A young Vietnamese doctorate holder who trained in the U.S. has been working on cancer cures and putting an end to patients’ suffering.
Dr. Phan Minh Liem, 33, is currently working at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, after doing his studies and research at the U.S.’s leading institute for 12 years.
He boasts 24 research works on cancer under his belt and was named among ten exemplary Vietnamese youths in 2014.
The doctor sat down for an interview with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper during his recent visit to Vietnam.
Liem was born in Nha Trang, a resort town in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa.
The boy nurtured a passion for reading and science by carrying out simple scientific experiments from an early age.
In ninth grade, Liem nabbed the second prize in a national high school French contest and landed a scholarship to study in France for one year.
During the brief course, the teenager made the crucial career decision to major in biology technology.
In 2001, Liem took the entrance exam for the Faculty of Biotechnology at the University of Science under the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City.
As a junior, Liem was awarded a research-based doctoral fellowship by Vietnam Education Foundation, an independent U.S. Federal Government agency created by the U.S. Congress to incubate Vietnamese budding academics.
“When I was young, my paternal grandmother and aunt suffered liver cancer,” Liem recalled.
“During my university years, I delved into the debilitating disease, which has drained many Vietnamese patients physically, mentally and financially, and rendered many of the world’s doctors powerless to help,” he added.
While studying in the U.S., he was advised by professors and doctors at the U.S. Science Academy to pursue his ceaseless passion for cancer at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the country’s top cancer research institutions.
“Advised by professors and doctors, I entered the intriguing world of biomedical engineering and have been engaged in cancer research since 2005,” Liem shared about his passion for cancer research.
He obtained his doctoral degree in 2012 after more than seven years of studying and doing extensive research at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
By then, Dr. Liem and his associates had celebrated their quest for fighting cancer with 15 research papers which were published in prestigious international scientific journals on biotechnology and cancer, including Proceedings of The U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Journal of the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
The young man has carved out nine more research works since 2012 – a noteworthy accomplishment for a man his age.
Dr. Phan Minh Liem. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Dr. Liem has been recognized as a winner of some of his field’s most prestigious awards including the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Pre-doctoral Traineeship Award for the period of 2009-2013; and 1st Prize Scientific Poster Award - Clinical Sciences: Medicine, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacology and Public Health presented by the US Congress - Vietnam Education Foundation in 2014.
He was also named a Sylvan Rodriguez/Cancer Answers Award Scholar in 2010 thanks to his outstanding academic achievements in cancer research and community contributions.
So far, Liem is the first and only Vietnamese academician to have been honored four times by the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
“My accolades are all treasured, but perhaps my most-coveted award is helping cancer patients win their battle against the disease and stay healthy. It’s a goal I will pursue to the very end,” Dr. Liem said.
The doctor met with more than 100 other brilliant Vietnamese youths and cancer patients at a workshop organized on March 21 to commemorate the 20th founding anniversary of the Vietnamese Exemplary Youths Awards and hand out awards to recipients of the 2015 edition.
“My heart really aches seeing frail cancer patients struggling in their attempts to take back their own lives from the ticking clock of death,” Dr. Liem said.
“I promised myself that I’ll strive as hard as I can to eliminate cancer by radically curing patients instead of merely treating their symptoms and complications as we are currently doing.”
He noted, however, that he needs another 10 years to conduct more experiments and closely monitor the safety and efficiency of his own treatment course.
“I’m positive that my research and findings have been on the right track so far,” he said.
Cancer victims may find it a source of hope that in his recent research, Dr. Liem detected a gene which can effectively hold back and keep in check the energy-creating process of tumors.
Once the gene is activated, cancerous cells will be quickly destroyed, stop growing, or cease spreading to unaffected areas.
He noted that though in their infancy, his and his associates’ works have drawn ample attention from organizations and world-leading pharmaceutical companies and groups, including a medical program under the U.S. Department of Defense which has expressed a keen interest in collaborating with him to produce a new drug.
The devastating disease claims the lives of more than eight million patients and affects millions of families worldwide every year, according to Dr. Liem’s LinkedIn page.
Approximately 18 million new cases are diagnosed annually around the globe.
Vietnam is also among the countries with the highest rates of contracting cancer in the world, with 150,000 new cases detected yearly.
Since 2012, Dr. Liem has coordinated annual programs to send experts from the MD Anderson Cancer Center to Vietnam, where they have held short-term training courses meant for oncologists in his home country.
He has also assisted Vietnamese universities and research institutes in gaining access to cutting-edge cancer prevention and treatment technology, as well as helping raise awareness of how to stay clear of the fatal disease among locals.
“I’ll return to Vietnam to work and contribute once my research has proved fruitful,” he asserted.
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