Professor Lê Văn Tấn, Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases, leads the Emerging Infections research group at OUCRU Vietnam. He has worked at the frontline of many emerging infectious diseases, including COVID-19, mpox, H5N1, and Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. Having benefited from Wellcome’s and Oxford’s long-term investments in Asia, He is committed to promoting the local science, capacity building and global heath. His long-term vision is to build sustainable expertise in Vietnam, Indonesia, Nepal and the wider region so that on-going and future emerging infectious disease challenges can be addressed from within the affected regions and communities.
In response to his new title, Professor Tấn stated, “Science requires teamwork. Therefore, I am very grateful to the contributions and support from my amazing Emerging Infections group, OUCRU, Oxford, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, collaborators and the funders.”
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Professor Louise Thwaites, Professor of Experimental Critical Care, is a Senior Clinical Research Fellow at OUCRU Vietnam. Her research centres on improving the care of critically ill patients in resource-limited settings, with a particular focus on tetanus, sepsis, and hospital-acquired infections. This includes practice defining clinical trials and, more recently, the Vietnam ICU Translational Applications Laboratory (VITAL) project, which developed innovative and low-cost technologies to improve the diagnosis and treatment of these infectious diseases. Building on this work, she currently leads a team awarded a multi-million-dollar Discovery Award from the Wellcome Trust to develop artificial intelligence tools to advance pneumonia research and care.
Commenting on her new title, Professor Louise said, “This is a great honour for me and I am very grateful to all those in Oxford and OUCRU who have supported me throughout my career. I am very fortunate to be part of a dynamic and dedicated team and surrounded by so many inspirational people”.
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Professor Timothy Walker, Professor of Infectious Diseases, is a Clinical Research Fellow in the Tuberculosis research group, OUCRU Vietnam. He has been conducting observational studies on tuberculosis (TB) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to understand how we could best preserve the efficacy of first-line TB treatment regimens. His research integrates pathogen whole-genome sequencing and pharmacogenomic analysis to better understand the transmission dynamics and emergence of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). His work informs the development of more accurate diagnostic tools, optimised drug dosing strategies, and targeted public health interventions to help sustain the global effectiveness of TB control efforts.
Professor Timothy said he is very grateful for the huge support of the team, the unit and the department through my time at OUCRU and my work in Oxford before that. It’s a privilege to work with such bright, committed and interesting colleagues.