Journey from a farmer's daughter to a medical master

Her parents were farmers in Hau Giang province, so Cam Trinh always tried to study well to change her fate. Trinh's older brother and sister dropped out of school early to give her younger sister the opportunity to go to school. Although she did not have new clothes to wear, and her sandals had broken straps and had to be sewn back together with thread and wire, Cam Trinh never stopped dreaming of becoming a doctor in the future.

“Being a girl studying to be a doctor is very hard. From the third year onwards, I have to do clinical practice and sleep in the hospital more than in my rented room. The days I slept in the hospital hallway were scary and sad, but thinking about my parents and siblings at home gave me the motivation to keep trying,” Trinh said.

Hành trình từ cô gái con nhà làm nông đến thạc sĩ y khoa - Ảnh 1. — Master, Doctor Le Thi Cam Trinh

In the first years of university, she did not have to do clinical practice at the hospital, so Trinh took advantage of tutoring to earn extra income. Besides, because of her medical knowledge, Trinh often shared articles with skin care content on social networks and attracted hundreds of followers. From there, Trinh "got into" selling cosmetics online.

During her time studying general medicine at Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Trinh said she was most afraid of pediatrics because the disease in this group progresses very quickly and must be closely monitored. According to Trinh, girls studying medicine will face health disadvantages when working at the hospital. “Being a doctor is very hard, there are days when I work at the hospital from late afternoon to 6 am, then I have to continue studying all day. Not getting enough sleep causes my skin to break out in pimples, dry out… I look very lifeless at that time,” Trinh said.

Hành trình từ cô gái con nhà làm nông đến thạc sĩ y khoa - Ảnh 2. — Doctor Cam Trinh successfully defended her master's thesis in early November 2023

After graduating from the general medicine department of Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy in 2018, Trinh studied and worked at Can Tho City Dermatology Hospital until 2021. Sharing the reason for wanting to become a dermatologist, Trinh said: “I live in the West, so the use of mixed creams and medicinal wine is very common. People who use it for a long time will lead to skin complications that are very difficult to treat. Studying this major not only makes me beautiful but also helps people around me to be more confident about their appearance. I want to convey knowledge of beauty and medical-standard skin care to everyone, especially women, so that they can have a better quality of life.”

With the desire to learn more about the field of dermatology, in 2021 Trinh continued to study for a master's degree at Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Trinh was the doctor with the highest entrance exam score in the master's program in dermatology at Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy that year. This young doctor said that he had difficulty receiving a research topic on genital warts in men. During the process of doing the topic, the patient was somewhat shy to share and hid the symptoms, leading to incorrect data. By July 2023, when the thesis was 80% completed, Trinh was informed by the supervisor that the data was incorrect and had to do the survey again from the beginning.

Hành trình từ cô gái con nhà làm nông đến thạc sĩ y khoa - Ảnh 3. — Doctor Cam Trinh has a beautiful appearance.

“For 1 month, I only focused on redoing my thesis, sleeping only about 2 hours a day. During the process of doing the topic, having to come into contact with a male body was very inconvenient, but because of the nature of the job, I tried to overcome it,” Trinh shared.

After many difficulties, in early November 2023, Trinh successfully defended her master's thesis in dermatology and graduated with honors.

Dr. Tran Thai Thanh Tam, currently working at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital in Can Tho City, commented: "I was Trinh's supervisor during the thesis process. To me, this is a diligent student, willing to research and has a spirit of learning. Although she had to carry out a very difficult topic, which is to evaluate the situation of genital warts and from there propose timely treatment methods. Although there were difficulties in collecting data during the implementation process, Trinh solved the problem very well and gave accurate final results."

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