Meet Dr Vu Thi Thu Tra

Lecturer at Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National University of Agriculture

Can you please tell us a bit about your work in Vietnam?

I am working as a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National University of Agriculture. I am interested in veterinary hygiene, food safety and hygiene and veterinary public health. I graduated in Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from the Vietnam National University of Agriculture in 2008. I received my Master’s Degree in Veterinary Public Health (MVPH) at Chiang Mai University, Thailand, in 2013. I obtained my PhD in Veterinary Medicine (Dr. med. vet.) from Freie University Berlin, Germany, in 2018.

Currently, my work focuses on antimicrobial resistance and animal disease control and prevention based on risk communication and improving farm biosecurity. Besides teaching and research, I also take part in some activities of Vietnam One Health University Network (VOHUN), such as trainings for veterinary and health staff and advisor for Student One Health Camp.  

Why do you think the work being done through APCOVE is important?

In Vietnam and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases have occurred, causing huge social-economic impacts. Thus, we need a skilled and professional animal health workforce to rapidly and effectively respond to disease outbreaks. In fact, the capacity of the animal health workforce might vary among countries and at different levels in the country, and they still lack knowledge of epidemiology. Therefore, epidemiological training for the animal health workforce is essential to improve their skills in outbreak investigation, surveillance, data analysis and reporting, and application of the One Health Approach, contributing to the success of animal disease control and prevention programs, especially for zoonotic diseases.