Women shine in the digital field.

Le Nguyen Phuong Thuy, a female student from the University of Science (Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City), is one of three outstanding individuals who won the "Female Science and Technology Student" award in 2025 in the information technology category.

Phuong Thuy was awarded the titles of "Outstanding Student" and "Advanced Youth Following Uncle Ho's Teachings" at the city level for two consecutive years - Photo: Provided by the interviewee.

The award, presented by the Central Youth Union and the Ministry of Science and Technology , honors 20 outstanding female students nationwide in categories related to science and technology. For Thuy, this is a great honor, motivating her to strive even harder in her chosen research path.

I discovered my passion during a visit to an internet cafe.

As Thuy explained, her journey into the world of technology began with a visit to an internet cafe with her aunt. As a young girl, Thuy realized how amazing it was that everything could be miniaturized into a computer – a place to learn, play, and explore all sorts of things. This became even clearer during the COVID-19 pandemic, when technology became a tool to help society function amidst numerous obstacles.

So Thuy decided to study information technology. The more she studied, the more interesting she found it, seeing how the model could learn to recognize handwriting, read medical records, and discover hidden knowledge in data. Thuy said that artificial intelligence (AI) is a very "living" tool, reflecting how we understand the world and ourselves.

Especially when her daughter saw her mother, a teacher, trying to teach herself about AI, and her mother saying she was doing it to apply it to teaching to improve the quality of her lessons, Thuy was even more inspired, forgetting the preconceived notion that information technology is only suitable for men.

She excitedly shared: "The deeper I delved into my research, the more I realized there are so many dynamic and outstanding women around me with meaningful scientific research topics. This proves that women can absolutely go far in technology if they have enough passion and self-belief."

Balancing the learning process

There have been many times when Phuong Thuy felt overwhelmed by the large and demanding amount of specialized knowledge. At those times, Thuy viewed it as a challenge to overcome, believing that only through such experiences could she improve and go further in her chosen path.

The sweet reward for her relentless pursuit of knowledge is that Thuy achieved a 4.0/4.0 GPA in her major and had three international scientific papers published. She also simultaneously received the "Outstanding Student" and "Advanced Youth Following Uncle Ho's Teachings" awards at the city level for two consecutive years, along with numerous scholarships for high-achieving students.

Despite her studies, Thuy always emphasizes the importance of balancing academics with mental health. She enjoys reading, maintains a habit of going to bed early, and exercises regularly to keep her mind sharp. She also makes it a habit to study in class and connect lessons to real-world projects to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information.

Thùy is also an active participant in youth union and association activities, as well as community projects. She says that these experiences helped her better understand the value of contributing, hone her skills, and maintain a balance between her studies and life.

"For me, the most important thing about doing science or participating in social work is being able to create a positive impact on others. That experience helps me grow, and gives me more motivation to strive on the path of research and knowledge sharing," she expressed.

I will continue on my chosen research path in a more in-depth way, striving to become a lecturer and researcher who can both create new knowledge and share it, inspiring many young people who love technology to learn.

"I will continue on my chosen research path in a more in-depth way, striving to become a lecturer and researcher who can both create new knowledge and share it, inspiring many young people who love technology to learn." - LE NGUYEN PHUONG THUY

Research on the application of AI in healthcare.

Phuong Thuy's undergraduate thesis topic, "Reliable Clinical Notes with Big Language Models," impressed the defense committee regarding the application of AI in the healthcare field. Thuy stated that many AI models can predict diseases very accurately, but they haven't yet fully gained the trust of doctors.

Therefore, Thuy wanted to research solutions that would support diagnosis and provide clear explanations of results to users, rather than simply presenting correct results without explaining the cause. Thuy and her research team focused on the problem of automatically assigning disease codes (ICDs) to clinical notes in electronic medical records (EHRs). The team trained a large language model (LLM) combined with natural language processing (NLP) techniques to read and understand medical texts and suggest corresponding ICD codes.

Furthermore, the system generates artificial medical data using text generation models to reduce data imbalances and protect patient privacy. The results are deployed as modules integrated into the HER system, allowing doctors to review, refine, and interpret AI decisions before applying them to treatment.

Professor Le Hoai Bac (Faculty of Science, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City) assessed the research topic "Reliable Clinical Notes with a Big Language Model" conducted by Thuy and her research team as highly feasible, focusing on optimizing data rather than building a new AI model. In this approach, AI does not replace humans but becomes a trustworthy assistant in supporting clinical diagnosis.

Sharing his thoughts about his student, Professor Bac said that as one of the few female students studying computer science, and being selected for the talented undergraduate program in information technology, Thuy demonstrates the necessary qualities to become a future AI researcher. "I am very happy that I was able to support her in her studies and research," Professor Bac shared.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bong-hong-toa-sang-linh-vuc-so-2025120200274959.htm