From Trial to Triumph: The Life Story of Vietnamese Traditional Medicine Physician Dr. Nguyễn Thị Bay

Every Saturday afternoon since 2010, Dr. Nguyễn Thị Bay has been a familiar presence on television screens and radio stations across Vietnam, offering health advice to viewers interested in traditional medicine. From serving as the Head of the Traditional Medicine Department at the University Medical Center to the President of the Association of Eastern and Western Medicine in Ho Chi Minh City, Dr. Bay has devoted more than four decades to advancing the field of Vietnamese traditional medicine, paving the way for generations of scholars. Yet, her path into the specialty was not one she initially chose for herself.

An unexpected path to traditional medicine

Dr. Bay’s path to traditional medicine was not of choice, but delegation. From elementary through high school, Dr. Bay strove to be a teacher. It was not until the end of her high school years that Dr. Bay discovered a genuine passion for medicine – a calling that drove her motivation to attend medical school as an aspiring physician.

She completed her studies at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City in 1981. Following graduation, each student was able to choose three potential fields for further specialization. Her first choice was Pediatric Surgery, followed by Pediatric Internal Medicine and pathophysiology. However, to her surprise, Dr. Bay’s name did not appear under any of her desired specialties. Instead, she found herself listed as one of ten students assigned to the “Eastern Medicine” department, which is now known as Traditional Medicine.

A challenge against self and society

A student, “young and eager to win,” Dr. Bay admitted that accepting her assignment was a challenge. At the time, she felt “forced into traditional medicine,” a student disposed to fill a necessary departmental quota. Her specialty could not be changed, forcing her to abandon the future she had imagined for herself. In addition, Dr. Bay faced mixed reactions from society. According to Dr. Bay, society “did not respect traditional medicine” at the time. Practices such as herbal medicine and acupuncture were viewed as too “simple” for a formal university education, thus reducing the available career prospects for practitioners. Her family also dismissed her specialty. Dr. Bay recounts her mother suggesting, “You must be a bad student. Your grades must’ve been too poor, so you have to go to a field that doesn’t require being good.”

Restless with the decision, she confronted the university leadership – an action that Dr. Bay now reflects to have broken her current principles as a physician and professor. Yet, instead of scrutinizing her boldness, the Head of the Traditional Medicine Department accepted her confrontation with open arms. Adopting her as a mentee, he aimed to persuade her to recognize the merits of traditional medicine through scientific evidence, demonstrations, and ethics.

Through this mentorship, Dr. Bay went on to become a young lecturer at her former university, fulfilling a childhood dream of becoming a teacher, although still not in the specialty she had hoped for. Still resisting, she allocated much of her time to internal medicine rather than traditional medicine outside of teaching, accepting an assignment at Chợ Rẫy Hospital, one of the largest and most prestigious general hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City. There, under the mentorship of Professor Bùi Chí Hiếu, who leveraged his connection with the hospital's director, Dr. Bay was allowed to pursue her postgraduate studies and thesis outside her specialty, in internal medicine. 

A dream short-lived, she was called to return to teaching and practicing at the Institute of Traditional Medicine, the base of the Traditional Medicine Department of her university, six years later. Equipped with intensive training in internal medicine, Dr. Bay began her reluctant journey back into traditional medicine, a return from feelings of obligation rather than passion for the field at the time.

From raising her children to caring for her family, Dr. Bay soon became busy with the everyday tasks of life. As if decided by fate, her specialty remained unchanged: she was destined to be a traditional medicine physician. However, deep within, her longing and hope to change specialties remained firmly in place.

An exchange that inspired a lifetime calling

“I only thought of it as a chance to study — no one told me I would end up doing things beyond what I thought myself capable of,” recalls Dr. Bay

An exchange trip to Japan changed everything. Delegated to participate in an academic collaboration on traditional medicine, Dr. Bay was sent to Japan on behalf of her professor. At the time, most of her experience derived from work at Chợ Rẫy, a hospital primarily based in modern medicine. Still early in her educational career, she also had not yet begun her doctoral studies, unlike her future colleagues. However, embracing the unique opportunity, she entered Japan with determination and eagerness to learn.      

In Osaka, Japan, Dr. Bay spent three months immersed in a pharmacology lab focused on joint diseases. Here, she witnessed science without borders, working amongst colleagues from China, Nepal, Italy, Thailand, and the Middle East – all united by their passion for traditional medicine. An inquisitive trainee, she recounted asking three Chinese graduate students about their motivations to study traditional medicine in Japan, given that China is often considered the cradle of the field. They smiled and replied, “We just want to learn something new.”

Outside of research, she worked at the Wakan Yaku Hospital and Research Center in Toyama, Japan. Through this experience, she recognized the power of integrating traditional medicine with modern medical technology. Joining in to help examine patients, she was amazed by what she witnessed: patients undergoing rounds of chemotherapy alongside traditional medicine treatments, yet maintained remarkable optimism and energy. Lupus patients treated with low doses of cortisone and traditional medicine demonstrated successful recoveries with stable lab results.

For the first time, she also stepped into libraries to explore classical texts on traditional medicine out of interest, reading literature she had once dismissed years earlier in their Vietnamese scripts. Revisiting old and new texts in their English translations, she delved into numerous titles from the Treatise on Febrile by Zhang Zhongjing to segments of the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon of the 4^th century BCE. Dissecting these texts in a different language, Dr. Bay could understand the sentence structures more clearly and found a newfound appreciation for her specialty. By the end of her stay, Dr. Bay recalls packing nearly 30 kilograms of books and copies to take home.

With a changed perspective on traditional medicine, she began to find confidence and passion in her work. For example, in her research, Dr. Bay successfully designed a new model to evaluate the effectiveness of traditional medicine on rheumatoid arthritis. However, reflecting on her youth, she described those years as being like “a frog at the bottom of a well” – limited in perspective, yet quick to voice opinions. A core memory from her exchange occurred when she was invited to join a scientific review committee. In this role, she came across a Nepalese graduate student in his fourth year of research, listening to a presentation in preparation for his thesis defense on the topic “The Effect Hypoglycemia [on] Diabetes Mellitus.”

Realizing that the graduate student had used imprecise terminology, she brought this to the committee’s attention. Not yet a graduate student herself, Dr. Bay argued that “hypoglycemia” was not an accurate expression and should be replaced by the terms “adjustment” and “management,” explaining her evidence to the committee. Expecting her comment to carry little weight, Dr. Bay was surprised to learn the committee had delayed the student’s graduation by a year. This decision proved to be a blessing in disguise. The PhD student later thanked Dr. Bay for her bravery, as the delayed graduation allowed enough time for his family to gain

residence in Japan.

From her time in Japan, Dr. Bay’s perspective on traditional medicine had entirely shifted. She came to realize, “Traditional medicine is not what I once thought it was. It is a vast world that many people long to enter but cannot, for lack of opportunity—while I, having that opportunity, had been the one to refuse it.” Despite over 2,000 years of history in traditional medicine, Vietnam had not yet established a national museum dedicated to the field. Thus, she strove to expand her work beyond the bench, creating a traditional museum for the public.

Though some of her visions, like the museum, remain unfulfilled in the present, her motivation to share the merits of traditional medicine has persisted. She has carried this drive throughout her contributions as a professor, researcher, and mentor to many generations of traditional medicine physicians to follow.

Turning a newfound passion into purpose

After her return, Dr. Bay resumed her studies and graduated with a PhD in traditional medicine in 1997. In the following years, Dr. Bay was tasked with designing a curriculum for a direct-admission traditional medicine M.D. program, allowing students to apply to the specialty by choice. The six-year training program was designed to integrate modern and traditional medicine, including two years of basic science, followed by two years of modern medicine (equivalent to general medicine), and finally, two years of traditional medicine. From 1998 to 2015, the training program was continuously updated to better align with new disease trends, curricula, and teaching methods to maximize student preparation and outcomes. However, its principal goal remained unchanged – to equip the next generation of physicians with tools and holistic knowledge to best treat their patients.  

Dr. Bay has also contributed significantly to developing more training material for students. She led the design of a standardized textbook for traditional medicine scholars across all of Vietnam. What mattered most for this textbook was showing the collaboration between traditional and Western medicine. From the training program and these textbooks, her students have gone on to become highly specialized physicians, working across 16 districts in southern Vietnam. Many have quickly risen to become senior leaders in traditional medicine and general hospitals, leading the next generation of integrative medicine practice.

Dr. Bay reflects on the present

Dr. Bay has continued to be relentless in her goal. To preserve her expertise for students, Dr. Bay has written a number of books, including her newest, Cancer in Traditional Medicine, which she personally gifted to me. While this book is intended for students, Dr. Bay also plans to publish a more accessible book by the end of this year, intended to help the general public better understand traditional medicine. 

Even past retirement age, Dr. Bay continues to see patients and advise academic organizations dedicated to traditional medicine. Today, society has a greater respect for traditional medicine, with patients increasingly expressing interest in alternative medicines and raising the demand for new traditional medicine hospitals. As president of the Association for the Integration of Eastern and Western Medicine, she strives to erase the division between both approaches to medicine, uniting both disciplines for their ultimate goal to heal patients.

Reflecting on her career, Dr. Bay revealed, “From the outside, people may think my career has been smooth, but I don’t see it that way. I feel I lost too much time. If, in the first ten years after graduation, I had devoted my heart to traditional medicine, things would be different now—I would have accomplished much more.” Candidly, she confessed that although her passion for traditional medicine is deep, it came perhaps too late. 

A message to readers

Concluding the interview, Dr. Bay was prompted on what she would like to emphasize to readers. First, Dr. Bay expressed, “You have to understand it [traditional medicine] through

culture.” Having shifted her view on traditional medicine from cultural immersion herself, Dr. Bay emphasized that cultural understanding is needed to advance and dissolve the prejudice against the field.

Dr. Bay first started by recounting the two credited founders of the practice: Hải Thượng Lãn Ông and Tuệ Tĩnh. Hải Thượng Lãn Ông was recognized in 2024 by UNESCO for his

contributions to traditional medicine. However, Tuệ Tĩnh is the credited pioneer of traditional

medicine that is uniquely Vietnamese. Dr. Bay explained that Tuệ Tĩnh’s philosophy was “Nam dược trị Nam nhân [Vietnamese medicine should treat Vietnamese people]." This phrase was an effort to differentiate Southern traditional medicine (thuốc Nam) from Northern traditional medicine (thuốc Bắc). Historically, Northern traditional medicine was associated with Traditional Chinese medicine and sold commercially. Southern traditional medicine, however, was often given to

patients through free clinics at Tự Tĩnh Đường temples - a system established by Tuệ Tĩnh. This caused Southern traditional medicine to be perceived as less effective in society for a time, as what is free tends to be undervalued. 

Today, each branch of traditional medicine practice in Vietnam has been united. Just as other countries refer to their non-Western medicine practices as CAM (Complementary and

Alternative Medicine), Vietnam refers to this as “Y Học Cổ Truyền.” By definition, this

translates to “traditional medicine.” It includes (1) natural folk remedies derived from the earliest Vietnamese ancestors, (2) traditional Eastern medicine, introduced by the Chinese influence during their rule, and (3) the practices developed by Vietnam’s 54 ethnic minority groups. This knowledge can be further broken down into (1) non-pharmacological methods (e.g., nutrition, exercise, acupuncture) and (2) pharmacological methods (e.g., medicines derived from plants/minerals) for treatment. 

In recognizing the cultural significance of Vietnamese traditional medicine, Dr. Bay emphasizes that support is needed to advance the field, with its biggest challenge being to generate scientific evidence.  The goal is to evidence the scientific efficacy of traditional practices developed over thousands of years of experience. The field in itself is complex. A single remedy may contain numerous components with varying properties. However, Dr. Bay insisted that increased public and institutional support could provide scientists with more tools for research, helping physicians better understand each medicinal ingredient and property.

Second, Dr. Bay called for a movement for integration between traditional and Western medicine. Combining both practices can be powerful; however, how to effectively standardize their integration is still a work in progress. She emphasized, “Personalized care and treatment for each patient is now a pressing issue—but in fact, physicians of traditional medicine have long been trained to understand and apply this principle, not only today. The challenge lies in mutual understanding: modern physicians must appreciate the value of traditional medicine, and traditional physicians must also define the scope and role of their practice—knowing when and how to use it for each type and stage of disease. This means scientific research must go hand in hand with daily clinical work.”

Smiling, she closed with, “I often remind my students and trainees: Tiên trách kỷ, hậu trách nhân—first examine ourselves before blaming others. We must do our part well, build effective integrative treatment protocols, and only then call for broader recognition.”

Ultimately, from early resistance to a later passion, Dr. Bay’s career reflects a journey of both the challenges and the vast potential of Vietnamese traditional medicine. Just as a single trip to Japan changed the trajectory of her life and career, she hopes sharing her story will inspire others—fostering awareness and discussion for reimaging a future of holistic healthcare. 

A picture with Dr. Nguyen Thi Bay (right) with her book Ung Thư trong Y Học Cổ Truyền