PhD Nguyen Thien Tao, head of the Vietnam National Museum of Nature's Department of Nature Conservation under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology was elected as a young member of the World Academy of Sciences (WAS) in the 2018-2022 tenure.

PhD Nguyen Thien Tao

The Vietnamese scientist was granted the membership at the 28th General Meeting - 14th General Conference of the WAS, held in Trieste, Italy, in late November.

PhD Nguyen Thien Tao is the only representative of Vietnam to be selected as a member of the WAS this tenure and the first Vietnamese representative in the field of Biology to become a young member of the WAS.

Previously, Prof. Dr. Phung Ho Hai and Prof. Dr. Pham Hoang Hiep from the Vietnam Institute of Mathematics were also selected as young members of the WAS in 2009 and 2016 respectively.

Nguyen Thien Tao is the leading researcher on poisonous snakes in Vietnam. He has collaborated with doctors from Bach Mai Hospital to save lives of many victims of poisonous snakes.

The scientist is working with anti-poison experts from Bach Mai Hospital and other research units to produce a serum to treat snake bites. Tao's project is of great importance in reducing snakebite mortality as Vietnam reports approximately 30,000 snakebite cases each year.

Nguyen Thien Tao's skills and expertise are in taxonomy, biodiversity, conservation biology, wildlife conservation, biotechnology, systematics and others. Tao and his co-workers have published more than 90 scientific journals and are co-authors of many articles published in the prestigious magazine such as Science, Nature-Scientific Reports, Conservation Biology, and others.

The World Academy of Sciences was founded in 1983 under the leadership of the Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam of Pakistan by a group of distinguished scientists.

Nhan Dan