26 April 2024

UP VOICE VOL.54 – December 2020

The Official Newsletter of the University of Puthisastra (UP)-Vol.54 December 2020 Download


Dr Chea Sin, UP’s Dean of Pharmacy is 2020 Global Pharmacy Champion

To demonstrate their gratitude and respect for Dr Chea Sin’s leadership, Vennue Foundation’s Board of Directors recognized him as the 2020 Global Pharmacy Champion.

This is an honour that Vennue awards to one exemplary professional each year, to publicly honour extraordinary contributions in the fields of international pharmacy education and patient-centered healthcare. Tammy Allen, CEO & Founder of Vennue Foundation, on behalf of Vennue Foundation, expressed her sincere appreciation to Dr Chea Sin for his ongoing engagement in Vennue’s programs, and other renowned organizations to support the health workforce in Cambodia and around the world.

In prior years Vennue have hosted a celebratory lunch for the Pharmacy Champion, their colleagues, friends and family. Due to current public health restrictions, Vennue chose to honour him with this distinction in a virtual program via Zoom on December 8th, 2020, where there were guests from around the world.

The Vennue Foundation thanked Dr Chea Sin for his vision and dedication. To know more about Dr Chea Sin, our Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy, please read his extraordinary biography:

Dr Chea Sin completed his Bachelors Degree in Pharmacy in 2002 at University of Health Sciences (UHS), Cambodia, and then undertook a Masters in Public Health at the National Institute of Public Health, Cambodia, and a Masters of Education at Pannasastra

University of Cambodia (PUC). In August, 2006, he graduated as a Doctor of Specialized Pharmacy, Hospital Pharmacy from the UHS and the Mediterranean University, France. He worked as an Intern of Pharmacy in Martigues Hospital, France for 18 months, from November 2004 to April 2006.

Dr. Sin started his professional career as a store and stock manager for all U-Care pharmacies in Cambodia in April 2006. From October, 2006 to January 2012, he worked for the Reproductive Health Association Of Cambodia (RHAC) as an Inventory Control Manager and Procurement Team Leader. At that time he was also a member of the National Contraceptives Security Working Group at the Ministry of Health, Cambodia.

From February to June 2012, he worked as an Associate Editor, an Editing and Production Manager and Member of the Management Team for Ponleu Sokhapheap Organization (PSP). During his time with PSP, he was an Associate Editor for the Cambodian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery (CJNM) and the Cambodian Journal of Medicine (CJM).

At the same time, he was also a Principal Investigator for target surveys for the CJM. From July 2012 to May 2015, Dr. Sin worked for PharmaProduct Manufacturing (PPM) as R&D Manager, Deputy General Manager, and Director of Quality Management, R&D, and Regulatory Affairs, and GMP Project Leader.

From June 2015 until now, he has been working for the University of Puthisastra (UP) as Head of Pharmacy, Deputy Director of the Research Committee, Dean of Faculty of Health Sciences in charge of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Medical Laboratories, and finally as the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Chair of the Curriculum Advisory Committee and Deputy Director of the Research Committee of UP.

Dr. Sin has also been a member of the editorial board of the ASEAN Journal of Pharmacognosy, a Director-Member of the French Society of Clinical Pharmacy, Elsevier Journal, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board and Editorial Board for the journal “Current Trends in Pharmaceutical Research [CTPR], a board member of the Phnom Penh Pharmacy Council, and Vice President of the Regional Pharmacy Council for Region 1, which covers Phnom Penh, Kandal, Kampong Chhnang, and Kampong Speu. He has also published 65 papers locally and internationally and supervised six Masters Theses. He has edited four issues of local journals and twelve issues of international journals. He has supervised 15 research projects.

So far, he has received five different awards: RHAC Best Performer Award for 2010 (best performing staff of the year), Excellence Performance for 2015 from the University of Puthisastra President, the Cambodian Youth Role Model, appointed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. In 2019, he received the Gold Medal from Prime Minister Hun Sen for his contribution to the building of the Cambodian nation. And finally, on December 8th, 2020, he received the 2020 Global Pharmacy Champion award from the Vennue Foundation, for working to build a stronger global pharmacy workforce and for his extraordinary contributions in the fields of international pharmacy education and patient-centered healthcare.

WHAT’S UP ON CAMPUS – 01 January 2021, International New Year Day

UP Joins National Committee Group To Update Cambodian Midwifery Curriculum

The National Curriculum of the Associate Degree in Midwifery (ADM) was created in 2009. However the curriculum has slowly fallen behind current practices in midwifery in hospitals, so to provide up-to-date training for future midwives, the Ministry of Health (MoH) formed a committee group with midwifery professionals representing all the Regional Training Centres (RTCs) of Cambodia, our national hospitals, and several private universities in Phnom Penh. The National Curriculum of the Associate Degree in Midwifery (ADM) was created in 2009. However the curriculum has slowly fallen behind current practices in midwifery in hospitals, so to provide up-to-date training for future midwives, the Ministry of Health (MoH) formed a committee group with midwifery professionals representing all the Regional Training Centres (RTCs) of Cambodia, our national hospitals, and several private universities in Phnom Penh.

We are happy to announce that UP is represented on the committee, through Ms. Cheng Chan Mara as our representative. Currently, Chan Mara and her committee colleagues are creating a new competency based curriculum for the Associate Degree in Midwifery programme and this will use the Cambodia Midwifery Competency and the International Curriculum of Midwifery Programmes to form a new National Curriculum, based on the current needs and requirements of Cambodia.

MD Year 7 Students Have Completed A Five Month Internship At Angkor Hospital For Children In Siem Reap


MD Students Koet Chhuy, Kean Chanthorn, Chan Sokuntheary, Chou Vongmonika, Chenda Sophatsya and Kong Dyiem have recently completed their five-month internships at Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC), Siem Reap and have summarised their experience for UP Voice.

“At the beginning of our Internship, we were excited to have an orientation which included two training courses: Basic Pediatric Life Support and Infection Prevention and Control. Our working schedule was similar to the staff and included day shifts from 7am to 7pm and night shifts from 7pm till the next morning handover time. We were given 3-5 patients per day to cover: we examined patients, wrote medical notes and reported to the attending physicians for their feedback and co-signatures on the patient charts”.

“In the wards they kept us busy with daily rounds early in the afternoon, during which we could examine and discuss difficult or rare cases with senior doctors. Once a week there was a meeting about infectious disease patients, led by the Microbiology team; these meetings have allowed us to get considerable knowledge about the pathogens involved in common infectious diseases in Cambodia. We were reminded how to carefully choose the right antibiotics, at the right doses and for the appropriate durations”.

“AHC also provided us English classes with an Australian teacher every Wednesday, to improve our medical terminology and English grammar”.

“Continuous Medical Education (CME) sessions took place every Thursday and were presented by a senior doctor from a department that differed every week”.

“The first two weeks were very tiring because we had never worked for 12 consecutive hours before. However, we quickly adapted to that thanks to the medical doctors, nurses and other hospital staff. They have been approachable and easy to communicate with, and feedback was always constructive”.

“During these five months we have gained a lot of knowledge and new skills. At the end, we have been rewarded with Certificates of Completion of “Basic Pediatric Life Support” and “Infection Prevention” courses. It has been a great learning time!”

Updated UP Clinical Workbook For Dental Students

UP has just finished revision of its Clinical Workbook for dental students. The book has 174 pages and contains a range of important items related to clinical practice, including: clinic rules and policies, clinical protocols and guidelines, patient information sheets, student grade sheets, and instrument sets. The workbook was put together by Professor Callum Durward (Dean), Dr. Horn Rithvitou, and Assistant Professor Soeurn Sopharith, with contributions from many lecturers and tutors. For the first time the workbook is all contained in one file. This will be a very useful resource not only for students, but also for our tutors and lecturers.

UP Youth Advisory Group
For Students Interested In Research & Policy Development

In November 2020, UP established a Youth Advisory Group to engage young people in open dialogue, with the goal of promoting shared understanding, shared decision-making and shared action on things that matter to them and support their participation in ongoing community, organisational, and program development. Doing this supports the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child (and young people) which states that young people should be actively included to help create and influence research, programs and policy that affects and supports their human and democratic rights.

Participating in youth advisory groups also give young people the opportunity to activity learn about issues and work together to propose solutions that will influence future social, economic and health outcomes. This also helps to build advocacy skills and make better connections between youth, organisations, and policy makers. Young people bring different perspectives and experiences which can be shared and used to create and imagine a more socially just world. The youth of today are the future of tomorrow.

If you are between the age of 16 – 30 and would like to join the youth advisory group, please contact: emuyngim@puthisastra.edu.kh

Pharmacy: New Equipment

2020 – the year of COVID – has been a difficult and challenging year across the world and for UP. Many people, particularly in tourism, trade and hospitality have lost not only their jobs but also their hopes for the future. Many universities too across the world and in Cambodia are facing extreme financial difficulty.

Despite all those challenges, the University of Puthisastra has been operating smoothly. While teaching and learning has been transferred online, UP continues to invest in its laboratory facilities – investing ~$750,000 from 2019-2021. For this new academic year, UP’s Faculty of Pharmacy has purchased lab equipment costing around $40,000.

The arrival of these new pieces of equipment will help to upgrade our pharmacy laboratories to become practice and research centres which respond to national and international curricula.

In particular, these pieces of equipment will boost medicinal plant-based research activities, chances for students’ practice and provide a channel to international research collaboration. The Faculty of Pharmacy continues to develop every year to improve teaching and research quality.

Listed below are the new pieces of equipment that arrived two weeks ago:

  • -86 degree c Deep Freezer, BIOBASE Model BDF-86V528.
  • Multiskan FC Microplate Photometer, Thermo Scientific.
  • Microplate Shaker, Fisher Scientists.
  • Microbiology Incubator, BIOBASE Model BJPX-H88BK (D).
  • Assay Plate 96 Well Round Bottom.

Associate Professor Tineke Water

Associate Professor Tineke Water was appointed as the Director of Research to the University of Puthisastra in February 2019. Her background is in paediatric ICU and in the last 25 years she has worked as a Registered Nurse, Lecturer, and Researcher in Child, Youth, Family and Maternal Health.

Tineke’s teaching expertise is in the areas of child and youth health; evidence-based practice and research, alongside and health care ethics. Tineke’s research expertise and focus is centred upon participatory research with children and youth, humanitarian response work, public health, policy development and health care ethics. She is currently supervising five international PhD students who are undertaking research in these areas.

Tineke has also worked on institutional and national ethics committees and she works with universities and other organisations to support postgraduate education and develop research programs. Tineke also consults for international NGOs who specialise in child and maternal health. Tineke continues to hold a part-time position at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and is the Co-Director for the Centre for Child Health Research. Tineke is a Managing Editor for the journals Contemporary Nurse, and Pacific Health.

UP Dental Students Complete Online Course On Orofacial Pain at Chiang Mai University, Thailand

Recently the Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at Chiang Mai University (CMU) A. Professor Dr. Narumanas Korwanich, invited UP students to participate in the launch of a new online course in Orofacial Pain. Chiang Mai University is one of UP’s partner universities in Thailand, and our students have participated in an exchange program there in the past. One common goal of both UP and CMU is to strengthen our relationships with other universities, as well as share our resources. Students who attended the course and received the certificate included Kea Rathkanha, Cheng Chansakada, Leng Sreypoun, Tang Oun, Chhim Chamroeun, Sor Chanpiseth, Lorn Pechmarrynet, Van Meying, Heng Rithi and Ty Roniza.

This in-depth Chiang Mai University Mooc-International course was created for Bachelors and Masters students who wanted to learn more about orofacial pain and advance their academic knowledge. Participants in the course who met course completion requirements were issued a certificate of completion from Chiang Mai University.

UP students who participated in this course had to complete a minimum of 80% course study time and achieve a 70% or higher score on the final examination. The course was presented in English and was divided into five lecture lessons which included an introduction to orofacial pain and then explored many aspects of intraoral pain and non-odontogenic pain. Congratulations to the UP students who completed the course.

FACULTY OF MEDICINE ACADEMICS APPOINTED MEMBERS OF M.I.S.T.I. NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD

Dr. Chhim Sarath, Deputy Dean for Research, and Dr. Chuon Channarena, Research Officer at the Faculty of Medicine, have been appointed by Royal Decree Members of the National Advisory Board of the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation ក្រសួងឧស្សាហកម្ម វិទ្យាសាស្រ្ត បច្ចេកវិទ្យា និងនវានុវត្តន៍ : M.I.S.T.I.).

They will contribute to projects and innovative initiatives that will drive M.I.S.T.I. to a higher international standing and will allow it to reach the established national policy targets by 2030, within the fourth Industrial Revolution framework. Congratulations!

ICT Alumni interview


Last week, the ICT department interviewed some alumni to know more about their exceptional career path since the beginning of their studies at UP. With a near 100% employability rate after graduation, the competencies and skills our graduates are well recognised on the job-market. Most of them are already full-time employed from their Year 3 with more than a 90% employability rate, 2 years before their graduation!

Because our UP ICT graduates are well-prepared to meet the demands of today’s technology skills, they are sought-after professionals who can work in various industries: Telecom, Bank, Insurance, E-commerce, Hi-Tech, Security, Logistics, Education, Food & Beverage…Several alumni are also Entrepreneurs in Technology.

In this series of interviews, we will know more about the stories of the alumni listed below: Why did they choose to learn about IT? What was their favorite subjects? What is their current job? how UP prepared them for their job? What are their recommendations for their junior?

  • Sophorn PHOU, Bachelor 2015 Programming – Master 2017, Founder and CEO of Phsar Tech
  • Mengleang HOK, Bachelor 2018 – Networking, IT Support Technician at Union Commercial Bank
  • Phalla MOK, Bachelor 2019 – Networking, Information Technology Manager at Talk2 Solutions
  • LimEng CHONG, Bachelor 2019 – Programming, MIS and Reporting Specialist at Amret Microfinance
  • Sovannareach DAROM, Bachelor 2020 – Programming, Software Engineer at Vconnect Integrated Solution
  • Nuon NEOURNG, Bachelor 2020 – Programming, Solutions sales at IdeaLink consulting

Thank to all of them for their participation and experience sharing!
Videos will be posted soon on our UP official Facebook page and the “University of Puthisastra – ICT public” Facebook page.

Dr Chea Sin Joins The 39th Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy Board of Directors Meeting

Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy (AASP) was established in April 2001 to promote the cooperative advancement of pharmacy education and research amongst pharmacy schools in Asia. The AASP mission is to serve its member schools and their respective faculties by acting as their advocate and spokesperson at the international level, by providing forums for interaction and the exchange of information among its members, by recognising outstanding performance among its member educators, and by assisting member schools in meeting their mission of educating and training pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists.

UP’s Faculty of Pharmacy is the only school of pharmacy in Cambodia who has been a member of the Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy (AASP), since 2017. As one of the members of the Board of Directors, Dr Chea Sin was invited to join the 39th AASP Board of Directors on December 10, 2020. The objective of the meeting is to keep AASP activities running and to benefit the association and members despite the challenges faced as a result of COVID-19.

The agenda of the meeting included:

  1. Welcome address by the president
  2. Introduction of the BOD members
  3. Reading and review of minutes of 38th BOD meeting
  4. Treasurer’s report
  5. Report on Journal of AASP
  6. Report on 1st AASP Young Scientist Conference 2020 in Indonesia
  7. Report on 6th AASP Pharmacy Forum 2021 in Indonesia
  8. Report on 10th AASP Conference 2022 in Malaysia
  9. Report on 7th AASP Pharmacy Forum 2023 in Thailand
  10. Special topics (bi-monthly webinar, etc).

By joining with AASP, UP Faculty of Pharmacy continuously improves its quality of education and research to catch up with our counterparts across Asia, as well as the rest of the world. UP’s Faculty of Pharmacy is recognised worldwide and in the world schools list of Schools of Pharmacy.

Dr. Kong Srey Nuch, Faculty of Medicine Officer & UP MD Program Graduate

Dr. Kong Srey Nuch, MD, B-Ed, graduated in March 2020 as a first-generation MD student of the University of Puthisastra and joined UP as a Faculty of Medicine Officer in May 2020. During her MD Program, she did electives in Plastic Surgery in South Korea and Austria, and in General Medicine in Thailand. In the years 2014 to 2018, she was also a volunteer in Project Sa’bai and Project Lokun. In 2019, her team got the 1st place in a First-Aid competition among 20 teams from Singapore and Cambodia, held at the Lee Kuo Chuan Primary School in Singapore; Dr. Kong is also a member of St. John’s here in Phnom Penh.

In her current position at UP, Dr. Srey Nuch has encountered many challenges due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, such as organising online lectures, online exams and hybrid classes. However, she is happy to have joined after graduating the same Medical School where she studied, to be part of a cohesive and helpful team and to be able to contribute to its growth.

The Message to next graduate Nurses

Ms Yulay Hong; nursing student alumni graduated from University of Puthisastra and working as a nurse Jeremiah’s Hope Clinic in Phnom Penh. Upgrading knowledge and skills are more important in Nurse profession so Yulay also pursuing her master degree in nursing science at Loma Linda University.

During 5 years of working as a nurse at Jeremiah’s Hope, she’s gained many experiences and she has many roles as well such as scrub nurse, Neuro- ICU nurse, and Perioperative nurse. Yulay mentioned: Nurses are frontline health workforce as patients really relied on nurses in the process of their recovery and saving their lives. In the operating room some operation requires long hours of stand and sometime missed the meal as we need to continue until operation done. Even it’s sound hard but Yulay has compassion and delight in her work because she knew clearly that patients need her for survive. Yulay also added “What is really motivated me to continue to work in the career is the smile of the patient and their family. No matter in any situation happened, encourage your patient and their family is very crucial to calm their emotion.”

The last but not least message to the next graduates that patients need encouragement and proper care from nurses, so let’s all work and has the passion for other people, let’s keep the loven of nursing profession in the response to the need of sick people because they really need us to take good care them.

Serey will represent UP at CAPT, NUS next year!

Congratulations our Learning and Teaching Officer, Serey NGUON, on being fortunately selected as a delegate fully funded to attend CAPTISS 2021 at College of Alice & Peter Tan, National University of Singapore in Feb 2021.

During the symposium, Serey will present his research project named “Awareness Raising toward Socio-emotional Learning in the Field of Health Sciences in Cambodia” under the theme of Quality Education which is associated with one of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

In addition to this, he even used to be the 1st prize winner in UN Anniversary Quiz Contest; receiving travel award to visit 3 UN agencies in 2015, and obtained recognition as a talented skilled professional in Ninja International Essay Competition as well as Complimentary Award in National Essay Competition within the same year – 2015.

Donation from The Dynamic Group

In addition to this, he even used to be the 1st prize winner in UN Anniversary Quiz Contest; receiving travel award to visit 3 UN agencies in 2015, and obtained recognition as a talented skilled professional in Ninja International Essay Competition as well as Complimentary Award in National Essay Competition within the same year – 2015. In addition to this, he even used to be the 1st prize winner in UN Anniversary Quiz Contest; receiving travel award to visit 3 UN agencies in 2015, and obtained recognition as a talented skilled professional in Ninja International Essay Competition as well as Complimentary Award in National Essay Competition within the same year – 2015.

On December 11, 2020 The Dynamic Group sent some of their staff over to UP to donate experimental test reagents needed for the practical class and other experiments to the Department of Laboratory Sciences. We cherish this donation as The Dynamic Group is directly taking part in improving the health education in Cambodia, and we have a huge appreciation for the kindness that The Dynamic Group has shown our university and that we have worked well with each other so far for our country’s development. We are looking forward to our next collaboration.

Hygiene and Safety

Measures at UP

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