World-Renowned Medical Scientist Assumes the Role of Interim Provost cum Dean of The College of Health Sciences at VinUniveresity

Professor Dr. David Bangsberg will assume the position of Interim Provost cum Dean of the College of Health Sciences at VinUniversity, starting from the 2023-2024 academic year.

Professor David Bangsberg 

Dr. David Bangsberg most recently served as the founding Dean of the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health in his hometown, Portland, Oregon. Under his direction, the school has made great strides in helping to expand community knowledge, understanding and interest in the importance of public health. Of note, enrollment in the school’s MPH program has increased by more than 76%. This helps to expand Oregon’s public health workforce — a crucial need as the state continues to respond to the unique impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Dean, Dr. Bangsberg implemented several programs to increase public health awareness and education. He established the School of Public Health Dean’s Scholarship Fund to help support a good and diverse student body. The fund has distributed more than $500,000 in tuition support to 54 first-generation public health students. With his influence, Dr. Bangsberg has attracted significant funding from local and federal sources for research activities at OHSU-PSU. As of 2022, the school has received over $26 million in funding to support research on health, healthcare reform, and social aspects.

Previously, Professor Bangsberg was the director of MGH Global Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, the largest teaching hospital of the Harvard Medical School. Under his leadership, MGH Global Health has transformed from a single program to an institution-wide global health initiative that now includes programs in medical technology innovation, global disaster response, cancer care, obstetrics/gynaecology, radiology, pathology, infectious diseases, and community health.

As a physician scientist, he has raised over $70 million in research and programmatic funding from federal, foundation and philanthropic sources. In 2007, he was recognized in science as the second-highest RO-1 funded HIV/AIDS researcher globally. His 498 publications on social, behavioral, virologist and immunologic aspects of HIV/AIDS have been cited over 54,000 times and earned an h-index of 116 per Google Scholar. He received the Clifford Barger mentoring award given annually to 5 of 11,000 Harvard Medical School Faculty. He has been recognised as one of the world’s top medical scientists and is among the most outstanding HIV researchers.

Sharing his reason for joining VinUni, Dr. Bangsberg stated that he desires to support the development of new educational institutions. That is why he was impressed early on by the remarkable progress that the College of Health Sciences has achieved in just a short period.

“I am deeply honored and gladly accept the position as Interim Provost cum Dean of the College of Health Sciences. I was immediately impressed with the incredible progress VinUniversity has made over a short period of time. During my visit, I met an extremely talented, motivated, and highly collaborative team that made this progress possible. I look forward to working with the entire VinUni team and students to help take the University and the College to the next level”, shared Prof. David Bangsberg.

Dr. Le Mai Lan, President of VinUniversity shared, “We are delighted that Dr. Bangsberg will assume the position of the Interim Provost cum Dean of the College of Health Sciences. The mission of the College is to educate generations of compassionate doctors and nurses who are knowledgeable and dedicated to improving the health of the Vietnamese people and the world. We believe that with his extensive experience and knowledge, Dr. Bangsberg will contribute to the development of the College of Health Sciences and VinUni on its path to becoming an outstanding, world-class university.”