biomedical engineering (BME) aims to improve human health and health-care systems through the application of latest innovative technologies. The development of very high-technology medical instrumentations and devices such as defibrillators, endoscopic instrumentations, medical imaging technologies (PET/CT, MRI, scanners, ultrasound), robotics and automation, are essential for the diagnosis, treatment, management of diseases and rehabilitation, to avoid danger and improve efficiency of medical treatments. Therefore, the BME training orientation focuses on providing students with broad and flexible subjects in engineering and biological science applied in biomedical instruments and systems. The BME broadly refers the same mathematical, analytical, and conceptual knowledge from related fields (Biology, Physic, Chemistry, Electronics, Robotics, Material Science, Signal and Image Processing, and Computer Science). The students are prepared to analyze, synthesize, and link knowledge in the multi-disciplinary fields, with the emphasis on quantitative approaches and methods. Finally, the students will be an integral part of the society to improve the understanding and control of biological processes towards improving human health.

B/ Outcomes and skills: Students following the biomedical engineering are expected to

• Have the professional skills to work on high-tech biomedical instruments;
• Have professional knowledge in fields: medical instrumentations and devices, medical image technology, biomedical signal and image processing, biomechanics, biomaterials and bionanotechnology, AI in medicine and rehabilitation engineering;
• Repair, maintain, improve and develop biomedical instrumentations and devices which are commonly used in hospitals, clinics and medical research centres;
• Integrate the knowledge of both biological processes and engineering, allowing them to make positive contributions in biomedical industries and/or other sectors;
• Lead the industry in biomedical imaging and signal processing, medical devices and rehabilitation, AI and machine learning in medicine or patient-specific treatments based high-tech medical tools;
• Have ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations;
• Work successfully as a member of a professional team and function effectively as responsible professionals.

The levels of learning outcomes are evaluated as the following:

• Level 1: Identify and explain technical problems
• Level 2: Formulate the process to solve the technical problems
• Level 3: Apply engineering design to produce solutions and technical improvements
• Level 4: Acquire and apply new knowledge in BME, evaluate new products

C/ Career opportunities: students have the opportunity to access careers in the research and development areas of biomedical instrumentations and devices; repair, maintenance, consultancy, and management at enterprises, factories and biomedical research institutes; or pursue master and doctoral programs in BME.

D/ Curriculum program*

Foundation year	Semester	Courses		ECTS
	S 1	English		8
		Law of Science and Technology of Vietnam		1
		Foundation of economics		1
		Basic programming		3
		Introduction to informatics		4
		Linear Algebra		4
		Calculus I		4
		Fundamental Physics I		4
	S 2	Fundamental Physics II		4
		Cellular biology		4
		Genetics		3
		General Chemistry I		4
		General Chemistry II		4
		Biomedical Sciences (BMS)	ECTS	Biomedical Engineering (BME)	ECTS
		Organic Chemistry	4	Discrete Math	3
		Practical Chemistry	2	Algorithms	3
		Biochemistry 1	3	Electromagnetism	4
		General Microbiology	3	Practical Physics	2
	Total			60
Second year	S 3	Scientific Management		2
		French		8
		Human Anatomy and Physiology		4
		Histology and Cytology		3
		Biomedical Sciences (BMS)	ECTS	Biomedical Engineering (BME)	ECTS
		Advanced Cell Biology	3	Numerical methods	3
		Hematology	4	Probability and Statistics	4
		Immunology	4	Electronics	4
		Bioanalytical chemistry	3	Digital Electronics	3
		Biochemistry 2	3	Signals and Systems	3
	S 4	Pharmacology and Toxicology	3	Algorithm and Data Structure	3
		Medical Microbiology	3	Digital Signal Processing	3
		Virology	3	Physiological Signal Processing	3
		Parasitology and Mycology	4	Medical Physics	3
		Molecular Biology	4	Biomolecules and Cellular Engineering	4
		Bio-statistics	3	Biomedical Signals and Circuits Lab	4
		Bioinformatics	3	Image Processing	3
		Developmental Biology (Optional)	3	Medical instrumentations (Optional)	3
		Human Pathology (Optional)	3	Biomedical Imaging (Optional)	3
	Total			60
Third year	S 5	French		7
		Scientific Writing		2
		Biomedical Sciences (BMS)	ECTS	Biomedical Engineering (BME)	ECTS
		Group project: Biomedical Labs	3	Group project: Medical Instruments and Systems Lab	3
		Biomedical Ethics	2	Biomaterials	3
		Advanced Biochemistry	3	Bionanotechnology	3
		Human Genetic Disorders	3	Biosensors	3
		Medical Biotechnology	3	Bio-MEMS	3
		Cancer Biology and Diagnostics	4	Microprocessor System	3
		Stem Cell	3	Introduction to Biomechanics	3
	S 6	Proteomics and Metabolomics	3	Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning	3
		Introduction to NeuroScience	2	Lasers and optics in medicine	3
		Protein Engineering	4	Computational Vision and Biological Perception	3
		Molecular Markers for Diagnostics	3	Biomedical Signal Processing and Modelling	3
		Molecular Medicine	3	Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning in Medicine	3
		Selective courses (choose 2 of 5 courses)
		Computational Biology	3	Modern Microcopy and Imaging	3
		Drug Design and Delivery	3	Tissue Engineering	3
		Clinical Biochemistry	3	Medical Robotics and Rehabilitation	3
		Biopharmaceutical sciences	3	Medical Image Processing and Analysis	3
		Advanced Biostatistics	3	Biomedical Devices	3
		Internship (4 - 6 months)		9
	Total			60

              *: it is requested at least 10 students registered for opening each educational orientation.

 

IV. Main partners involved in the MST program
 

National partners	International partners
Military Medical Academy	Henri Mondor General Hospital, Paris, France
Hanoi Medical University	Saint Antoine General Hospital, Paris, France
Hanoi University of Science and Technology	Sorbonne Medical University, Paris, France
Military Technical Academy	UPEC University, Paris, France
College of Medical Instrument and Technology	School of Polytechnique, Angers University, France
National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology	Angers General Hospital, Angers, France
National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion	Lille University, Lille, France
Saint Paul General Hospital	Toulose University, Toulose, France
Bach Mai General Hospital	Lyon 1 University, Lyon, France
K Cancer Hospital	Montpellier University, Montpellier, France
Institute of Biotechnology – VAST	Aix-Marseille University, Marsielle, France
Institute of Genome Research – VAST	National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
Institute of Natural Products Chemistry – VAST	Ntational Yang-Ming University, Taiwan
Institute of Marine Biochemistry – VAST	National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan
Institute of Material Science - VAST	Natioanl Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
Institute of Physic - VAST	Mahidol University, Thailand

 

V. Contact

Program Coordinator: Dr. Nguyen Quang Huy

Email: [email protected]

Academic Assistant: Mrs. Vu Thi Ngoc Huyen

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (+ 84) 0243 212 1576