By Betty Ann Adam, The Star Phoenix
Chau Nguyen thinks of the people in remote Vietnamese villages who must travel half a day by bike, train or bus to get to a doctor because their local clinics don’t even have a nurse.
Biomedical engineering student Chau Nguyen has come to Saskatoon from Vietnam to work with U of S Prof. Anh Dinh on a blood pressure monitor that can be read by doctors in distant cities. Her work here is part of a Mitacs program that brings top international students to work at Canadian universities. Nguyen said the device could help people who live in remote Vietnamese villages.
She hopes the work she does this summer, helping University of Saskatchewan researcher Anh Dinh develop a blood pressure monitor that can be read by doctors in distant cities, will offer an affordable and simple method to bring health care to those people.
At 22, Nguyen has just completed her Bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering at the International University at Vietnam National University, where she is at the top of her class.
Her high academic performance has placed her among the elite group of students being wooed by Canadian universities in a program that aims to introduce future world leaders in their fields to institutions that might not have caught their notice.
“Despite the fact that our universities are really world class, we don’t tend to attract the top tier of international university graduate students … Canadian universities weren’t on the radar for students in countries like India or China or Brazil … Canada just didn’t register,” said Rob Annan, interim CEO of Mitacs Globalink, a federally sponsored program that offers plum research assignments and bursaries to those students.
The program will match whatever funds the provinces put up. This year, Saskatchewan contributed $140,000 and has 10 academic superstars participating in 12-week internships.
Canada-wide, 37 universities are hosting 473 students from countries such as Vietnam, India, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Once students experience Canadian culture and universities, at least some of them are likely to choose to do graduate studies here and they’ll tell their friends and fellow students, thus raising Canada’s profile abroad, Annan said.
Read the full article by Betty Ann Adam from The Star Phoenix.
