7 Famous Physicians and Doctors in Vietnamese History

1. Famous physician Tuệ Tĩnh (1330-?):

Zen Master Tuệ Tĩnh

The renowned physician Tuệ Tĩnh, whose real name was Nguyễn Bá Tĩnh, was from Nghĩa Phú village, Cẩm Giàng district (Hải Dương province). Tuệ Tĩnh is considered the patron saint of traditional Vietnamese medicine and the founder of Vietnamese Traditional Medicine. He authored the famous books "Nam Dược Thần Hiệu" (Miraculous Southern Medicine) and "Hồng Nghĩa Giác Tư Y Thư" (Hong Nghia Giac Tu Medical Book), and was the first to advocate the idea of ​​"Vietnamese medicine for Vietnamese people." "Hồng Nghĩa Giac Tư Y Thư" is the oldest medical book in Vietnam.

Orphaned at the age of six, Nguyen Ba Tinh was raised and educated by monks at Hai Trieu and Giao Thuy temples. With his talent and diligence, at the age of 22, he passed the imperial examinations under Emperor Tran Du Tong, but instead of pursuing an official career, he remained at the temple to become a monk, taking the Dharma name Tue Tinh. During his time as a monk, he devoted himself to studying and practicing medicine, treating illnesses and saving lives.

At the age of 55 (1385), the famous physician Tuệ Tĩnh was sent as tribute to the Ming dynasty. In China, he continued to practice medicine, became famous, and was appointed by the Ming emperor as the Great Physician and Zen Master. He died there, the exact year is unknown.

2. The renowned physician Hai Thuong Lan Ong

Famous physician Lê Hữu Trác

Hai Thuong Lan Ong, whose real name was Le Huu Trac (1720-1791), was born in Van Xa village, Lieu Xa commune, Duong Hao district, Thuong Hong prefecture, Hai Duong province. He came from a family with a tradition of scholarship: his grandfather, uncles, and cousins ​​all passed the doctoral examinations and held official positions in the court. His father had passed the third-class doctoral examination and served as a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Public Works during the reign of Emperor Le Du Tong. He was the seventh child, so he was also known as Chieu Bay.

He was a great physician and cultural figure of our country, the author of the renowned book Lan Ong Tam Linh or Hai Thuong Y Tong Tam Linh, comprising 28 volumes and 66 books covering all aspects of medicine: medical ethics, medical theory, medical techniques, pharmacology, and nutrition. An important part of the book reflects the literary career and thought of Hai Thuong Lan Ong. His medical career made a significant contribution to building the foundation of national medicine, and he is therefore revered as the Great Physician of Vietnam.

3. Professor Ho Dac Di

Professor Ho Dac Di

Professor Ho Dac Di (1900 - 1984) studied in France (1918-1932) and completed his residency. While there, Ho Dac Di performed surgery for a time at Tenon Hospital before returning to Vietnam.

In his doctoral dissertation in Paris, Professor Ho Dac Di was the first to create a method of gastric surgery (gastroduodenoscopy) to treat pyloric stenosis caused by peptic ulcers, replacing the previously used gastrectomy method. This method has been mentioned and recognized for its value in many textbooks and publications for 30-40 years.

According to Vietnamese medical history, with 21 works currently found out of 37 published works, he was the first surgeon, deserving of high praise from the professorial council (all French) and elected as the first Vietnamese professor.

He was a Member of Parliament from the 2nd to the 5th terms, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th terms, Rector of Hanoi Medical University, Director General of the Vietnam University Affairs, Director of the Department of Higher Education and Vocational Training, a member of the State Committee for Science and Technology, President of the Vietnam-France Friendship Association, a member of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, President of the Vietnam Medical Association, awarded the First Class Independence Medal, the First and Second Class Resistance Medals, the First and Second Class Labor Medals, the Medal for the Young Generation, and was a National Emulation Fighter in 1952 and 1956. Professor Ho Dac Di was awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize. He passed away on June 25, 1984.

4. Doctor Pham Ngoc Thach

Doctor Pham Ngoc Thach

Dr. Pham Ngoc Thach (1909-1968) was born in Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh province. In 1928, he was a student at Hanoi Medical University. In 1934, he graduated with a medical degree in France. After two years, he returned to Saigon and opened a private clinic and hospital specializing in the treatment of tuberculosis and lung diseases.

Dr. Pham Ngoc Thach was a renowned intellectual in Saigon's upper class, from a prestigious royal family, respected by both the French and the Japanese, and joined the revolution very early on. He organized the Vanguard Youth, a powerful force that formed the core of the mass movement to seize power during the August Revolution. He was the first President of the Vietnam Youth Union.

He was the first Minister of Health of independent Vietnam (Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (September 1945 - January 1946)). From 1954, he served as Deputy Minister, Secretary of the Party Committee (1954-1958), and then as Minister of Health (1958-1968). He built a people's healthcare system in the North.

His contributions to the healthcare sector in South Vietnam were immense. More than anyone else, he cared deeply about the battlefields in the South. Immediately after 1955, he gathered Southern cadres, mostly nurses, to train them to become medical officers and then doctors, as well as pharmacy assistants to become high school-level and university-level pharmacists, and sent them to the battlefield.

He was the founder of the Central Institute for Tuberculosis Control. He directed numerous research projects on tuberculosis prevention (BCG-induced tuberculosis), tuberculosis treatment (stimulation of filatop and subtilis), as well as many lung diseases (chronic bronchitis, pneumoconiosis, fungal lung infections, parasitic lung infections, etc.), laying the foundation for the establishment of tuberculosis and lung disease specialties in Vietnam. He built the Vietnamese healthcare network and established primary healthcare facilities as a prerequisite for the later implementation of primary healthcare policies. He was posthumously awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize (1996).

Dr. Pham Ngoc Thach was awarded the first Hero of Labor title in the health sector in 1958, at the first National Congress of Heroes and Emulation Fighters. The State posthumously awarded him the Ho Chi Minh Prize in 1997 for his contributions in the field of science.

5. Professor Dang Van Ngu

Professor Dang Van Ngu

Professor Dang Van Ngu (April 4, 1910 - April 1, 1967) was born in An Cuu village, on the outskirts of Hue. He graduated with a medical degree in 1937 from Hanoi Medical University. Afterward, he worked as an assistant to the French professor and doctor Henry Galliard, head of the Department of Parasitology at the Indochina Medical University (the predecessor of Hanoi Medical University).

In 1942, he was the head of the Parasitology Laboratory and completed 19 renowned scientific research papers. In 1943, he went to study in Japan. In 1945, he became the president of the Patriotic Vietnamese Overseas Association in Japan.

In 1949, he returned to Vietnam to participate in the resistance against the French, becoming a lecturer and head of the Department of Parasitology at the Medical University in Chiem Hoa. During his time participating in the resistance against the French in the Viet Bac war zone, he successfully researched and developed a method for producing liquid penicillin, an antibiotic that greatly contributed to the treatment of infections in wounded soldiers and civilians during the resistance against the French and later against the Americans.

In 1955, he founded the Vietnam Institute of Malaria, Parasitology and Entomology (Central) and became its first director. During the Vietnam War, he focused his research on the prevention and treatment of malaria in Vietnam.

On April 1, 1967, he died in a B52 bombing raid by the US, in a location in the Truong Son mountain range in Thua Thien Hue province, while researching malaria. He was posthumously awarded the first Ho Chi Minh Prize in the field of Medicine.

6. Professor Ton That Tung

Professor Ton That Tung (1912-1982) was born in Thanh Hoa province and grew up in Hue. In 1932, he studied at the School of Medicine and Pharmacy, and in 1935, he and 10 other students were recruited to work as outpatients at Phu Doan Hospital. In 1935, he was the only one accepted to work in the surgical department of the School of Medicine and Pharmacy, which is now Viet-Duc Hospital.

Professor Ton That Tung

Using rudimentary instruments, he meticulously dissected the structure of the liver. Based on this, he wrote and successfully defended his doctoral dissertation entitled "The Classification of Blood Vessels in the Liver." For this dissertation, he was awarded the Silver Medal of the University of Paris (which was then part of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Hanoi).

In the 1960s, he successfully developed the "planned liver resection" method. In recognition of his contribution as the first person to discover this method, it is known as the "Dry Liver Surgery Method" or the "Ton That Tung Method".

Following the success of the August Revolution, Ton That Tung was one of the first intellectuals to wholeheartedly dedicate himself to building the Medical University of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

In 1947, he was appointed by the Government as Deputy Minister of Health. After peace was restored, he was appointed Director of the Vietnam-Germany Friendship Hospital and Head of the Surgery Department at Hanoi Medical University.

In 1958, Professor successfully performed the first heart surgery in Vietnam. In 1959, he developed the neurosurgery and pediatric surgery departments. In 1960, he was the first to propose and successfully apply the Vietnamese method of liver surgery. In 1965, he successfully implemented heart surgery using a cardiopulmonary bypass machine in our country.

In 1977, the professor was awarded the Lannelongue International Surgical Medal by the Paris Academy of Surgery. This is a prestigious award given every five years to outstanding surgeons worldwide. He was honored and deservedly one of only 12 people in the world, and the only one in Vietnam, to receive this medal...

For his immense contributions to the country, Professor Ton That Tung was awarded the title of Hero of Labor, twice the First-Class Labor Medal, the First-Class Soldier Medal, the Third-Class Resistance Medal, and was posthumously awarded the Ho Chi Minh Medal.

7. Professor Dang Van Chung

Professor Dang Van Chung

Professor Dang Van Chung (1913-1999) was born in Sa Dec, Dong Thap province. In 1933, he passed the entrance exam to the Indochina Medical and Pharmaceutical University; in 1937, he passed the residency exam to work at Bach Mai Hospital. When the nationwide resistance war broke out (December 19, 1946), he went to the resistance zone with Professor Ho Dac Di to build a medical school in the mountains of Viet Bac.

In 1954, Professor Dang Van Chung laid the foundation for the internal medicine departments at Bach Mai Hospital, as well as the internal medicine departments at Hanoi Medical University. During the 1970s, Professor Dang Van Chung devoted considerable effort and intellect to writing two books, *Internal Medicine Pathology* and *Treatment*, along with numerous valuable teaching materials and scientific research papers.

After the reunification of the country in 1975, Professor Dang Van Chung, along with veteran teachers, developed and implemented programs for training resident physicians, specialists of level I and level II… He opened many training courses for doctors in Ho Chi Minh City and the southern provinces.

Throughout more than 60 years of dedication, the professor has held many important positions in the medical field, such as Head of the Department of Internal Medicine, Vice Rector of Hanoi Medical University, Head of the Internal Medicine Department at Bach Mai Hospital, and Vice Chairman of the Science and Technology Council of the Ministry of Health.

He was awarded the Third-Class Independence Order, the First-Class Labor Order, the First-Class Anti-American Resistance Order, and many other prestigious awards by the Party and the State. In 2000, President Tran Duc Luong signed Decision No. 392 KT/CTN posthumously awarding Professor Dang Van Chung the Ho Chi Minh Prize for his "Collection of Internal Medicine Research Works".