Professor Dang Van Chung was born in 1913 in the beautiful coastal city of Nha Trang in central Khanh Hoa province. In 1945, he started working in the health care sector after successfully defending his graduation thesis entitled ‘Inborn Lung Artery Arteriectasia.’ From 1945 to 1954, he was a lecturer at the Hanoi Pharmaceutical and Medical College. From 1955, he continued to be a lecturer and was also promoted to the head of the college’s Internal Medicine Department, president of the Internal Medicine sector and directly working at the Bach Mai hospital. He also acts as an specialised advisor to the Ho Chi Minh City Health Department and other hospitals in the city.

His group of research works in internal medical science (including 14 works) which have earned him a Ho Chi Minh Prize are the outstanding products in Professor Chung’s over half a century of research work. Some of the works show that, on the basis of accurate clinical symptoms and simple paraclinical tests, doctors can diagnose correctly many complicated diseases. Fundamental research works are also of great necessity to the building of a national medicine with Vietnamese identity. The results of these works have been introduced into lectures. Through the statistical result of cardio vascular disease, he has seen that the valvular disease of the heart is mainly due to rheumatism. He then proposed that rheumatism control will help reduce the cardio vascular disease. He has also proposed measures to discover high blood pressure early which is of great help in reducing the death rate because of this ailment.

Many of Professor Chung’s works are now being applied widely throughout the country.

Professor Chung is also an outstanding medical pedagogue. With over 40 years of teaching, he has trained many generations of Vietnamese doctors. The professor has also made a great contribution to building the internal diseases sector. He is the first president of the Vietnam Internal Medicine Association.

By TRUNG HIEU