Professor Vo Van Toi (2nd, R) with winners of the Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF)’s research student fellowships at their pre-departure orientation in central Da Nang City last year

A distinguished Vietnamese academic who left his homeland more than forty years ago has come back to help with Vietnam’s development.

“I have lived too long abroad,” said Professor Vo Van Toi, who recently retired as executive director of the Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) in the US to head the newly created Biomedical Engineering Department of Ho Chi Minh City International University.

The 60-year-old academic is satisfied with his accomplishments and has decided to stay in Vietnam, where he can contribute his considerable expertise, for the rest of his life now that the needs of his family have been met.

Born in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, Toi left for Switzerland in 1968 to further his studies. Fifteen years later, he moved to the US, where he eventually became an associate professor at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

More than just an academic with scores of papers in ophthalmology and biomedical engineering to his credit, Professor Toi holds the patent to an eye medication delivery system.

In 2004, Tufts University honored Toi with the 30th Lillian and Joseph Leibner Award for Distinguished Teaching and Advising of Students.

In the same year, then-US President George W. Bush appointed Toi to the VEF’s board of directors.

In 2007, he became the executive director of the federal agency created by Congress and funded by the US government to encourage closer relations and educational partnerships between the US and Vietnam.

Toi stepped down from that position last month when an invitation was made for him to become chairman of the Biomedical Engineering Department of Ho Chi Minh City International University under the Vietnam National University - HCMC.

His professional involvement with Vietnam goes back quite a few years.

In early 2004, Professor Toi led a team of US scientists and other experts to Vietnam to learn more about the knowledge and application of biomedical technology here, and suggest improvements.

He sees a great demand in Vietnam for advanced medical equipment as well as technicians who can operate the equipment properly, and hopes to design and build some here with the help of his students.

“I want to undertake projects with distinctive Vietnamese elements, meaning projects that have never been done elsewhere,” he said.

Asked why he had left the US, where the conditions were ideal for someone like him, for the less-advantaged environment in Vietnam, Toi said this land had many “golden opportunities.”

“I want to create an environment for myself, not wait until the environment has changed for the better and then come back. There are real opportunities here that can give me something more than just success.”

Now living in a rented house in Go Vap District and going to the market and cooking every day, the professor is trying to integrate into the community so that he can feel part of Vietnam again.

“I thought about it [returning to Vietnam for good] many times. Now, after so many years away, I’ve finally decided to stay,” Toi said.

Trailblazing

As the VEF’s executive director, Toi initiated a program known as “All the Ways Home” to encourage research students to return here and devote their expertise and experiences to Vietnam’s development.

Every year the organization holds a forum to encourage these young researchers to return after completing their academic programs in the US. The forum is attended by governmental officials, heads of local institutes, and expatriate research students and intellectuals.

It also holds a job fair for Vietnamese academic institutions looking for research students to employ, and for research students who want to talk about their desires and expectations as well as ask questions about working conditions and pay.

“What’s so satisfying is that they [the research students] are always thinking about how they can best serve their country,” he said.

So far, the VEF has helped 30 research students return to work in Vietnam through the program.

Professor Toi hopes that his return will set an example for young expatriate Vietnamese researchers to emulate.

Source: Nguoi Lao Dong