On Wednesday, 26 August 2015, Professor Dr. Stephen Legg, Director of the Center for Ergonomics and Occupational Safety and Health at Massey University in New Zealand met Associate Professor Dr.  Kittichai Triratanasirichai, the President of KhonKaen University, to establish an MOU between KhonKaen University and Massey University. The MOU will allow the Faculty of Public Health to initiate and take steps to advance academic and research activities between the two institutions.

Dr. Legg was invited by the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Faculty of Public Health, to speak on the topic of “Ergonomics and application to health research and occupational safety and health” at the Faculty of Public Healthfrom 25-26 August 2015. He also had an opportunity to meet staff and discusspotential academic collaboration with the Faculty’s administrative team.

The Student Club of the Faculty of Public Health joined hands with the Student Development Division of The Faculty of Public Health in organizing 200 students to compete in the 33^rd Public Health Relations Academics and Sports Competition Event. This event is held under the name Maprao Games at Burapha University Chonburi from the 30^th of January until the 1^st of February 2015. Under the event, there is an academic conference with research presentations by students in public health and an international sports competition is held in 5 categories; football, volleyball, basketball, takraw and petanque. This year the Faculty of Public Health Khon Kaen University won 3 awards; third place in petanque for the women team and the second prize for the cheerleaders’ performance and second prize for the cheerleaders.

The academic conference and sports competition in public health relations is cooperation between the National Public Health Student Confederation of Thailand from 16 public health institutions all over the country. These institutions have formed a network which organizes sports competitions every year to build relations in the network, good health and to create sportsmanship among athletes. This year is the first time that the sports competition is held at the same time as an academic conference. The conference is held so that students of different institutions can exchange academic knowledge in public health. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chulaporn Sota, Associate Dean for Student Development and Arts and Culture of the Faculty of Public Health and the student development committee traveled to Chonburi to oversee students closely.

The host of the competition is the Faculty of Public Health of Burapha University. The academic conference was appropriate and the sports competition amazing. Before the opening ceremony of the sports competition, a flag ceremony was held in which the flag was handed to the Faculty of Public Health of Khon Kaen University which will host next year’s event; the 34^th Public Health Relations Sports Competition.

Dr. Sunisa Chaiklieng, teaching staff of the Faculty of Public Health, Khon Kaen University received award of “Global SeniorScholar Exchange Program 2015” from Society of Toxicology, USA.

Sunisa Chaiklieng, BSc, MSc, Dr Biol Hum, is an expert in risk assessment of occupational toxicology and ergonomics. She is an assistant professor of Occupational Health at Khon Kaen University in Thailand. She received her BSc and MSc from Mahildol University in Bangkok and herdoctoral degree from Ulm University in Germany. Dr.Chaiklieng joined the Faculty of Public Health at Khon Kaen University in Thailand, which is a leader in public health research and training in northeast Thailand. At Khon Kaen University, Dr. Chaiklieng has been involved in teaching occupational and environmental toxicology, industrial toxicology, and risk assessment. She has been recently leading of a new occupational health and safety MSc program to begin in the coming year.Dr. Chaiklieng has received awards from Thai national society of Toxicology and later from SOT Endowment Fund/IUTOX fellowship winner in 2012.

The Global Senior Scholarship Exchange Program will assist Dr.Chaiklieng in strengthening the graduate program at Khon Kaen University through increasing understanding of the international accreditation requirements in occupational safety and health. One specific program that will be explored is the establishment of cooperative research in risk assessment of benzene exposure. This is particularly important in Thailand since workers at gas stations are at increased risk of exposure to benzene and therefore, there exists a need to establish biomarkers of benzene exposure and establish effective workplace surveillance of benzene levels. Meeting these needs will minimize exposures and improve the health of workers in Thailand. Finally, collaborations can be developed between the faculty at Khon Kaen University and the host university to provide additional training opportunities, research projects and/or joint publications.

Dr. Chaiklieng will be hosted by Dr. Kaminski at Michigan State University (MSU). Dr. Kaminski is a professor in the department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and is the director of the Center for Integrative Toxicology (CIT). The CIT at MSU is an outstanding environment for training in all aspects of toxicology through its interdepartmental MS and PhD programs. The CIT has over 60-affiliated faculty from more than 16 departments across campus, providing interdisciplinary training with strengths in biomedical, occupational, environmental, food-borne, and pharmaceutical toxicology. The CIT also houses the MSU Superfund Research Program Center Grant (funded by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences) and the recently established Center for Research on Ingredient Safety. Dr.Chaiklieng will benefit from learning about MSU’s interdisciplinary toxicology curriculumduring period of visit in 2015. In addition, Dr. Kaminski will travel to Khon Kaen University to engage in teaching and explore research collaborations.

The Friendship without Border Project 2014 was organized by the Faculty of Public Health at Khon Kaen University. It took place at Khon Kaen University from 4^th to 10^th  November, 2014. The project is a collaboration between Khon Kaen University and Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam, which has been taking place since 2010. As part of the program, both KKU and HUMP organize a student exchange once per year.

The 2014 student exchange at KKU was very special because it was organized at the same period as the 6^th International Conference in Public Health among GMS Countries (5^th-7^th November, 2014), which hosted by KKU. The 20 visiting students from Vietnam had a good opportunity to participate in the conference and present their research in both oral and poster sessions.

To celebrate this occasion, a beautiful Thai and Vietnamese art and cultural performance was showcased at the reception dinner for GMS Dean’s meeting on the 5^th of November, 2014. Moreover, Vietnamese students had a chance to visit a community hospital and Sri Nagarind Hospital for their academic session on the 7^th of November, 2014. Over the weekend, students enjoyed a tour of Ubonratana Dam.

Nguyen Thi Nhu Ly, fourth year student in the Preventive Medicine program from HUMP said that, “although this year program is shorter than the former years, the activities are fulfilling with valuable knowledge and wonderful friendship.”

From 5-7 November 2014, Khon Kaen University’s Faculty of Public Health partnered with several other organizations in academia and government to organize the 6^th International Conference on Public Health among Greater Mekong Sub-Region Countries. The theme of the conference was titled “Health Service System in a Borderless Community: Human Resource Development for District Health System” at Sirikunakorn Building, Khon Kaen University and Pullman Raja Orchid Khon Kaen. The conference coincided with the annual Loi Krathong festival, which was used a theme for the event. Opening ceremonies included local traditional dances and music to mark the celebration. The conference aimed to strengthen collaboration on addressing public health challenges among the countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) and beyond and to serve as a platform for health personnel and academic researchers to share and exchange scientific and professional experience on public health from these countries. The more than 500 participants were honored to hear from Sir Richard Peto, a renowned professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford, who has been instrumental to our understanding of the causes of cancer. As Keynote Speaker, he shared some of his recent research exploring mortality trends of the past 40 years across every country with data collected by the World Health Organization.

The Faculty of Public Health, Khon Kaen University together with Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) organized “International Faculty Development Seminar (IFDS)” on ‘ Community-Based Approach to Healthcare : Thailand as a case study ’ for 5 lecturers from universities in USA during 21-30 May, 2014 program responsible by Professor Supannee Promthet, Vice Dean for Research and Academic Service, PH-KKU.

Furthermore, they were given lectures from PH-KKU lecturers and visited some provincial hospitals and district hospitals in E-Saan provinces such as Mahasarakham Hospital, Khon Kaen Regional Hospital and Chiang-Khan District Hospital, Lei, to study about healthcare services. During the visit to Chiang-Khan district, they also learned way of life and tried some traditional E-Saan food.

News/Pictures : Kwanhathai