Congratulations to VinUniversity’s International Medicine Olympiad Silver Medalist
La Hoang Linh, a second-year medical student at VinUniversity, recently won the Silver Medal in the individual round of the International Medicine Olympiad 2021 (IMDO 2021). This is a competition that brings together outstanding students from all over the world, with the aim of igniting young people’s passion for cellular and human anatomy research, thereby inspiring them to pursue careers in medicine and biomedical research.
With hopes of gaining exposure at domestic and international competitions, Linh and his teammates spent over two months reviewing and preparing prior to participating. Not only was he in charge of managing and coordinating the group, Hoang Linh also worked on summarizing information into concise and easy-to-remember reports. Faced with a huge number of specialized words to remember, Linh and his friends cooperated to record main ideas into flashcards and learned them together, thus maximizing their ability to absorb information in the run-up to the competition. In addition, he took the initiative to invite Professor Stephen Schiffer of the College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity to become their advisor, thus giving the Vietnamese team the strength to power through difficult questions on Human Physiology and Pathology. “60 multiple-choice questions in 50 minutes is a great deal of pressure. Simple questions require you to know definitions by heart, but difficult questions call for a strong understanding of the materials”, Linh shared regarding the individual test, “However, my experience in teamwork and time management accumulated during my first year really helped me during revision.” The individual Silver Medal is a well-deserved reward for his efforts.
In addition to his dream of becoming a surgeon, Hoang Linh is also very interested in education. Currently, Linh and his friends are organizing the Biology For All Vietnam project, which aims to provide free online education for Biology-specialized students across the country. Having personally taken part in many competitions and having had tutoring experience, he understands that students’ access to Biology and exam preparation are not equal from region to region. Therefore, Linh and his team are designing and finalizing a website that provides lectures on Biology; exam preparation materials for the Excellent Student competition, the SAT, APs, or the university entrance exam for Medicine; and personal experience sharing. With this product, he hopes to create a space for everyone to acquire knowledge, exchange skills, as well as inspire students who have a passion for Medicine in particular and healthcare in general. For Hoang Linh, knowledge should be shared, especially in a field that works to maintain people’s health. “I’m still young, you only live once, so I have to grasp these opportunities,” replied the 20-year-old boy when asked about his “dual goals”.
Regarding his plans for next semester, Hoang Linh said he would spend more time studying and researching at school. The interdisciplinary program opens up opportunities to apply and combine different disciplines, such as Medicine and Information Technology, while also presenting major challenges to overcome and push his limits. “I consider my first year at VinUniversity the year of adaptation. Although I felt stressed sometimes, when I got used to it, I felt really happy seeing my progress day by day.”
We wish Hoang Linh a wonderful and successful new academic year!
