Nguyen Liem MD, PhD

Prof. Nguyen Thanh Liem is a pioneer and innovator in pediatric endoscopic surgery and stem cell transplantation. He graduated from Hanoi Medical University in 1976 and completed a medical residency program in Surgery at Viet Duc Hospital in 1979. He defended his Ph.D. thesis in 1991 and was appointed as a Medical Professor in Surgery in 2009.

Nguyen is an internationally recognized inventor of his seven advanced operative techniques in Pediatric Surgery. Regarding stem cell studies, Prof. Liem is a pioneer in using stem cell therapy for unmet diseases in children such as cerebral palsy due to oxygen deprivation, due to neonatal icterus, due to intracranial hemorrhage, neurological sequelae after near-death drowning, Autism, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and liver cirrhosis due to biliary atresia. Throughout his career, he has been in charge of a number of important positions such as Director of Vietnam National Children's Hospital from 2002 to 2012; Director of Vinmec International Hospital from 2013-2016; Vice President of the Asian Association of Pediatric Surgery; President of Vietnam Association of Pediatric Surgery. Currently, Prof. Liem is the director of Vinmec Research Institute of Stem Cell and Gene Technology.

Nguyen has published 94 studies in international journals and over 200 papers in domestic journals. He is also the co-author of surgery pediatrics textbooks published in the UK and US such as Operative Pediatric Surgery, Ashcraft’s Pediatric Surgery, and Pediatric Laparoscopic and Thoracospoc Surgery. Prof. Nguyen Thanh Liem has been invited to give lectures and performed demonstrative surgeries in many countries including the US, France, Netherlands, Italy, Australia, Japan, India, South Korea…

By his dedicated and delightful contributions to medical practices and research, he has been honored with many prestige awards conferred by the Vietnam government including the Ho Chi Minh Award, the National Labor Hero Medal, Award of Vietnam Talent. In 2018, he has been awarded the 2018 Nikkei Asia Prize in the Science and Technology category thanks to his contribution to developing and popularizing pediatric endoscopic surgery in Asia and the world. He is categorized among the top 100 scientists in Asia by Singapore Journal in 2019.