Our History

In 1987, a small contingent of Vietnamese doctors and pharmacists from Melbourne attended the 1st International Conference of the Vietnamese Physicians of the Free World, held in Montreal, Canada. The group decided to establish a similar association based in Australia to promote and support the services of Vietnamese healthcare. Thus the Vietnamese Australian Medical Association of Victoria (VAMA of Victoria) was officially established in 1988. The initial management committee board included Dr Le Thanh Canh (President), Dr Tran Quoc Dong, Dr Tran Xuan Dung, Ms Nguyen Le Thi (Pharmacist-representative) and Dr Tran An (Dental-representative). Thereafter, health professionals from other Australian states (Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia) have established their equivalent medical associations.

In 1988, Dr Ha Ngoc Thuan was elected President of the Vietnamese Australian Medical Association of Australia (VAMA of Australia). Dr Ha organized the first national Vietnamese Medical Conference in Australia, which was held in Brisbane, Queensland. At this opening conference, it was decided that future national conferences would be held every two years, and be organised by the elected President and his committee in the home state of that President. It was decided that the President would hold a two-year term and that each subsequent President would be elected from a different state on a rotational basis. The President would be elected by the voting members present at the biennial national Conference.

As an association, we have worked hard and are proud of our achievements and contributions to the activities of the Vietnamese Physicians of the Free World.

Since then, the VAMA of Victoria has been then re-defined to be more inclusive of other Australian Vietnamese health professionals. The Vietnamese Australian Medical Association of Victoria (VAMA of Victoria) was then represented by the Australian Vietnamese Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association in Victoria.

In January 1997, the Victorian branch successfully organised a national Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Conference in Victoria (at the Veneto Social Club, Bulleen). The management committee included: Dr Tran Quoc Dong, Dentist Tran An, Pharmacist Nguyen Le Thi, Dr Tran Anh Ton, Dr Nguyen Ngoc Huong, Dr Tran Minh Hung, Dr Pham Huynh Hung, Pharmacist Nguyen Thao and Dentist Nguyen Thanh Tung. On that occasion, we had the honor of welcoming special guests from the US, Dr and Mrs Nguyen Duc Lien.

As the Victorian branch, we have several aims and activities, as listed below:

To:

· Support, sponsorship and participation of various community-based Vietnamese activities.

· Support new migrant Vietnamese doctors settling in Victoria.

· Encourage and support continuing medical education in terms of organising regular medical conferences and clinical meetings.

· Publish the “Medical-Dental-Pharmaceutical Magazine”, a peer written medical journal, which was distributed both nationally and internationally.

· Provide an open, friendly environment for both educational and social interaction amongst the association’s members.

· Host and welcome interstate and international colleagues and invite them to various educational and social functions.

· Acknowledge the importance of our undergraduate students who are the “future” of the association. Thus, we provide support and sponsorship of a variety of activities of the Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Students.

· Organise and host the Annual Graduation Dinner Ceremony to celebrate the achievements of the new graduates of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy. The Dinner Ceremony represents an opportunity to formally congratulate the graduates of their success and for the VAMA of Victoria to introduce them to the Vietnamese community in Australia. In addition, the Dinner ceremony recognises academic excellence in secondary school student results with prize presentations given to the students with outstanding academic scores. The Dinner also allows everyone, including new graduates and their families, to interact with other members on a social level.

The number of Vietnamese health professionals has increased rapidly throughout Australia.

In Victoria, alone, the number of Vietnamese doctors has reached 200, including practitioners within the fields of Cardiology, Dermatology, Endocrinology, General Practice, General Surgery, Haematology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Oncology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Psychiatry, Respiratory, Radiology, Rheumatology and Urology.

We would like to acknowledge the previous VAMA Presidents for all their hard work and contributions to our association: Dr Le Thanh Canh, Dr Tran Quoc Dong, Dr Nguyen Ngoc Huong, Dr Tran Anh Ton, Dr Tran Thanh Nhon, Dr Brian Cung, Dr Duong Phu Cuong, Dr Le Anh Huan.

We also acknowledge the contributions of the following doctors, dentists and pharmacists: Dr Tran Xuan Dung, Dr Tran Minh Hung, Dr Pham Huynh Hung , Dr Tran Thanh Nghia, Dr Hoang Trang, Ms Nguyen Le Thi (Pharmacist) Ms Tran Kieu Anh (Pharmacist) Mr Nguyen Thao (Pharmacist), Dr Tran An (Dentist), Dr Nguyen Thanh Tung (Dentist) and Dr Duong Duc Vinh (Dentist).

Finally, we would like to thank the current management team of ‘The Australian Vietnamese Health Professionals Association of Victoria’: Dr Pham Sy Lieu, Dr Bao Chu, Dr Le Hoang Mai, Dr Pham Huynh Hung, Dr Pham Phuc Nhan, Dr Pham Hong Duc (Dentist), Ms Hong Ngoc Phuong Thanh (Pharmacist). Thank you all for your incredibly hard work and efforts to ensure the maintenance of our aims and goals.

We trust that our association will continue to grow as the support from our members grow!

Dr Dong Quoc Tran,

Founder of The VAMA Victoria, July 2009